What was the first power cable that you noticed a difference in the sound?

curiousjm:

This one's easy, and I think many of the posters have implied the same thing.  If you replace a component with an ostensibly better component, but don't hear a difference, there's one obvious conclusion: The component you replaced wasn't the weakest link in the signal chain.  And when we say "signal chain," we have to include your ears and your acoustic environment.

I've replaced some cables and heard absolutely no difference. Others have made a huge difference.  When I replaced all the power cables with good, mid-priced Audioquest cables and simultaneously added an AudioQuest Niagara power conditioner, I experienced what was arguably the most dramatic improvement in sound I've heard in, jeez, 20 years.  That was because my AC mains -- driven by characteristically noisy rooftop solar panels -- was my weakest link.

I noticed the difference when I changed to harmonic technology pro 10 power cords, OCC single crystal is by far the best for audio and then I got an even bigger improvement when I changed to the rectangular OCC single crystal, I changed everything the power cords interconnects and speaker wire to rectangular OCC single crystal copper and I couldn't be happier much better than the round OCC.

The first power cord that really impressed me was the Synergistic Master Coupler. Before that, I always thought that all that was needed was AC and a power cable. "Afterall, with the miles of AC cabling running from the power station to my house, how can a 5-foot cable make a difference?"

Decades later, I am deep into power cords, conditioners etc. It is ironic though, even with all we now know, there are still those who claim the same as I uttered so many years ago,

ozzy