Why do these responses never (at least none of those I've just read) address the issue of RFI/EMI? Interference is a real issue and so much of the approach to power cord technology is geared in the direction of eliminating the same.
So these EE arguments are very amusing. There are plenty of good explanations from people (yes, engineers) who work in the realms of power, transmission, RFI/EMI reduction, etc that one would think that the skeptics would get with the program, but they just refuse to acknowledge that it's possible they are wrong.
I'll include this link, but obviously the skeptics will say it's bunk because it comes from a manufacturer of the products. I have to ask the skeptics: if you need advice on hanging a door, do you avoid talking to a carpenter because he sells his services hanging doors? Or do you believe that the door is going to be (ahem) well hung just by virtue of your willing it to be so? (And there are cheap doors with poor hanging specifications and poor hardware, just as there are components with poor power cords attached to them! Imagine!)
Anyway, check it out: http://www.shunyata.com/Content/FAQ-Tech.html
So much of the argument from the skeptics seems to revolve around the idea that we, as consumers (I.e., we spend money) need to subconsciously validate the fact that we have spent money. Well, once we own a variety of cords, cables, etc, the money's been spent. Swapping out cords and cables is simply an exercise in comparison. And what about the folks for whom money is no object? What about the folks who buy something expensive and don't find a difference they can live with, and keep going until they can? Those people are not reacting to some subconscious need to validate their expenditure; they're just trying to improve the quality sound they hear (and yes, it's their subjective response).
The last thing I'll toss out there is that I have an EE friend who is not an audiophile (owns a tech company designing circuitry and writing software for industrial controls/ robot devices, etc)and I tell him about the ongoing disagreement and he laughs. He says "OF COURSE there's RFI and EMI and OF COURSE it'll affect the signal." So it is not all EEs who say the same thing. In fact, I am far more likely to hear the line of reasoning from people who would like to think of themselves as having that knowledge/education, but don't (one being a physics professor at a community college--no PhD-- and the other being a task-lighting designer, news media soundman, and sound support hobbyist who "learned" about things electrical by working in those areas). I call them "self-styled" engineers. Wannabes.
