I don't have an explanation per se but I can concur with your results. While I'm not a cable critic as you can see from my system, I nevertheless failed to see the logic in spending money on power cords as the components I bought all have substantial power supplies and associated components. As you can see, I have what I would describe as a respectable system but recently I haven't been enjoying it at all and was beginning to suspect the preamp or the speakers might be the problem (which turned out to be unfair as I would soon find out).
In any case, I've been changing my power configuration around and now have only one wall receptacle to work with (230V/13A) from my earlier three receptacle configuration. To deal with this issues, I ordered a Hot Box from VH Audio (you can see the configuration below) as I needed four plugs. When the Hot Box arrived (fantastic packaging btw, it's nice to see that some people still take value such things) I immediately unwrapped it, plugged it into the wall and plugged the Wadia 861se GNSC Statement CDP and Mark Levinson 326S preamp in (stock PCs) and went back to my seat and hit play on the beautiful new Wadia remote. The improvement was not subtle. It's as if the front end said, FINALLY. I had no idea what a well designed power cord and receptacles could do that to a system. Vocals were more intelligible, instruments more defined, decay enhanced, the bottom end had more power and it was as if the whole system was louder (granted the bass was a little overpowering at first but has settled in). More important than all that was that the music was back, PRaT appeared from its deathbed; I can finally enjoy my system.
My experience with the Hot Box means that I'll definitely be ordering some Airsines to compare against the Transparent and MIT products I'll be demoing soon.
I know it sounds overboard but I haven't stopped listening to my system since the Hot Box and for that there are no words that can express my appreciation regarding Chris' products (he's also very patient and frank in responding to questions). At the end of the day, I'm at the point that the science, while nice to understand, is irrelevant when the results are this good. Logic am failed and I couldn't be happier.
