Very interesting post.
I'm a (very) long term advocate for premium power cables, and I'm trying to wrap my head around the issue of larger gauge cables having performance issues over extended time periods. I have not observed, nor have I made an attempt to properly observe it. I guess this proves I still have gaps in my knowledge base, and have something(s) to learn.
My thoughts and observations:
It would be interesting to know if the sonics you describe with Audioquest has been specifically with power cables or other (interconnect, speaker, digital) cables? It's possible that if this is the "other" catagory, then you might find the power cables to have different sonic characteristics and be more agreeable with you?
Per Audioquest's specs for current power products, models that use 2-prong C7 connectors are 17AWG. If your equipment uses 3-prong C13 connectors, the smallest Audioquest cable (NRG-X3) is 16AWG, and moves quickly to 14AWG with the next 2 models up.
While the sonic benefits of the step up models are very apparent (to me anyway), I don't know if the larger gauge with material upgrades. and other noise, impedance improvements will provide a stable extended use benefit in your situation.
Maybe worth a listen?