MY Sidewinder AC cord progress:

The best arrangement so far has been the Sidewinder on the CD player, and the Purist Audio Design Proteus cord on the power amp. This combo was only slightly bright in the top octave and a half, while being very neutral/detailed/high-rez/unfatigueing. Please note that I preferred the Proteus on the amp, INSTEAD of the Black Mamba, while the Sidewinder was on the CD player. With the Sidewinder on the CD player and Black Mamba on amp, the presence region was forward and analytical, bass pitch definition wasn't as good as with the Tiffany cord on amp, and Sidewinder on CD player (this combo is still the most neutral and features the best bass rhythm/snap/jump facor, but I very slightly preferred it less than the Proteus/Sidewinder combo).................The Black Mamba is now on the CD player, and the Proteus is on the amp.........(More on this combo after I've listened enough...BTW, I plug the CD player into a Chang Lightspeed 6400, and the power amp's cord into the wall; there's nothing special about my outlets, or circuits. We have only 200 amp service, and live 25 miles from the power plant, and about one mile from a "substation".)............I will then switch back to the Sidewinder on amp, and then lastly my current "reference" of MIT Z-Cord 2 on CD player, and Tiffany on amp.....................I think that next I'd like to try Synergistic Reference on amp, and ESP Essence on CD player.

Carl you've been busy, we need a scorecard to keep track of all the combinations, but very good post. As you know I have Powersnakes Sidewinder on my Musical Fidelity X-Ray CD player and was very pleased with improved sound. It is interesting how a AC cord can have different results depending what piece of equipment it is used for. For those who are interested, to give some perspective, here are some retail prices for cables Carl is testing, Powersnakes Sidewinder 5ft $280 & black mamba 6ft $695, MIT Z-cord 2 6ft $175, ESP essence 6ft $499, Synergistic ref 5ft $600, Purist Audio proteus 5ft $560, Tiffany ???? After a while it becomes too mind boggling between changing AC cords, interconnects, and speaker cables..... so many combinations

Thank you, Megasam.

The Tiffany Carl is speaking of is the TPC-60, long discontinued, but can sometime be found used at about $60.00 to $75.00. The Tiffany sold for a retail price of $179.00 when new. Although not the best AC cord available, it is nearly impossible to beat when considering purchase price. I keep several around for testing at my place, and I have mostly Purist Dominus everywhere in the system.

Tonight I got bogged down with just the Cardas speaker cable in the system, so I can't make an accurate observation on how the current combo (Black Mamba on CD player, Proteus on amp) actually compared with the Sidewinder-Proteus combo, but hope to do that tomorrow. The sound was the best in many ways that I've heard the Cardas (Neutral Reference), and that's why I listened longer than I should have (2.5 hours, too long for the volume level I chose; sometimes I have no will power)....and then I ran out of time, like I always do. My take is that there are three things inevitable in life: death, taxes, and running out of time (when everything is just starting to get good!).