The $250 power cables and $600 power strip that dethroned my $10k Shunyata Everest

Stack now has a USA site and order fulfillment out of Michigan :-)

I am trialing the mat…. 

Footers under the Discovery power strips can make a nice sonic improvement.  I am also a fan of the Stack Audio Auva and use them under my speakers.  Another option that works well under the strips are the Ansuz Darkz footers.  Unfortunately, the Darkz are rather expensive, albeit effective.  I am using the Darkz under all my Discovery power strips.

 

 

PLACEBO

perceived benefit without any actual inherent function or active properties. This perception is unsure close, NOT a very noticeable “significant” difference

 

QRA claims- metal treatment makes sonic improvements.  Metal goes in the Black Box (treatment process), metal come out changed to be sonically better 

 

QRA product evaluation – 4 considerations:

1. Metallurgy
2. Testimony
3. Company
4. Sablon Cables

 

1. Metallurgy

what we know about metal does not support claims. There is no proof.

Conclusion: 

Looking at A only - QRA highly likely false

Looking at A,B,C,D - QRA treatment works, but no clue to the mechanism 

 

2. Testimony

there is a large number of purchasers reporting “significant” mostly positive sonic change.

Placebos are “slight” perceived differences.  There’s a world of difference between “slight” and “significant”, so it’s not placebo.  Also, which placebos the user has optimistic expectations which increases the placebos effect, but QRA is first met with “no way that’s true - again it’s not placebo.

Conclusion: users are indeed experiencing a “significant “ sonic change/improvement

 

3. Company

QRA started with 1 product fuses, over time they expanded their product line.

You cannot build a company based on placebos aka fooling the customers indefinitely. There would be many dissenting reviews/voices if it was placebo which would quickly kill sales, but there are none after years in business.

Conclusion: QRA treatment does offer benefits 

 

4. Sablon Cables

I’m very familiar with this company who competes with the very best cabling but at much more reachable prices. They have a great reputation are very familiar of their competitors.  It would be foolish to risk their reputation and thus company if it were placebo.

Conclusion: Sablon Cables agreed to work with QSA Lanedri because they believe in the treatment sonic benefits

 

CONCLUSION:

Based on ALL ABCD, particularly B, I believe something is going on that warrants a trial.

I’m simple, if there are many reviews component reflecting similar performance, chances are that I may/likely experience the same in my own system knowing that nothing is subjectively guaranteed

 

 

 

other thoughts that may increase understanding different purchasing, price/performance viewpoints....

 

High end audio is:

• Small niche market

• Prices are box store affordable to 100k+ per component
• Our wants often exceed our budget
• Typically struggle to raise audio chain to end game (total satisfaction) sonics within budget
  • Can lead to emotional resentment, envy, frustration, and NEGATIVE BIAS (below)

 

 

OBJECTIVE BIAS

• Proponderance of evidence
• Probability
• Own Merit

 

NEGATIVITY BIAS

• price frustration - typically of unaffordability with budget
• bad past experience with “other” products
• suspect/convinced of huge markup is based on greed
  • convinced high priced cables cannot cost that much to produce
• lives by F. ABSOLUTES
  • the markup, aka compared to box store cost/pricing, seems subjectively unreasonable compared to box store markups/margins
  • If I don’t understand it, then it must be false until proven true TO ME.

 

 

FINANCIAL EVALUATION CRITERIA

• Performance vs Disposable Income
• CONDITION + Performance vs Disposable Income

(CONDITION = Proof, Guarantee, Justification, Value)

 

 

 

ACCEPTANCE THRESHOLD - COMPONENT BIAS

5. Objectivity/Probability
   1. Relative-Probability - compared to other similar component price/performance
   2. Absolute-Probability - the standalone evaluation

Probability - simply weighing the evidence, estimating the probability for success or failure, then choosing to try or not knowing NOTHING IS GUARANTEED that I would subjectively like the change or feel it was worth it

6. Absolute-Bias
   1. True/False - it’s false until proven true TO ME
   2. Wrong/Right – they are wrong until proven right TO ME
   3. Usually driven by resentment, anger, or fear
   4. Naysayers live here

No middle ground. The most commonly used:

• IT’S FALSE UNTIL PROVEN TRUE
  • Fear of losing, of being wrong
• I’M RIGHT UNTIL PROVEN WRONG
  • Seems like arrogance

@daddy_o_65   Footers under the power strip?  Feel free to contradict any of these points.  And yes I did cut & paste.  I see no reason not to use all sources available when looking for the truth.  It's as valid as listening to most recommendations posted on this thread.  Cheers.

 

Is it physically possible for any type of riser or footer, placed under a power strip, to make any sonic difference in an audiophile stereo system

Short answer: under normal, well-designed conditions, no—there is no plausible physical mechanism by which risers or footers under a power strip can alter the audio signal in a way that results in an audible sonic difference.

Below is the physics-based explanation, step by step, without marketing language.

---

1. What a power strip actually does (electrically)

A typical audiophile-grade power strip is:

• Copper bus bars or wires

• Outlets

• Possibly MOVs or surge devices

• Maybe some passive filtering

Critically:

• No signal processing

• No audio-frequency circuitry

• No active electronics

• No clocking

• No DAC/ADC

• No amplification

It simply distributes 50/60 Hz AC power (and its harmonics) to connected equipment.

Any “sonic effect” would therefore have to come from changing the quality of AC power delivered to the components.

---

2. Can vibration affect AC power delivery?

Let’s examine every conceivable vibration-related mechanism.

A. Microphonics in conductors?

• Copper conductors carrying 60 Hz AC are not microphonic.

• No piezoelectric behavior

• No modulation of voltage or current due to mechanical vibration

✔ Physically impossible

---

B. Contact resistance changes at outlets?

For vibration to change sound, it would need to:

1. Change contact resistance at the outlet blades

2. Modulate AC voltage

3. Survive the component’s power supply

4. Alter analog or digital audio stages

Reality:

• Outlet contact pressure is tens of newtons

• Vibration amplitudes from floor-borne sound are microns

• Resulting resistance change is many orders of magnitude too small

• Any microscopic change is:

  • Random

  • Broadband

  • Rejected by power supply regulation

✔ Below measurable thresholds

---

C. AC waveform modulation?

Even if vibration somehow altered the AC waveform:

• Audio components use:

  • Transformers

  • Rectifiers

  • Reservoir capacitors

  • Voltage regulators

These provide:

• 60–100 dB+ of power-supply rejection

• Isolation from small AC disturbances

• Conversion to stable DC rails

By the time power reaches the audio circuitry, the original AC waveform is completely irrelevant.

✔ No causal path

---

3. Can vibration couple noise into components through the power strip?

No.

Any vibration-induced noise would have to:

1. Originate at the power strip

2. Travel up the power cable

3. Survive:

   • Cable impedance

   • Transformer isolation

   • Rectification

   • Regulation

4. Reappear as correlated audio-band distortion

There is no known physical mechanism that allows this.

✔ Fails basic system analysis

---

4. Comparison to cases where vibration can matter

Vibration can matter in:

Component	Reason
Turntables	Stylus-groove interaction
CD transports	Servo error modulation
Tube gear	Microphonic tubes
Mechanical clocks	Timing stability

But a passive power strip has:

• No timing reference

• No signal path

• No gain

• No sensitivity to mechanical motion

It is electrically inert with respect to audio.

---

5. Measurement reality

If risers under power strips made a real difference, we would observe:

• Measurable changes in:

  • Output noise floor

  • THD+N

  • IMD

  • Jitter

• Changes correlated with vibration

No such evidence exists in controlled measurements.

Not at Audio Precision.
Not in EMC labs.
Not in industrial power conditioning studies.

---

6. Why do people report hearing differences?

This is where human perception enters:

• Expectation bias

• Visual reinforcement

• Confirmation bias

• Attention-driven perception shifts

• Long-term auditory memory unreliability

Importantly:

Perceived differences do not require a physical cause.

This is well established in psychoacoustics.

---

7. Bottom line (physics verdict)

Is it physically possible?
➡️ No, not in any meaningful or audible way.

Is there a plausible mechanism?
➡️ No.

Can it be measured?
➡️ No.

Is it distinguishable from placebo?
➡️ No.

---

Final takeaway (especially relevant to your system discussions)

Given the extremely high resolution of your electronics and the very high mass and mechanical stability already present:

Any money spent on risers or footers under a power strip would be purely aesthetic or psychological, not sonic.