Power Cables diminishing returns

wow. Interesting, impassioned and highly personal response to a simple stimuli. Seems like over reaction. Double blind testing in a controlled setting is a reasonable way to discern whether actual differences can be heard. And... as Schipo points out... well the data is in and here is what it says... even professional audio reviewers could not distinguish between power cords.

That is not to say that people cannot enjoy one cord over another in their system --- people who enjoy tweeks and derive pleasure from modifying and experimenting with their system may like one PC better than another in their system. And, if so, good for them and it is money well spent. That does not, however, change the fact that trained audio professionals whose living it is to review audio systems could not distinguish between PCs based upon sound alone.

Schubert,
I love the spirit and substance of your post above, although in light of what you expressed here, I must say that you were a bit harsh in your exchange with Mapman yesterday in the thread about Ohm Micro Talls, calling them a rip-off. It seems at odds with the view you expressed here. In other words, "value" is in the ears of the listener rather than the perceived material value of the speaker. Still, I really liked your eloquent comments here.

Guys (and Elizabeth). The problem is that the double blind testing did not occur in my living room with my power with my equipment and my music. These tests show that in a particular context, PC's are below the threshold where a difference can be discerned. These tests cannot prove that in no context can any person hear a discernable difference. Come to my house. I will switch out my 6K collection of PC's for the $600 collection they replaced. You can bring all the blindfolds you want. Then tell me you can't hear a difference.

I don't care if other people spend money on power cords or not. With all due respect, I get tired of other people telling me what I can or can't hear. I understand quite well the value of double blind testing and understand equally well the placebo effect. I am not a fool, and I don't throw money around foolishly, which is why I have 6K to put into a bunch of PC's that took my system and my enjoyment to a much higher level. How about I sell you all my $100 PC's, and we will both walk away happy?

Aftermarket cord can only introduce extra colors to audio with excessive reactance parameters brought into the power supply(that's why some of us can hear differences). Most of manufacturers advise not to spend money and use the stock one for this particular reason, but they don't realize that audiophiles don't like accuracy and like to shape sound with wires(extremely inefficient by performance and economically according to the today's market prices). For this purpose for shaping the sound the best device is EQ or some basic tone control board on your preamp.

Next stop, AES and ASA agree to double blind testing of cheap power cords vs expensive power cords. NASA is still working out some of the kinks in the Shuttle tiles and doesn't have the time.