Cable auditions - Hard Work?

Power cord test is would be slightly different from IC test.
Your power tranformer and power source varies every time you flick the power switch. The amount of current/voltage draws from your power source varies more than the output of the cd player or preamp.

It is actually harder to do power cord A/B test than IC.

As far as IC test goes, I disagree with Yuri777. The difference can be huge. Among our friends, we have test over 50 IC. Unless your system is resolving enough, they also sound different regardless of price. Even the RCA plugs sound very different.

But then again, you are entitle to have subjective view.

Yuri's correct about one thing: the ultimate sound doesn't change once you reach the best possible setup. When do you know achieve it? until you are satisfied with your setup. However, it doesn't mean different cable will not change the sound in your ultimate setup. It only means that you found the best component possible for your setup which includes cables. How do you know if the cable you own is the best? You will need to explore in many different systems possible. i.e. I tried my cable in 5 totally different setups and all sound very good with this particular cable. If it doesn't pass this test then I wouldn't even consider it. As least to me, a good cable should work in any setup. This will throw away the system dependent theory. If a system is highly resolving then any little change will make a difference. It is like listening through hearing aid. On the other hand, do we listen to music with hearing aid? probably not. The listener can decide for themseleves. I would never suggest which cable is the best cable but rather I would suggest which group of cables would be good choice. There is no such thing as best since it is based on individual listener's ear and mind. Don't forget about room acoustic too. Speaker placement is very important too. It took over many many many auditions for the speakers to settle down in its best possible position.

Lacee, you got me with the hearing aid : )
Oldpet, one way to tie with 2k to 4k is sharing the cost with your audiophile friends near you. That's what I did when we compared over 50 ICs

Not a big fan of Krell FPB400cx. Have you tried Jeff Rowland?
How about some tube amps?

Oldpet, I think there are a lot of misconception about tube amps. They can have just as much slam as SS amp. It really depends on circuit and parts used in the design.
Same applies to SS amp. Jeff Rowland is more refined sound to my ears.

I'm currently using Lafayette KT-550 amp ( a non-ultralinear version of HK citation II ) and HK Citation I preamp with home made cable to drive my 80db ATC SCM10 original version. It has more slam and fuller body sound than the Bryston and your Krell amp I heard with this same speaker. One thing I didn't like the Krell is grain. It drives with punch but lack of refinement. The transient sounded quick but very un-natural. The Bryston just sounded too thin and light weight with my ATC.

Many of the tube amps use low current power supplies, that's one of the reason why you don't get the slam you're looking for. Poor power supply also lead to poor sounding. I stopped by xyz audio shop in NYC and heard the Vac PA90 (with 4 X EL34) with BW 802s. Big sound but very poor bass control. The speakers are drawing too much current where the amp couldn't handle it. This is exactly what I mean by suffering from PSU. Even with expensive cables, it didn't help the sound much.

Unlike SS amps which all have high output rating, proper power output matching is critical for tube amps.