When a power cord could obviously affect SQ

@mclinnguy 

Shop, or er, borrow local, this list is a couple of years old

I went to the recent Sydney HiFi Show, specifically to buy a balanced interconnect cable.  Nobody at the show was selling cables.  Two exhibitors did list Lenehan speaker cables, but the brothers Lenehan have split between cables and speakers.  Your list of local Australian manufacturers is interesting, but local HiFi stores tend not to stock any power cables except Isotek.

I don’t want to dilute this thread, which is about power cables.

There is a very interesting article in TAS The Great Proliferation: How High-End Audio Grew as a Global Industry - The Absolute Sound.  The article attempts to count the number of manufacturers worldwide active in the market, and classified by their primary product line.  I quote

The fastest growth is around the system 

Cables, power products, and accessories grew from a very small category in the 1960s to an estimated 400 companies in 2025. Racks, isolation products, and acoustic-treatment manufacturers increased from approximately seven to 190. 

Some of this growth reflects genuine technical specialization. As systems became more expensive, owners became more willing to address electrical noise, vibration, equipment support, and room acoustics. Measurement tools also made room problems more visible. But barriers to entry are comparatively low. A cable, footer, equipment platform, or acoustic panel usually requires less capital and engineering infrastructure than a loudspeaker, amplifier, or streamer. Products can be manufactured in small batches, sold at high margins, and shipped internationally. 

This makes accessories the easiest part of the industry to enter – and sometimes the hardest part for consumers to evaluate. The category contains useful engineering, luxury craftsmanship, speculative claims, and products whose prices bear little obvious relationship to production cost. Its growth reveals both the vitality and the vulnerabilities of the high-end market. 

The conclusion is fascinating: the hardest part for consumers to evaluate. The category contains useful engineering, luxury craftsmanship, speculative claims, and products whose prices bear little obvious relationship to production cost. Its growth reveals both the vitality and the vulnerabilities of the high-end market. 

as many people have said the recommended upgrade from the manufacturer is a great place to start
 

The reason that 6 feet of power cord matters is because we're dealing with alternating current that vibrates not direct current that flows 

if it was a direct current issue coming from 100 miles away, it would be a different world, but with alternating current, we're talking about a vibrational AC wave in the room and that 6 feet of power cord is an antenna

for noise above human hearing

why do we care about noise above human hearing? Because it affects the shape of the AC wave

and that affects the power supply

and that IS audible.

the better your system the more obvious it will be, but as a user of Shunyata research power cords, those are obvious in any system

@retiredaudioguy 

How is the cable rolling going?

@mclinnguy I have tried my MIT Z-Cords and the TriodLab cables.  I don't think I hear any difference.

@tuberist wrote:

Many here will say power cords will have a sonic impact if you have a resolving system.

Yes, you might think that a resolving system is key in discerning the kind of minute sound quality differences a power cord might make.

Not so, apparently:

@jbuddha882 wrote:

Came home and [...] all I had was a pair of KEF Q3 meta bookshelves and my AV receiver for the home theater, Onkyo TX-NR7100 integrated amp. The first thing I noticed, within 10 seconds of play time at LOW TO MEDIUM volume, was just plain more MEAT on the bones [...] the sound mainly got “thicker”, meat on the bones is what I can honestly say. Worth the $400 bucks, entirely. 

It's good to know that you don't need a good system, you just need good cables.