Are manufacturer AC cables good enough?

I suspect you're right.  

I haven't looked at this thread recently.  I'm amazed by how it's grown.  Glad I didn't ask about something controversial like MQA.

now that you're back dbphd, have you compared the power cords?

Not yet.  I'm in the process of moving stuff from one rack to another.

dowjones wrote:

" Electricity runs for miles through steel/aluminum wire hits the transformer for your house steps down and comes through the meter, panel, feet of regular copper wire, receptacle then gets to the magical power cord that changes something or the other then goes through a filter in the amp, another transformer, regular 12 or 14 gauge wire in the amp but through this whole thing it’s that few feet of magic wire that adds those wonderful inky black background, open soundstage , voices floating in front of the speakers and pianos beside your couch"

I couldn't agree more. If your system has the resolution & your hearing is at least average, a high end aftermarket power cord can greatly improve the sound quality.