I is surprising to see that make that big of a difference. But those cheap power strips are a waste to be anywhere near audio gear. I use one next to my quintet but is is for other things not my audio equipment or music server computer, they all get the cleaned up power from the quintet. I would say you would be better off to buy another after market cord that is long enough to reach the quintet and that would be the best case if you want to have the clean power and protection of the quintet. I would think it would be ok to temporarily plug the levinson into the wall but I would be afraid that anything wrong with the incoming power could hurt it.