With regard to your first question, I was shocked by the difference power cords made on my Parasound Halo 21 amp. I think I got 4 from the Cable Company and had an Anticable and various stocks including some old upgrades from a dealer no longer in business. I also had that mid-range Morrow. When I rented from the Cable Co. John told me he was going to throw in a Furutech for free as he had heard it was superb with the Halo 21. Lo and behold, how right he was. We are talking in the 1K-1.5K region here. One cord that I had great expectations for made no difference. Another cord had a very slight improvement. The final cord was horrible, the sound took a nose dive into the bass. It was muddy and scary. It was the most negative, dramatic effect that I have ever heard. The Furutech on the other hand excelled: instruments were clearer with greater space, etc. I was very satisfied despite the roughly $1200 cost. The Cable Co. does credit rentals, so the final price was lower. I won't bother you with the stock and old local cords, they very quickly fell by the wayside. I am still experimenting with the Anticable, looking for a place for it to fit in, perhaps my headphone setup. After many decades of concern about interconnects, this was a revelation. All of my equipment has new power cords. The Furutech, the 2nd best Morrow (very expensive) and Ice Age on everything else including the electrostatics. With regard to your second question, check out the Ice Age website. What could improve your amp(s), a little more warmth, more detail and soundstage or more carbon coherence and control? Thanks for listening.
warmth (copper/copper), detail and soundstage (copper/silver) ,absolute detail/soundstage(silver/silver) and carbon with silver/silver) hard to describe, my best so far is controlled and balanced. You can also get carbon with copper/copper. Have not tried that.
il