Warm sounding power cord for for CD player to suppress digital glare on vocals.

Yup, get more neutral with less glare right at the source and fewer band-aids is the route to success in the long run. Cheers,
Spencer

I had a similar problem with a pair of custom speakers using Eton metal dome mids and tweeters.  The detail was fantastic but too many cd's had that upper midrange glare you're referring to.  I would probably have just sold the speakers but they were way too big to ship so I tried several amps, tubes to hybrids to solid state, numerous interconnects and even more power cords.  It was always a balancing act that eventually frustrated me.  I began to experiment with various wire and AC plugs and found a power cord that tames that upper midrange glare but is a higer rez and not soft sounding cord.  I purchased a 10 M run of the Mundorf 1mm solid core silver/gold wire (found on Ebay out of Taiwan), some teflon tubing, and a pair of the Iego 8095 rhodium over silver AC plugs (see acoustic-fun.com to acquire these).  I cut the wire into 8 1M runs, ran 4 wires per pole and just used some cheapo radio shack lamp cord as the ground and WOW!  The detail and air was still there, the soundstage was expansive with good image outlines, but the glare was gone, really gone.  Using 2 of these cords made things even smoother but I felt that the image outlines weren't as sharp as I like but YMMV.  Anyway, you're looking at about a $400 investment for a single cord but it most likely will cure your glare problem and not compromise your system.  Good luck!

Rarely do I disagree with Al, but I believe that power cords, like cables, ARE tone controls, whether folks like to admit it or not.

I think in the long run many of us like a somewhat similar sound. However, many approach this similar result via different paths. Yes, some like extreme detail, and some overly lush, but for the most part we are looking for a balance of warmth and detail. How we approach this balance can be done many different ways.

I have seen many use warmer cables with more revealing components and vice versa. There is no such thing as a power cord, cable, capacitor, tube, etc., with no sonic signature of it's own. Whether one wishes to pair warmer tubes with revealing cables, or warmer cables with revealing speakers, it really a personal choice.

There's more than one way to skin a cat. IMHO. YMMV.

Cheers,
John

I have found PCs such as Audience and Cardas provide a warm sonic signature, but I don't think changing a PC to prevent glare is the way to proceed. I don't know if a PC will even remove glare from a digital device.

Digital "glare" or harshness (if that's what you mean), comes from poor jitter control in the digital chain. Changing IC's may tame the offending frequencies, so can an EQ, but in the end, it's the source that needs to be addressed.

John (Jmcgrogan2), yes, as you indicated we rarely disagree, and I always view your experience and your posts with great respect. And my perception has been that what you’ve said in your post above represents a belief that is shared by many and perhaps the majority of audiophiles.

Nevertheless, as I see it an expectation that a given power cord design will result in effects on the sound that are consistent and predictable when used to power a variety of components that may be completely different designs in just about every conceivably relevant respect, that are being powered by AC having unpredictable and widely varying voltage and noise characteristics, that are being used in conjunction with other components that can be assumed to have widely differing sensitivities to digital (or other) noise that may be coupled into them, that are being used in conjunction with other components and interconnect configurations that can be assumed to have widely differing susceptibility to ground loop-related issues, that may draw vastly differing amounts of current and have vastly different fluctuations in that draw, and that may even be performing completely different functions, is fundamentally irreconcilable with an understanding of how this stuff works. And IMO is therefore a misconception, probably resulting in most cases from extrapolating too broadly from personal experience, and reinforced by marketing hyperbole and popular mythology.

FWIW, though, aside from the reference to power cords being tone controls, I would agree with **everything** in your post if the word “signature” were changed to the word “effect.” Especially when it comes to power cords.

Best regards,
--Al