Why Power Cables Affect Sound

It really is interesting, provocative, and revealing that there are so many contributors to this forum who are so linguistically limited, challenged, and incompetent that they must essentially and practically resort to hieroglyphics in order to be able to communicate with those who are literate it is a real reflection on the quality of their education.

Goes to show I must have touched a nerve in Geoff..To gain such a solid chunk of his scorn!
But I have to agree my general attitude is ’"What?... EVER!"
My interest in tweaks is limited to easy to do, (and somewhat cheap, usually) And I am not open minded enough to buy into most of the BS spouted on audio sites.
As for Geoff. Even lashing out at folks who LIKE him.

@geoffkait " Actually, no offense intended, but my impression of Lizzie is that she’s not really Exhibit A of a careful and thorough listener nor is she particularly interested in tweaks"

First, nobody asked. Including me.

Second, of course you meant offense, it is your M.O. It is hard to tell if there is anything more important to you than offending.

Third, it might be just your opinion, but it sounds like this time it is off base. Again.

Fourth, from my few short months here I find her input to be more credible, honest and useful than yours

Lizzie, not really Exhibit A of a careful and thorough listener, nor particularly interested in tweaks. Nor is she particularly open minded. She is probably Exhibit A for a person who’s general attitude can be summarized into one word. - “whatever.”

No wonder we all like her!!!!!!

I once believed in the power of measurement and placebo. That was back when I struggled to hear any difference between DACs and CDPs. Well after years reading nothing but Stereo Review, with Julian Hirsch and his wire is wire measurements uber alles mantra, what else was gonna happen? Especially since he had the technical argument wrapped up, while the other side seemed suspiciously all snake-oil marketing. 

Plus, personal experience. First time out I stood right there as one guy who had driven 300 miles to compare two DACs auditioned them side by side. And the guy said, "I don't hear any difference."

Yeah. Right. Because there is no difference. 

But again, this was before I learned and developed any real listening skills. Thankfully the dealer was very patient and let me bring in my Magnavox CDB-650 to compare. Sort of seemed not quite as good as their Proceed, maybe. But hard to say for sure how.

(This by the way is part of the problem. If you want to talk psychology, try the psychology of why it is very hard to notice something you have no language to describe. Unlike placebo, this will actually be fruitful.)

The breakthrough for me was when I made the drive from Seattle to Portland just to compare interconnects, because they had this little XLO device that let you switch quickly between them. Because, the story goes, its impossible to remember such miniscule changes for more than a fraction of a second. Which is total crap. But I believed it.

So I drove to Portland. With my patch cords. My Julian Hirsch patch cords. Because surely what they throw in the box for free must be good enough, right? (And people here have said the same about power cords, so its not like I was the only one sucked into this nonsense.) Only, bad luck, dealer says sorry it broke, but you can still do it if you want.

So I said okay, waste of time, but might as well. Only don't further waste my time with that $750 (yikes!) interconnect, let me try something I might actually buy. So he gives me something for $75 from XLO. 

Then he just leaves me alone. (This btw is what the really good dealers do. They leave you alone to relax and listen. If what they have is really good it sells itself. Seriously. On the way home my wife was asking if we could buy those speakers. Which we did. Even though they cost a lot more than what I had just bought less than a year before.)

After a few minutes listening to the $75 I got up and changed the input and swapped to my patch cord, and changed the input back and... HOLY CRAP quick turn that off and see what you did to BREAK HIS AMP before he finds out! Honestly, seriously, that is what I thought. I was sure I had totally messed something up. I was still standing behind the amp. Never even made it to sit back down. Checked everything again. Sure looks okay. But Gawd it sounds awful!

It was the interconnect. In spite of everything I had been told for years and years, they do not in fact sound the same. You can in fact remember long enough to switch them out. The differences can even be so glaringly obvious you don't even need to sit down and try and listen.

Again this was years ago, way back when I was first learning how and what to listen for. Which I remember like it was yesterday, even though it was well over 20 years ago.

Probably all the guys who have gone through this are nodding agreement. When you know, you know. There is none of this placebo measurements yadda yadda. Even questions of how or why fade to mere curiosities. When you know, you know.

At that moment, I knew. And once you do know, believe me, it only gets better and better.

But first, you gotta make the effort.