How can power cords make a difference?

A week ago I pulled the Absolute Power Cords out of my system and visiting my brother put these into his system. As I was installing them he asked how much they cost. I told him $40 each, he could not understand why someone would spend so much on power cords. My brother has a very nice system but is only nominally interested in the equipment involved. He has purchased all of his components based on my advice and has done no research of his own other than listening to some of these in my system.

Back to the power cords, after listening for a short while he was extremely impressed, describing the sound with the new power cords as "a lot cleaner" and stating "the difference is huge". After listening for an hour or so we left and as we did I pulled the cords out of his system. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was going to let someone else audition them. When we dropped off the cables my brother found out that I was loaning these out for two weeks until I was scheduled to return to the area.

I was very surprised by my brothers reaction when he found out that these cables were not going back in his system that day (which he somehow got the impression was going to happen, and thinkig permanently as well). As we left I could see by his countenance and his comments that I had somehow betrayed him by not leaving the cables with him. I got the distinct impression that some "blood is thicker than water" type mindset was operating in him and it did not make a lot of sense for me to leave these with a non-family member, especially for two weeks. He got over it soon afterward, but it was really apparent how disappointed he really was.

Reading Trellja's and Albert Porter's last comments on this thread also brought to mind how I have felt about being without my cords for this period. I have hardly listened to my own system at all, and there has been no excitement when I have done so. Tonight (Thursday) is one of the few nights during the week that I am able to listen at length to my system and I have listened to anything yet. This is completely contrary to a principle that I choose to live by which is to try to be content in whatever circumstance I find myself in. My username, in fact, refers to this principle which is written about in the Bible. God bless.

My last paragraph should have stated that I have not listened to my system this evening.

Wellfed, maybe you should take this as a message to go out and try some real power cords!

Thanks J.D., it is certainly something I have been considering. I have a few needs in my system that need addressing prior to this though. God bless.

Jcbtubes: Who are the losers musically speaking? That's a boastful claim to make about people you know nothing about.

Jadem6: The true pioneers in audio design made a point of understanding electronics, acoustics, music, and psychoacoustics. Without knowing these, you can't know what to do, why to do it, what to improve, and what the difference is between real and imagined. True audio pioneers learn the strengths and weaknesses of components, test equipment, and yes, the human ear. True audio pioneers aren't guys who got their hands on some fancy braided copper wire and simply proclaimed it "better" without any knowledge. True audio pioneers aren't guys who come up with flaky New-Age pseudoscience like power cords resonating and thereby altering room acoustics or strangling the bass and stuff like that.

Frap: Many people do like the distortion and coloration that tubes impart to the audio. That's your preference, and there's nothing wrong with that. My own playback preference is to be able to reproduce the recording as accurately as possible, with any intentional distortions left to the recording side because that is part of the creative process, where IMHO all's fair if it gets the artist and producer what they want.