The Puritan is the first audiophile grade conditioner I have used, so I can’t make comparisons to other offerings.
I connected the Puritan last Saturday and ran it for 127 hours straight. What it has done for the SQ of my system has far exceeded my expectations even though I read about others’ great experiences and had two AG members highly recommended it to me directly.
I guess it’s just different when you hear the benefits for yourself on your rig and also underscores the insufficiency of using words to convey the quality and quantity of SQ gains in hifi.
For background: I put in two dedicated 10g lines and hifi duplex outlets about 2 years ago. Not sure I really heard much from adding those. But the Puritan: I almost can’t believe how much it cleans things up. It’s a “What the deuce?” “No-way I’m getting this much improvement” Improvement.
The noise floor dropped immediately, but after 12 hours the top end and upper mids smoothed out, confirming what I thought I had noticed: those areas were quite forward at first. I can only use words to generalize and say it continues to sound cleaner/quieter, more balanced in frequency response and soundstage, freed from the speaker as a source and just more transparent/relaxed—aka, real? I listen at low spl’s but last nite I was listening lower than usual and it sounded great. Noise removed, dynamics present at lower spl, I suspect. Other variables can account for that, so I will see if that repeats. On the other hand, I have confirmed that when I do go louder, it is a bit more acceptable to my ears with the noise removed. It really is just something you have to experience. Echoing a post made earlier: Everything gets better when noise is reduced. Using an office equipment-grad surge protector once, I've heard dynamics clipped. To me, the 156 appears to be a product of a meticulous engineer, right down to the packing materials and literature enclosed. “Built like a tank” was said to me by my dealer and now I see why.
I’ve not even looked into what the upgraded cord costs, but If anyone tries it, I’d love to hear what that might do. My dealer intends to try it and report his findings to me.