Diving into Power... Cable recs for my system and ears....?

@audphile1 

Given the current levels of polarization, any high-end audio manufacturer that declared "against aftermarket power cords" might as well shoot themselves in the foot.

In other words, alienate power cord aficionados at the risk of alienating... your own customer. Thus diplomacy is of the essence.

Here is a good interview of Nelson Pass on power. He does not discuss cords per se but the framework they operate within. As always with Nelson, it's a tiny master class, and an accessible one:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/power-according-pass

@devinplombier couple of weeks ago I put a stock power cord on my boulder 866 in place of Nordost Frey 2. It sounded great because the 866 is an amazing piece of equipment. The sound was engaging, smooth and really if better power cords didn’t exist I’d be happy as a clam. But…gone were the airiness, the speed and springiness in the bass, the clarity in the mids and all the minute details in the soundstage that were easily heard with Frey 2. 
On the other hand, living with my new DAC for few months I realized the Frey 2 power cable on it was too much of a good thing. While it worked great with my previous DAC, Bricasti M3, there was no synergy with the new Meitner MA3i. I sold the first Frey 2 and just the other day I sold the one I was using on the Boulder. Replaced with…surprisingly…a much cheaper Kimber PK10 Ascent. It just sounds better to me with the Meitner/Boulder combo. 
I’ve tried enough power cables on many components over the years and they make a difference. Yes some are tone controls but as you stated above the better the components the less coloration is desired. These Kimber cables are (I normally refrain from using this term) as neutral as I ever heard a cable to sound in my system. I think of it as the perfect stock power cord. It just gives you more of everything without crossing any lines. 
 

Nelson Pass is a genius designer but remember these guys don’t use fancy cables to voice their gear and I’m glad they don’t. 
Ed Meitner uses a lamp cord for work. But EMM Labs includes Kimber power cables with their high end EMM components. 

I’ll that not only the power cables make a difference. The connectors do too. 
I DIY’d a few Furutech power cords and initially I used cheaper Furutech connectors. Then I upgraded to their top of the line NCF ones and what s difference that made! 
So in the end it all matters. I can list the power cables I tried over the years if you’re interested. I’m also interested to hear about your experience with different power cords. What have you tried and with what equipment. If you care to share. 

The other aspect that gets overlooked by the naysayers is the quality of electric someone is receiving to their devices. I happen to have very clean power, so I’m not sure how much difference a power cord makes for me. In areas that have dirty power coming in, that person may see big improvements if the new cord shields or filters or does its thing. Truthfully, I’m always on the fence with this myself. I saw improvement when replacing some speaker wire once. That may be the speakers connection quality was better using the clip on system rather than the posts. I tried a power conditioner from a top brand, sounded like garbage. Perhaps it all depends on a variety of factors.