Audioquest Niagara 7000 tested with Power Line Meter


A few months ago I bought a Niagara 7000.  Upon plugging all of my components in I noticed an immediate, dramatic improvement in the sound.  I was blown away.  
This post is not a review of said unit, but I wanted to share with you a test I did in comparing the noise of the electricity in my house to that which is coming from the Niagara 7000. 
 
I bought a Power Line Meter from Alpha Labs.  https://www.alphalabinc.com/product/plm/
My local dealer had one at the shop and I immediately wanted one so I ordered it online.  
I plugged it into the outlet that the Niagara is plugged into and it read between 1100 and 1200 mV.  For comparison, I tested the power at my office and it read in the range of 450 mV.  Needless to say, my home power lines have a lot of noise in them!  

Now, when I plugged the meter into an outlet on the back of the Niagara it read only 11 mV.  That is an incredible reduction in line noise.  I did not expect it to read so low. 
The dealer I mentioned did the same comparison between the standard outlets in the shop and a Niagara 5000.  Without the Niagara it was around 500 mV and with it was around 50 mV.  I had wondered what the performance gains might be between the 7000 and the 5000, considering the former costs twice as much.  If the meter test is any indication, the 5000 allows around 5 times the noise through. 
Granted, none of these tests are done scientifically or in a controlled environment, but they are still interesting numbers.  

It would be interesting to test different brands of power conditioners to see how they compare.
128x128snackeyp

Showing 1 response by audiotroy

I hate to be a negative nancy but we tested the Niagra 7000 and were not that impressed vs our reigning champ the Audio Magic Oracle.

In our $150k Reference system the Niagra made the entire system sound noticablely more closed in and less musical then the Audio Magic.

We were going to purchae the Niagra but sent it back. 

We have also tested noise meters on many power line conditioners just because the line noise is low doesn't mean the power line conditioner is producing a sound quality improvement that is different than just noise reduction. In our tests of many power conditioners it is the improvement in soundstage width, depth, and macro dynamics that are greatly improved vs just lowering the noise floor.

For the record we have tested Running Springs, Isotek, Silver Circle, Audience, older Shunyatta older Synergistic Units and a few others.

With any power conditioner you must test it yourself. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ