Has a Power Conditioner Improved Your Sound?

@jfrmusic 

I sent you a PM about GTO. I have been using e-TP80 and e-TP60 with my other audio systems in the house for over 15 plus years. My main audio room has GTX-D (R) receptacles and pair of NCF Clear Line Filters. 

@jfrmusic

IsoTek is a good start to explore power conditioning. That’s all they do and they do it extremely well. There are so many approaches to cleaning incoming power, starting with dedicated power lines.

I’ve tried many popular and big brands power conditioners costing upto $20K. While they effectively lowers the noise floor, each of them added some sort of coloration. If you own a high resolution system, you can easily discern changes to overall transparency, tonality, dynamics, etc. each time you introduce a new element. While I appreciated the next level of reduced noise floor, I did not care for coloration being added to the sound.

Next, I decided to try transformer based power conditioning. To my surprise, it did some things better and more importantly added zero coloration. I have two dedicated lines in my audio room so that helps but plugging my electronics directly vs power conditioner netted in more transparency and increased dynamics. The longer I listened the more I was drawn into music. Music simply sounded more alive.. I was over the moon with what I was hearing for a fraction of price but more importantly, no coloration. Each note rendering effortlessly without accentuating any element around a central note. It’s more explosive on loud passages and quieter on quiet passages. The scale of the music is also more diverse, some recordings sound bigger, others smaller.

A good power conditioner reduces or completely eliminates unwanted RF and crud that comes in from the power grid. You need to find one that does it with least bit of coloration to the music.

“So since my system is dead silent I’m not yet connected any power conditioner will add enough to justify the cost or worse degrade the sound.”
@jfrmusic, 

Just like anything else in audio, no two products are created equal or have similar outcome. I suggest you to try few conditioners and decide if you need one or not needing at all. My system is dead quiet to began with, even then I found power conditioner to further lower the noise. It ties everything together nicely and you stop thinking about it and get down to enjoying music. 

All of my components, including Class A, Accuphase Integrated plugged into power conditioner. I can understand your skepticism, you can always start off with a passive power distributor like Furutech e-TP60 or iFi power station with active noise cancellation before spending more money. 

@audioquest4life, 

I am using a pair of Shindo Mr. T in my system. I started off with one and added 2nd one to run digital and analog components separately. One Mr. T easily powered my entire system but 2nd one affords more outlets and easy placement options. 

“So since my system is dead silent I’m not yet connected any power conditioner will add enough to justify the cost or worse degrade the sound.”

@jfrmusic

I guess, you have an answer to your earlier query. For now, enjoy 707 until you’re ready to step up or try something else. Great outcome! 

Good posts by @wokeuptobose and @fastfreight and thank you for sharing your experiences. I can’t help wondering @jfrmusic decision to go with a entry level power conditioner given rest of his system.

IMHO, a component such as power conditioner which serves as a foundation of your system, should be uncompromising in every conceivable way.

@jfrmusic

Perhaps you misunderstood my last post. It’s not about spending 4 to 5 times. It’s about finding the right component that offers no compromises given so much riding on it. In my experience, a passive power conditioner like iFi or Furutech would have yielded better performance with everything plugged into it. Check out the link for iFi with return privileges. If I were in your shoes, I would have ordered this combination to compare against 707. In my opinion, AQ707 is not the best choice for your system. I am using a $2800 PC that’s powering a system well north of $100K.

https://a.co/d/6nop3JQ

“I returned the 707”

@jfrmusic 

I may sound like a broken record, your high resolution system deserves a power conditioner that further lowers the AC noise without stripping away the dynamics and other virtues. Between Shunyata and Furutech, my money is on one of the passive Furutech power distributor, install it and get back to enjoying music. 

@jfrmusic

Go to Audiogon sales website and click message icon next to 🔔 icon. 

@jfrmusic 

Any further update on your experience with Power Conditioners? 

@jfrmusic 

Thank you for the update. I willl check out the cable thread and look forward to your findings on Stack Audio. Among other things, their isolation footers caught my attention. It’s ok to wait on PC but know this, clean power is fundamental to your audio system optimal performance.