Hydra 8 vs Sound Application 'Linestage Reference"

I had both. They were not even close. The Hydra "changed" the sound of my system but did not improve it. In my system, the sound application RLS-1 was nothing short of amazing. I have had a few other conditioners that all alter the sound in one way or another. Some of these changes are pleasant. However, I always found that something else would change for the worse (i.e. lack of soundstage depth, unfocused images, oversized images, etc). The sound application changes things the least. For me it improved soundstage depth and preserved focus of images all with glorious timbre. One caveat. I recently changed my entire front end and found the the Adept Response AR6-T was better with my new front end than the sound app. Thus, all of these things are system dependent. If there was one message I would leave you with it is that the sound app puts the least of it's own signature on your system versus the others.

Just returned from the holiday, sorry for the delay. I have no way of judging the Lexicon in the way you describe as I use it now only for DVD. Initially I used it as my CD player when I was using the Theta as a pre pro. The sound was very good, but now things are quite a bit better. I am thinking about running the Lexicon through the Boulder preamp to use it as a player for SACD and DVD-A, and getting a competent BluRay/DVD player for the theater side. If you are looking for an RLS, I still have mine for now. I am getting new speakers delivered in 2 weeks, and the dealer has agreed to take it as part of the trade in. You can email me if you are interested.

Rja is absolutely right. I have had 4 different highly regarded line conditioners in my system at various times. I think you can get a sense of what their "sound" is like. However, which will suit an individuals taste can be highly variable. As I pointed out, I LOVED the sound application on my other preamp, but the Adept response was better with the new preamp. Go figure.