Why does better power = better sound?

I have a Mercedes too, and it is a high torque engine at low RPMS. To maximize low RPM torque you need high compression...but high octane fuel is then needed to offset the detonation. Do it right, and it's a benefit. Do it wrong and it's a waste of money. Premium in my Focus makes it work worse, in my Mercedes...better. Doing something can change things, but not always to the better just because it is "higher" octane (that means nothing till you use the science)or a higher price (it cost money to make fuel worse on a BTU factor).

DC energy has not grain, phase or sound.

View things as a component void of "price" making it good or bad. Garbage in can be expensive things, too.

NASA has an expensive ball point pen designed to work at any angle in weightless space (it made it to the consumer market afterwards). The Russian's? They used pencils.

We can have a, "throw money at it and it isn't my fault if it sounds bad" mentality with all this. Oh I listen, but DC is DC you guys. A power cord cannot change what's coming out of the wall to any degree a good power supply should not be able to address on it's own. Move the supply? Yes. The cord? No, haven't heard that. Been trying for 30 years to hear it.

We can also have a, "you can't hear quality till you do all this" mentality. Ummm...no. I don't buy anything till it clearly is better. So if that means I use 1694A with gold gas tight compression RCA's, so be it. That's my reference point and why not, it's affoprdabel, logical, and sounds good compared to all the high buck cords I've used, still.

Yes, I can hear speaker leads since this part of the system is so low an impedance and real vector load magnitude that seemingly small inductive and capacitive changes alter the load factor efficiency significantly. The science backs this up.

Not so much interconnects and power cords where things are much less sensitive once you get the basic cords right.

In the end, it isn't a "compromise" at all. It's better, or it isn't devoid of price. making it work right at the lowest posible price is the challenge in this hobby. You have to think, and shun peer pressure to match crowd.

There's no peer pressure, and it's not an exclusive club.
Anyone can join in.

It need not be expensive,there's a lot you can do yourself ,when in doubt hire a professional.

Vibrations can ruin your sound but can be easily overcome, buy the stuff or make it.

The room can be a real problem,DIY or buy, your choice.

Upgrading power products and working from the panel to your electronics is just as important and very often either overlooked or not given the respect it deserves,see above post.

If some folks can't hear the differences in wires or power cords etc, then I would speculate that there could be something wrong somewhere in the their listening room and that is impairing one's ability to discerne differences.

Then again, you do have to train your ears and passive listening isn't the order of the day.

Also, most improvements to one's sound are incremental.
It's always been my experience that the more you address the above scenarios,the better the system sounds over time, not night and day.

Addressing only one of audios pitfalls and you may not notice a change(new power cord sounds no better).
But address all or several and then you can notice differences more easily.

One other thing I would like to address is audio expectations.

Are you looking for a day and night difference in your sound by using that one new tweak(power cord)in an untreated, vibration prone,straight into the wall system?

My take is that there's a 50/50 chance that you won't find much of a difference, and that's saying nothing about one's hearing abilities.

Day and night differences or great expectations of total system transformations is a real problem in my book.Over exagerated claims of such transformations by the mere insertion of a upgraded fuse or receptacle can do as much harm as good, dependant of course into what kind of system they are used in.

Here's the picture-Reviewer AZ has a fully tweaked system, room tuning and great care has been given to improving the quality of power to his gear.
He inserts an upgraded fuse and hears an imediate improvement,he claims night and day difference.
How much of an improvement would he have heard if he ran stock ,no vibration control(cheap or no audio rack)no room treatment(room resonances and bounce obscure variations in tone and texture)and no power conditioning(huge amounts of leakage from all electrical devices in his home and on the grid or dirty power)?

I am thinking none or not enough to warrant the purchase of the tweak.Hense, it's all hype and snake oil.

One's expectations of gigantic improvement to the sound are dashed.
The reviewer must have been bribed or it's just more hype.

So in this instance I would have to say that yes the new power cord didn't make an improvement.

Only because too many issues weren't addressed and until they are, noticing differences in power cords ie will always be a bone of contention.

I can easily distinguish the differences in my system.
Not because I have golden ears and a goose that lays the golden eggs, but because I've addressed the issues that are an impediment to discerning subtle differences.

And believe me they are mostly subtle, not night and day differences.
If you are looking for new audio thrills, buy new speakers.

If you want to hear how good your system is and how it's sound can be improved, address the issues that need to be addresed.

I know I can offend some folks with opinions like this,but they come from close to 40 years of playing around with this hobby.

It has only been in the last 10 years that I addresed the issues, and have since reaped the rewards.

Not night and day, but subtle, incremental improvements that when combined have made more than a subtle improvement to my sound and my enjoyment of the music.

The first 30 years in this hobby I spent them as my mentor Matt once said as an "audio junkie looking for a new fix".

Jonesing for the big audio thrill is expensive.

All it requires is cash, and very little effort.
Spend the bucks, buy the big new speakers and two weeks later look for another pair after the honeymoon glow wears off.

Spend a little cash but make more of an effort to fix up the vibrations, room booms and electrical crud,and you begin to hear where the big lies are in this hobby.

I agree it's not price alone that determines the quality of our sound.
It's what we do to the systems we have that determines the quality of sound.

Do nothing and everything will sound the same.

I can agree to that,and I speak from personal experience.

I'll share a few anecdotes based on my experience in my system, for what they are worth:
first, I use very efficient horn speakers and it took some doing to get the line quiet. Not 60 hz hum exactly, but you could hear a sort of hash that was reduced through various power conditioners and grounding arrangements. I've been able to get this sorted without the need for power conditioning, but I'm sensitive to this. Does it raise the 'noise floor' or make music sound less clear and distinct coming through the system? I think so.
second, I've been experimenting with various rectifiers in the power supply of my phono stage. In exploring issues like voltage drop or 'tube sag,' (something I know guitarists talk about when they want to get a certain 'crunch' or distortion out of an amp), it seems like the tube that sounds better has less 'sag' ; this contributes to distortion. Conversely, the more robust rectifier sounds more effortless, although there may be trade offs elsewhere in the sound spectrum.
I just changed to a battery line stage. For some reason, there was a low level sizzle, which didn't make much sense. It went away after a large crew, with two bucket trucks, went to work on a transformer one up from mine on the line.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the big Equi=Tech wall panel works in my next room, for precisely the reason that AC power seems to determine a lot about how my system sounds.

I would be VERY curious to see the DC line voltage monitored with a differential scope that records the AC leakage of any sort (anything that is not DC) and see what it tells you all.

DC is DC, and what you think is coming in is 100% immaterial till you show it out the DC side of the supply. An HP differntial voltage meter is thousands of times more sensitive than the human ear. If your DC signal has noise in it, what is it and what magnitude? I really can't see where a 0 dB offset average over time is going to be "heard". This test measures anything that isn't pure DC to the set reference value (sag, spikes, ripple...you name it) and records it.

Most wall to electronics issues are crappy plugs that change contact resistance with heat due to poor contact pressure. All those expensive cords fix that, but what's in the middle is what people think they get! No, it's usually the plugs. An IEC plug is not even an 100% usable interface distance. The plug makes make spec "contact" till about two-third of the way in. A good hospital grade plug has spec contact pressure almost immediately. Go play around with them and see. My IEC plugs work loose on my equipment all the time. The hospital grade wall plug? Never.

Romex right from the wall to the transformer with twist lock caps? Way better than a poor retention IEC plug (I HATE those plugs!). A hospital grade wall outlet and plug on the back of your amp would be about three times the retention force of an IEC plug / socket. The continuity is all about the contact pressure with temporary sockets.

There are several essays or presentations on this Jim Brown website that apply to interference and chokes. recommended reading.

http://www.audiosystemsgroup.com/publish.htm