Power cords or power conditioner

When I was getting back into Audio a few years ago, I purchased a $100 Silnote power cord for a NuForce STA-200. The change was HUGE! My deaf mother and father could have probably heard the difference.

Pass Labs and First Watt includes a very substantial generic power cord with his amplifiers. I have tried various power cords with his amps, some I liked a little better than the included cord and others I did not. In several emails, I attempted to get Nelson Pass to recommend an aftermarket power for his equipment. He has always stated that the cord he sends out is very good, but never indicated that there might be cords that some might like better. Getting into the power cord recommendation business might be a rabbit hole that Nelson does not want to travel.

In my system the BorderPartrol DAC responded quite well to a aftermarket power cord.

From my experience, Horn speakers and single driver speakers are more resolving than other more conventional speakers and tend to reveal changes in cabling more readily.

To disagree with the double naught spy crowd; in a good resolving system it all matters.

Fwiw, you might want to consider adding a subwoofer into your rig. That alone will change the depth and scale of the presentation.

@coachpoconnor , well put. And I’ve experienced the phenomenon that you have, with your system becoming WAY more sensitive to certain variables as you upgrade it to become more resolving. In my case this happened when I upgraded to Nordost Valhalla 2 speaker cables, from Clarus Crimson Biwire’s. I had them pre burned-in by my dealer, and connected them up late at night and was floored at the detail and the 3D soundstage depth that they exposed. Everything became clear and snapped into focus. Woke up next day and was excited to listen again over morning coffee, and…. What the hell? What happened to my soundstage depth? Everything is compressed and foggy now! I thought I might be imagining it but then I tried again late at night and again I was treated to a mesmerizing and holographic experience. After a few weeks of this I realized my incoming power is cleaner at night when my neighborhood is asleep. Bought a Torus, installed dedicated lines, and now all is (mostly) well. In that now it sounds great in the day and I can’t complain. But it STILL sounds best at night. I think most have this experience, for those who have highly resolving systems.

And to your point, after upgrading to the Valhalla 2 speaker cables, there is no doubt the differences in power cords became magnified.  It’s not the highest impact component in the system, but I do find power cords can have a profound impact soundstage depth, and the 3D presentation of vocals and instruments, and the “air” around vocals and instruments.

@jl1ny   I have a JL Audio Fathom 113V2.  At first I was only using it with the Datasat for HT.  A few days ago I used the pre out on the Luxman to see how it would integrate.  Let's just say it is still connected to the Luxman.  

While the KEFs have nice bass, the addition of the 113 just made everything so much better!  

@nyev  My Shunyata Triton V3 arrives tomorrow, along with a Shunyata Alpha XC PC for the conditioner.  I will soon see if there is any black magic with a conditioner.  Seeing that I live in Chicago, and 3/4 of a block from my house is a busy main street for my neighborhood.  I have a hard time believing I have clean power.  

While I don't have any auditable noise coming out of my speakers.  I do from time to time get transistor hum from my amps.  The McIntosh amp was the worst, my ATI amps it's rare and the Luxman never makes a sound.  Either way I'm sure there is room for improvement.