I want my breakers to trip on safety voltage, not just thermal overload. There's nothing inherently bad with chassis ground and safety wire. Cheater plug should only be used to diagnose a problem, then removed.
If a cheater plug makes it sound better then something is broken, or badly designed, and yes, there is plenty of badly designed equipment for sale in this hobby. A well designed component with 3 prong plug doesn't benefit from lifting the safety prong. But check your house wiring for faults before blaming the gear.
+1 tmazz advice on testing every outlet for polarity and safety trip. I had several that were wrong in my 2005 house, and since then a dozen more failed outlets and switches due to loosened connections and junk parts. 2 were found from smoke coming out of them - proof breakers don't always trip on thermal, that's why you need voltage trip also, unless it's a vintage component with double insulated chassis. Modern new home construction industry relies on [PC]less-well-trained labor[/PC] than 30 years ago, so you really should inspect and tighten every single wiring screw in the house for safety, efficiency, and audio performance too.
I totally get this. Unfortunately for the OCD riddled amongst us absolute SQ occasionally runs askance of the best intentions of those that would protect us.
Enter the safety ground. We have two ways to go here. We can either follow the NEC or go for best SQ.
The NEC ( as well as the IEC ) is written to protect the stupidest among us from killing ourselves and to prevent our estates from winning law suits. I hate to be this contrarian, but there comes a time when we have to accept responsibility for our transgressions. To do so presupposes that we, in turn are NOT ignorant and know enough to have set up our systems with safety, polarity and SQ in that order.
If there is a component failure we need to remember safety protocol: don't freak out; turn the switch off on the piece of gear; unplug it from the wall; wait for 10 minutes, and then carefully see WTH is going on.
I guess my approach to all of this is somewhat different from others having worked in semiconductor implant where voltages run into millions of volts and currents supplying sources over 250A. You learn to be diligent or you die. One to one equation.
The vast majority of electrical house fires come from overloaded receptacle - you know: the ones that gave 3 or 4 18ga extension cords plugged into a 15A circuit with loose connections. This includes our service entries. Here in the southwest that entry is typically aluminum wire to the panel. Aluminum has 35% greater expansion than copper. What this means is that it will loosen fixing screws quicker. Thermal overloads are much more prevalent in an overloaded receptacle than the circuit breaker supplying it.
Most importantly, before one ventures into a completely ungrounded system we/he/she must make absolutely sure that our local grids (homes) are up to snuff.
I roll without the safety ground. That is not to say that blindly doing so us prudent. Make sure you know the condition of your electrical circuit. If you don't feel comfortable doing so, by all means: call a professional. If you do: be smart and think things through.
When I was 3, I stuck a bobbypin into an electrical receptacle because I had seen my Dad, a journeyman electrician, stick his Simpson Meter into walls many times. That experience is the only memory that I really is in me old memory banks that are intact from the act to the outcome. I remember my Mom's facial expression. I also remember my Dad laughing and saying something about experience...