IMHO & in my limited experience, I found that MOST powercords on the market is pure, unadulterated Snake Oil!! This has been confirmed to me by various audiophile friends many of whom use inexpensive Chris VenHaus Flavour X power cords after having tried several other expensive power cords.
I know that my pre (especially) & my power amp are sensitive to power cords. Searching for a power cord that has no sonic signature of its own within a reasonable price has been a tough assignment for me. I cannot afford an Elrod or an Electraglide or a BMI or any such $1000+ power cord! I'm presently using the ESP Essence cord & I find that it doesn't degrade the sonics of my pre & power. This I can tell you confidently. Is it "improving" the sound? No it isn't! I feel that it has practically zero sonic signature of its own.
Any time I hear or read that a power improves the sound, I'm leary of the claim. I believe that power cords cannot improve the sound; they can only change the tone i.e. colour the sound. All those believing that power cords improve the sound are listening to some form of distortion or the other that they perceive as "improvement". During the novelty period, it sounds diff. from what they are used to & it is mistakenly perceived as an improvement. Extended & critical listening reveals the flaws in the power cord & you see it for sale on Audiogon!
Electronics & Electricity will always be based on Physics (aleast on this planet!) & so equipment in these 2 realms will always have to honour these physics laws. Any improvements will have to be measureable. I'm convinced that if it's not measureable then one hasn't made any improvements or lateral changes or one doesn't know how to measure.
The money you can spend to lay dedicated lines to your wall outlets & to clean up the electricity coming to your mains from the grid will go far, far more than any power cord can. A power cord cannot fix what is broken (i.e. cruddy electric power) because it is a passive device. If you have a problem with your power, fix it at the source - that big breaker box located in your garage/basement.
If the power is clean, an inexpensive DIY power cable (VenHaus or Jon Risch type) should do just fine.
In audio, 95% of the stuff is TOTAL trash! Shifting thru this c*** takes a life time!
IMHO. YMMV.
I know that my pre (especially) & my power amp are sensitive to power cords. Searching for a power cord that has no sonic signature of its own within a reasonable price has been a tough assignment for me. I cannot afford an Elrod or an Electraglide or a BMI or any such $1000+ power cord! I'm presently using the ESP Essence cord & I find that it doesn't degrade the sonics of my pre & power. This I can tell you confidently. Is it "improving" the sound? No it isn't! I feel that it has practically zero sonic signature of its own.
Any time I hear or read that a power improves the sound, I'm leary of the claim. I believe that power cords cannot improve the sound; they can only change the tone i.e. colour the sound. All those believing that power cords improve the sound are listening to some form of distortion or the other that they perceive as "improvement". During the novelty period, it sounds diff. from what they are used to & it is mistakenly perceived as an improvement. Extended & critical listening reveals the flaws in the power cord & you see it for sale on Audiogon!
Electronics & Electricity will always be based on Physics (aleast on this planet!) & so equipment in these 2 realms will always have to honour these physics laws. Any improvements will have to be measureable. I'm convinced that if it's not measureable then one hasn't made any improvements or lateral changes or one doesn't know how to measure.
The money you can spend to lay dedicated lines to your wall outlets & to clean up the electricity coming to your mains from the grid will go far, far more than any power cord can. A power cord cannot fix what is broken (i.e. cruddy electric power) because it is a passive device. If you have a problem with your power, fix it at the source - that big breaker box located in your garage/basement.
If the power is clean, an inexpensive DIY power cable (VenHaus or Jon Risch type) should do just fine.
In audio, 95% of the stuff is TOTAL trash! Shifting thru this c*** takes a life time!
IMHO. YMMV.