Power Cord for Power Conditioner

Looks like we're back to the age old dilemma that audio has been struggling with since the 50s.

Human perception vs scientific measurement. Everyone is familiar with the distortion measurements vs audibility arguments made for amplifiers. All amps don't sound the same to all people, even with identical distortion measurements. Probably because we still cannot measure everything the human ear can discern.

Engineers (of which I am one) are trained to focus on the "main effects" that have the highest probability of being dominant. Most EEs will not consider the impact of transient line noise at megahertz frequencies and millivolt levels on a power supply, and that even some of the best filters may not remove every trace, to the exclusion of a human listening to the amp connected to that line source. Or that the transient demand of a large power amp for current through its tranformer/power cord might create transient effects in the power system that effects the amp circuitry, and that these effects may be percieved by a listener. Or that these effects may be influenced and determined by the line cord's impedance just as it is with cables connected to the speakers.
True, the purpose of most power supply designs is to minimize the impact of these variables on the amps themselves, but that does not mean that every amp design is successful in doing it to the level that such remnants are inaudible by trained listeners.

However, as is widely known, determination of FACT based soley on human perception is fraught with false thinking as well. Just ask a police officer who has dealt with multiple witnesses who provide radically different perceptions of the same event. Add to this the complications of motive based perception, someone having spent $1000 on a power cord is not likely to freely admit it sounds no better than the $6 EIC cord than came with the amp.
This dilema continues and will not be resolved any time soon. I like to take heart in the musings of folks like Pass and Curl, who base designs on solid engineering principles and accepted sonic vs hardware relationships, but still are open minded with regards to the impact of these things on the human perception of listening. We are always discovering new relationships between the physical designs and hardware, and how these relate to human perception.

"Probably because we still cannot measure everything the human ear can discern. "

I enjoyed your comments. It does seem like the above concept might be more accurately stated as "although we can measure far more than the human ear can discern, correlating human response to the measured data remains a challenge"

Which is sort of what you said in your last line, I just don't like to leave the measurement thing hanging.

Here's a question I would like answered by the "deniers".

Why would anyone spend $1000.00 on a power cord if it didn't sound better than a $6.00 one?

I certainly wouldn't if there was no difference.

But I have spent $2000.00 several times for power cords because they did sound better.

Here's how that came about.

I was looking for a better power cord for my Cary 300sei once upon a time.
I went to the dealer who also sells Shunyata products.
I was impressed by the improvement these power cords made in my friends very expensive system(Nagra elecronics, Sonus Faber Strad speakers,)and yes you could hear a difference even with a few weeks between visits.
I said at that time, What's different? It sounds better, smoother, fuller, more impact and less grunge, yet it was great the last time, but now it's better."
He showed me the Shunyata Annacondas, and so I thought when it was time I would try them in my set up.

But did I need to buy the Annacondas?
The dealer let me listen to his demo Cary ,and a cd player with just headphones at the amp.
I then went up the line starting at the low end of the Shunyata snake pit.
If I could find a snake that was cheaper I would have bought it. But I didn't.
The top Annaconda did the trick,I was sold, and then later I ended up replacing most of my power cords with Annacondas.

Did I have to justify my expense after the fact?

That's absurd logic.

I heard the improvement and fortunately I was able to afford the cables, simple as that.

No remorese, no trying to convince myself that I made the right decision.

I made the purchse because I could hear the different levels of improvemnts in the power cords.

I'll let the deniers go to the shunyata site and read the white papers for any type of explanation why one snake sounds different than the others.

As stated, the how and why of things doesn't matter to me, only the final results.

I care less about the how and why I breath, and just take pleasure in the fact that I do.

I guess some of us don't need "proof" to validate our purchases, because the proof is in what we hear.

I think the folks who constantly seek validation or scientific proof perhaps don't have the same self confidence, or perhaps need someonelse to tell them what to purchase.

If that's the case, they ,not I are more prone to all manner of snake oil .

Be aware of the man in the white lab coat, be very aware.

"Be aware of the man in the white lab coat, be very aware."

Agree. Often amps with the best specifications sound the worse. Deniers demand proof (scientific or blind test) but what they fail to understand is that it doesn't matter. If it is sounding better why to question it. Maybe it sounds better because of faith in cables (placebo effect) but final result is what counts. On the other hand cable deniers might hear no difference because of just the opposite - negative placebo effect but I seriously doubt that they even tried being so busy teaching others what they should or shouldn't hear.

Isn't this the way all religions start? First create a myth and attract a few followers. Then spread the myth until it becomes popular and raise money to continue the myth. The preachers make the big money. The more the myth spreads the more the preachers make.