Power cord to add ease and tame treble.

Something else to consider looking at your system is that every review I've read about the Ayre CX7 stresses that it that it sounds dramatically better through the balanced outputs to the extent that it's been suggested that one not purchase the player unless intending to use it in balanced mode. Now from what I know of the Hovland pre it's single ended only, so you may have a mismatch right there. Remember it's not just the best components, it's their synergy together. Perhaps you could borrrow a balanced preamp or a different cd player and see how things sound. I'd recommend against using the band-aid approach of a power cord until you look at this issue as well as room treatments and ac issues. Good luck!

I'm with Psychic on this one. A new power cord will not solve your problem.

Try just adding a single Wolff Carbon Source AC cord or Grover/Wolff Empress IC...... very substantial reduction of digital grain/glare, trail periods available. Both cables sold here at Audiogon.

I see you don't have power conditioner, this can help give you smoothness you seek.......but also some can restrict dynamics so must choose carefully here, I like Audio Magic power conditioners but they are expensive.

A recent posting regarding speaker toe-in reminded me that an easy way to tame a hot treble is to use less toe. The apparent reason: a tweeter's response declines as you move off its direct axis. A freebie tweak! Try it and see.

Its quite a game isn't it?
After many ic and pc problems and yes I have gone the Cardas,JPS Labs,Blue Circle ,Audience route.I do believe cables make more of a difference than components, by quite a large margin.
Try line conditioning and some of the smaller cable guys like
Audio Magic ,and really worth a try "Z-squared" ,personal review soon.Very complete sound with their gear.FWIW
Peter D.