Re: [Leica] $800 power cord, use your head, not your ears.

[Paul Chefurka <pchefurk@ca.newbridge.com>]

BIRKEY, DUANE wrote:
> 
> $800 for a power cord to improve sound quality???    I'm sceptical.

I'm not so much skeptical as puzzled.  I once heard a tweak power
cord make a huge difference - on two amps from the same manufacturer.
The effect was so obvious that I felt the  outlay ($200, not $800)
was easily justified.  Recently I tried the experiment with other
power cords and other amps, and there wasn't a hint of an effect.
BTW - both tests were completely open - that's how I listen
to music, so that's how I evaluate components.  And I know all
about the placebo effect.

So I'm left with the impression that by and large there are a
whole lot of other things one can more profitably worry about
and throw money at.  But I'm left with the memory of that
single epiphany - there was no sense that I was "straining
at gnats" like I often did when comparing interconnects.
'Tis indeed a puzzlement!

My feeling about these sorts of accessories is rather like my
feeling about super-expensive carbon-fiber tripods.  For most
that buy them, they will make no difference.  For some who buy
them their pictures may actually get worse die to the low mass
of the thing. But they bring pleasure and satisfaction to their
users, and it is peoples' right to spend as much as they wish
on whatever they wish.

I believe that for some people the mere ownership of expensive
objects (and the sacrifices required to do so) is a source of
intrinsic pleasure.  Be honest now, most of us have this little
thought squirreled away in the backs of our minds: "My Leica
is one of the best cameras in the world.  The amount I had to
pay for it proves it!"

Paul Chefurka