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However, once you toss aside the stock cable it becomes awfully difficult to say one particular upgrade cable is better than another or which component might benefit the most. My experience has shown that regardless of where in the chain a particular power cord is placed, the effect is usually quite similar. Furthermore I think differences between power cables are far less than most of us—especially reviewers—state. We tend to deliberately exaggerate differences to better describe them. While the distinctions I hear between various power cords are quite real, their importance and degree will vary between systems and listeners. Only you can determine the importance, if any, of such differences as well as their value. Either it’s worth the expense or it's not.


There also doesn’t seem to be a predictable pricing hierarchy. A $2.000 cable won’t necessarily be the better cable than a $500 one. I’d be real leery of dropping a couple of grand on any power cable. There are some very good affordable ones worth trying. A couple of favorites are Wireworld’s fine series which starts at a very affordable price and newcomer Sablon Audio's Robusto.


Now you can add PS Audio’s PerfectWave AC cables to the list. PS Audio is an engineering-driven company which is my code phrase for sensibly designed, attractively priced products blessedly free of mystical aura aka bullshit. Essentially you get a lot for your hard-earned cash.


For today’s review PS Audio sent me a sample of their top-line AC-12 and a pair of AC-5 cords which retail for $799.99 and $249.99 respectively. I’ll skip to the chase and declare these exceptional performers for the price. I’ll only give a brief description as PS Audio’s website is easily one the most comprehensive to give you a complete breakdown of each cable’s design. Point your browser here and here for the fat skinny on the AC-5 and AC-12.

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