Repeating the experiment in the big rig netted the same result, albeit not as pronounced. This was likely because—due to its distance from the source stack—the power amp plugs into a different conditioner. It did not 'see' this cord upgrade. For the full Canadian sauce, I now swapped between our usual Ocellia OCC Silver cord on the Pass Labs XA-30.8; and Daniel's with the US plug. With a butch 20 transistors per channel, the pure class A Pass delivers 90wpc/8Ω at 1% THD. Formally it rates as just 30 watts to hide obvious headroom. That's the kind hardware Daniel's high-mass cable really aimed at, I thought.

Sure enough, it made the sound noticeably bassier; so much so that I had to revisit the carefully dialled-in speakers vs. front-wall vs. chair coordinates to compensate. This busted out of any small mental chamber labeled wishful thinking, purple prose or ripe imagination. This was a demonstrable current-related effect potent enough to upset the prior balance. Big amps luv thick cords? Corny enough for a bumper sticker, in this instance it was also true. Obviously thick alone could come from gratuitous internal spacers or resonance-absorptive fill. It needn't be raw conductor gauge.

The moral of today's little ditty is that yawning yes—play it again, Sam—power cords do make a difference. Does that justify a $2'621 spend for a 1.8 metre stretch? How much have you got... invested in your rig? It's the old tie-in with retreads on a fancy car. Most of us don't hit the race track. Tarting up tyres beyond consumer grade is questionable. Just make sure you have enough tread left. When asphalt is wet or slick with oil, any tire slips. And, snazzy ones could still make you feel better. That's how I view shiny power cords. They do absolutely nothing for me. They disappear behind the rack and amp stand. Who cares? Wojciech Pacula at HighFidelity.pl does, for one. You might too. We all draw our lines differently. Backing off this slippery slope for the solid ground of raw performance, DR Acoustics' Red Fire Ultra unquestionably delivered. How much of it went to the bling plugs, how much to everything else? I don't know. I simply heard how using this wire made two different systems sound bigger, beefier, more robust, here and anchored. On those counts, I don't know anyone who'd not find every one of these qualities very desirable indeed. Agreed?

DR Acoustics website