Honestly though…from the discussions concerning power conditioners to power cables I’m a bit envious of those who have a listening environment where these subtle improvements can even be heard.
It was only back during the 2003 blackout did one come to the realization how much “ambient” noise pollution there really is in the city...and there is a lot.
I regress…I believe we can all agree that without changing anything at all… our systems or perception of the reproduced sound varies from day to day. Just resetting the cables can make a slight difference especially with interconnects, where oxidization is mostly likely to form... interfering with the material congruity and signal continuity.
The second most important part of any cable design IMHO is shielding…for those who have been around long enough the “included cables” (remember those) where the Achilles heel of many a system picking up RF signals and hum…it’s been awhile since I last heard radio on my system without a tuner. lol
Last would be cryogenic treatment and the material used…. IMHO the most important aspect of any cable be it a power cord or interconnects are the connectors… as mentioned above not only oxidization but unless the contact between surfaces is unimpeded the flow of electrons will be affected one way or another.
As power cords are not part of the post reproduction chain but only act as a conduit for the last meter or so of the electricity coming off the grid to the back of a component I’m not convinced that they should have any effect if the manufacturers have produced proper power supplies which are the main introductory components responsible for converting and filtering the electricity into the proper voltage, current and frequency to be used by the source, pre-amp and amplifier.
Personally I feel as long as the cable is properly constructed, as most included power cards are, I sincerely feel many of the differences folks perceive with new cables is just due to the fact that the newer cable is simply fitting tighter, probably less oxidization… therefore improving the electrical signal flow to the components (remember we are speaking of electricity and not musical frequencies)…..which in turn through the sum of their parts and design recreate a waveform which is then amplified in such a way so as to control the electro-mechanical behavior of the speaker to create vibrations in the surrounding air molecules that we somehow perceive as music or a reproduction of some original sound.
I’d conclude that time and money would be better spent on some isopropyl alcohol or methyl hydrate, Q tips, pipe cleaners, some fine grade p180 emery cloth and do a systematic cleaning at least once a year of all connections within one system.
Now that’s not to say these specially designed power cords do not do anything and I do not think we can dismiss what others have perceived (for whatever reason).. I’m sure some act as a filter… but in "my system and environment" I’d be extremely hard pressed IMHO to discern any benefits.
