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

as a Mastering engineer, I've tested many power cords in my Mastering studio, which is likely better resolution than what 99% here have … So I can tell you that yes power cords have a sound. Even Chinese chords, have a slight difference in sound one from the next
 

It's a question of if it's helpful to your system or not
 

without understanding what you're trying to accomplish, my general recommendations are the following

1. dedicated line back to the breaker box and install a new circuit breaker, install a outlet upgrade of some kind… I use Shunyata research

2. as far as the power cords themselves, it's not enough to just throw money at it because you think you might be able to upgrade ... you have to have something in mind that you're trying to fix… You have to know where you are and where you're trying to go

Shunyata research is the best value and the best sound quality both so that's a real winner… In order to learn what's going on you could start with two gamma and two Theta NR for $3000. If you have more to spend grab two alpha X   If money is not an object, then their latest cable which is omega something or other at $12,000 is the best power cord that anyone has ever made and can be used anywhere
 

there's plenty of research on this, even if you're nearly deaf, which apparently many people here are 

if you don't hear the sound of power cords, or speaker, cables, or resistors, or diode, or capacitors… That doesn't mean you're a bad person, and it doesn't mean that you can enjoy music… It means that either your system is not very advanced, or you're listening skill is not very advanced… This is just a fact of life, and getting defensive about it isn't helping anyone, so please… Just calm down and let the rest of us have a conversation about something we understand well

I’m an electrical engineer and I can confirm there is no reason to do anything to your electrical connection that will improve sound.  There are some advantages to connecting all your equipment to a dedicated electrical circuit. This would make it so nothing else could cause any drop in power delivery.  

Thanks for posting in this thread @brianlucey 

If you were forced to pick a couple of albums from your catalogue you were most proud of from an audiophile "best sound quality" standpoint, which would you recommend? 

http://magicgardenmastering.com/

if you don’t hear the sound of power cords, or speaker, cables, or resistors, or diode, or capacitors… That doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, and it doesn’t mean that you can (sic) enjoy music… It means that either your system is not very advanced, or you’re (sic) listening skill is not very advanced… This is just a fact of life, and getting defensive about it isn’t helping anyone, so please… Just calm down and let the rest of us have a conversation about something we understand well

@brianlucey 

Most folks on this forum can’t tell schematics from the Bayeux tapestry, and here you are goading them with noisy diodes... You’re creating a monster 😂😂🤣

Love the Black Keys albums, thank you for those!

@ktarver I would encourage you to investigate the Shunyata research website, the founder has a PhD and used to work for the government, everything he does is based in science

here's the short version which I'm sure you will understand… AC Power is a 60 cycles sine wave and that wave is subject to noise that is beyond human hearing, that noise alters the shape of the waveform and the altered shape of that waveform affects the way that power supplies receive the AC power, and this is what makes the sound change…

It is through eliminating inaudible noise that we get closer to a pure sign wave at 60 cycles or 50 cycles or whatever it may be…

And this definitely changes the sound, in fact, I would bet you $10,000 that if you were in my studio and I changed out one power cord in my studio even you would hear it…

Engineering degrees skills aside, you could be nearly deaf, and as biased as you are ... and you would hear it, it's not subtle