OK, so how about this: you bought a great amp from a reputable company and they sent you a power cord with it... HOW ABOUT just use THAT one? Would Marantz send an inferior cord with the Ruby? I don’t think so.
@curtdr The answer is yes, they would and do. You’re missing the fact that after retail markups including a better PC would add significantly to the price of a product. Plus, cables are also notoriously system dependent, so it’s possible that an expensive PC wouldn’t synergize with a customer’s system/tastes so they would’ve paid all that extra cash for nothing. Then there’s that more serious audiophiles often have their own preferences for PCs and would likely never use the cord that came with the equipment. For all these reasons it makes sense for a manufacturer to include a cheap cable that’s good enough to do at least do justice to the equipment and let the customer choose what PC works best for their tastes/system. If you were right then manufacturers would be providing better PCs with their products, but they don’t. I’m not aware of any that do and everything I’ve bought has come with the generic black cord. Have you ever seen a manufacturer at an audio show power their products with a generic black cord? I think not. They pay a lot of $$$ to have their equipment at shows, so if the generic black cord was their best option they’d use it to show their products at their absolute best, but they don’t. Hmmm.