How can power cords make a difference?

I actually took the time to read every post in this thread and I conclude that there has been very little dialog. There's alot of chest pounding and pontificating, but little communication. To the people who "believe" in power cords, I don't question your ability to hear differences, but I question whether you have put your aural perception in its proper perspective. Are the changes you hear muscially important or are they just audiophile BS? To those who don't "understand" power cords, try the following test. Get two identical CD players and two of each test discs. Site each CD player on identical surfaces and connect them with identical interconnects. The only variable will be the power cords. Start up each CD at the same time and switch back and forth using the preamp input switch. See if you hear a difference. It's alright if you do -- it's alright if you don't.

New update on musicians using power cords on their guitar amps. This evaluation was performed by two people in the same band, using different guitars and amps(their own equipment). The contenders were the stock power cords, and two I submitted to them. Each of the two I provided were from the same company, with the same construction geometry. They differed in both wire material and gauge. One was silver, using 13 gauge conductors. The other was copper, with 8 gauge conductors. I feel the timing of their comments is a Godsend, considering this thread. The following are their opinions, not mine. First of all, both feel that TREMENDOUS improvements were made to their sound over the stock cords. So, both are now converts to "audiophile" power cords. Previously, both thought this was all BS. Belonging to the "wire is wire" club. Both felt the silver cord to be significantly better than the copper, despite its featuring much smaller conductors. The copper sounded duller, more lifeless, and less real. The silver had a presence that they were not used to. A realness that they do not want to give up. The knock on the silver cable is it would not be roadworthy. They also asked about the possibility of making our own, which would stand up to the rigors of playing out. I have accepted the challenge, and feel that we will build our "ultimate power cord" within the next couple of months. I will build three. One for each of us. It will be silver, featuring a silver male end(if anyone is aware of a source of a silver IEC connector, I would be most appreciative). Guage should come in between 6 and 10 AWG. It will feature a rugged jacket and plugs. Possibly a braid. Yet, it will look very sedate. The reason being people steal stuff that looks interesting, and we don't want our cable to look interesting to anyone. I will evaluate this cable in my system, using both my CD player and integrated amplifier. If results are promising, I will start a thread regarding the cord. I now feel that anyone who doubts the sonic differences of a power cord to be anything but "objective", and will stop referring to such people as what they have traditionally been called.

Trelja -

Interesting post and information. One question - were these blind tests, or did the musicians know which cord they were using? If they did . . .

Cheers,
Jordan

Elizabeth-
I like your story, but... you may be confusing Apsaras with Asuras. Apsaras are more likely to be making the music that the Devas are appreciating. For power cords I understand that they prefer the Shunyata King Cobras, of course.

Bill Lowe, the founder of Audioquest explained it to me once. He said first, their power cable uses better quality copper, also a few solid core conductors shielded from each other instead of cheap skinny copper and many conductors laying on top of each other. The thicker copper made it easier to draw power and the aftermarket powercords have better shielding. All the rest of the stuff he told me went way over my head and therefore I don't remeber! It did make a big difference on my DC-1 though. The strangest tweak of them all is the sorbothane feet because both my collegue and myself noticed a difference but couldn't tell you what it was, although someone else who had them noticed a difference and was able to put the difference into words for me.