Why Power Cables Affect Sound


I just bought a new CD player and was underwhelmed with it compared to my cheaper, lower quality CD player. That’s when it hit me that my cheaper CD player is using an upgraded power cable. When I put an upgraded power cable on my new CD player, the sound was instantly transformed: the treble was tamed, the music was more dynamic and lifelike, and overall more musical. 

This got me thinking as to how in the world a power cable can affect sound. I want to hear all of your ideas. Here’s one of my ideas:

I have heard from many sources that a good power cable is made of multiple gauge conductors from large gauge to small gauge. The electrons in a power cable are like a train with each electron acting as a train car. When a treble note is played, for example, the small gauge wires can react quickly because that “train” has much less mass than a large gauge conductor. If you only had one large gauge conductor, you would need to accelerate a very large train for a small, quick treble note, and this leads to poor dynamics. A similar analogy might be water in a pipe. A small pipe can react much quicker to higher frequencies than a large pipe due to the decreased mass/momentum of the water in the pipe. 

That’s one of my ideas. Now I want to hear your thoughts and have a general discussion of why power cables matter. 

If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please. 
128x128mkgus
In my experience....power cables matter - sometimes.   There was absolutely no difference in swapping power cords on the power supply to my turntables, or my Vandersteen speakers.....but they made a difference for the positive on my Ayre electronics.
Now, I realize that what I’m about to say is going to rub some people the wrong way. (Hey, I’m a poet and don’t know it.) One reason power cords sound good in one system but not another, I.e., why people get differing results with even expensive power cords is because they are directional. So, unless the manufacturer, I.e., Audioquest, controls the power cords for wire directionality the odds are 50% that a given power cord will sound like it’s supposed to and 50% that it will sound worse than it could sound. It might even sound yukky. It could make the sound worse if the previous power cord was accidentally constructed properly directionality wise.
@mkgus:

" So here I am questioning how in the hell a cable that isn’t even in the signal chain improves the sound"

So far I haven't heard any compelling explanation. Lots of experts and savants with different opinions but no plausible reason for the perceived effect.
And the money spent has really no sane connection with reality.

I don’t disagree with you on that. Cost doesn’t necessarily correlate with performance. You don’t need to spend $20,000 on a power cable. I think that’s where the industry gets a bad name, especially when the manufacturer doesn’t provide any technical specs but just says “trust us.” I think it’s more so about gauge, geometry and material which can cost a few bucks. If you go try to make an RCA interconnect with high quality connectors, silver wire, good shielding, etc you may end up with a bill for $200. In that case I have no issues with a cable company charging $250-$300 for that cable if the material, labor and markup are justifiable. 
 Exactly! I can buy into the speaker cable and the interconnect having an effect on the sound but if the power cable to changes the sound in a measurable way you should throw the device in the garbage and get another one. It must have a horrible horrible power supply