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RE: The precise mechanism is, to say the least, poorly understood

The mechanical aspect has always lurked in the back of my mind as being a big deal. After all, cryogenic treatment of most materials apparently does not change the chemical structure (I'm told that an exception is for certain ferrous based materials), but instead relieves internal mechanical stress. I've read that musicians, like brass instrument players, often can change the sound of their instrument through cryogenic treatment. Of the instrument, not them.

Coincidence??

With regard to to power cables, I think that one needs to look at what they do.

Obviously, their primary mission is to supply 50/60 Hz AC current to the equipment. Or, DC. Actually, there's also multiple harmonics of the AC mains frequency, too, since most rectifier systems used in electronic products only conduct during part of the AC waveform and that creates harmonic currents from the basic supply. This is a well known engineering consideration and can be easily measured. And, is measured all the time.

But, in addition to that mission, power cables also provide a path for common mode currents between various pieces of electronics. This is also a well known engineering consideration, but is usually ignored for some reason. This can be measured as well. And, is measured almost never.

Along the way, common mode signals can be, and often are, converted to differential mode signals which is what audio electronics nominally runs on. (Again, this can be measured.) The very high frequency signals found in digital equipment easily find their way around systems. They may be outside the usual audio frequencies, but they are inside the frequency ranges used by digital audio processing circuits. Plus, most analog circuitry has really lousy linearity outside the audio band and various distortion products and noise can find their way into the frequency ranges we're interested in. And, the common mode currents are often switched on and off at the AC mains frequency by those same rectifier systems for varying period of time depending on the instantaneous current demands. Not so well controlled, eh?

OK, that all sounds like techno-babble arm waving.

So, consider this:

If power cords and AC conditioners actually change the sound quality of a system - for better or worse - doesn't that say that there's more going through the AC mains than just 50/60 Hz AC? In the case of DC, there should be nothing but plain old DC, right? So, why should anything matter as long as the basic voltage drop of the 50/60 Hz or the DC isn't too severe?

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