Is an isolation transformer better than a power conditioner?

The problem I have with evaluating PC's is the subjective impressions of improvement relative to what they had before adding such gear. The responses would suggest (at least to a laymen) that what you had before wasn't really that good, and by adding a PC all of a sudden the sound was so improved that you can't imagine how you lived without it! I understand that there must be some excitement to any improvements that one makes to a system, but a little truth in advertising would help put things in proper perspective. If your system was quite good before, additions/upgrades should yield incremental and subtle changes, not watershed changes! 

@clearthink My pockets are not empty, but neither are they brimming over to the point that I want to spend $4-10K on a PC if the gains are marginal at best. I’m not suggesting that the potential differences are marginal, but you completely ignored my point which was the gains/improvements couldn’t possibly be that profound (unless they are) without the system not sounding very good prior to the addition of a PC (or any other component for that matter, excluding speakers which will by far have the greatest potential to transform the sound of a system). I have heard highend PC’s on SUPER highend systems and the differences were not easily detectable (if at all) so again, how could my experiences be so mild and others stating profound changes? And before you insult me with my experience level, trust me, it is sufficient to know what a ’difference’ is and how I should interpret those differences.

@ghdprentice Thanks for your response! Thank you for addressing what I asked about and not getting off on a tangent that wasn't relevant to the question. I was just reading about a speaker designer who cautioned to beware of changes that make an audible difference, but are not in fact improvements! He specifically mentioned speaker cables and how the electrical properties affect the sound in ways that are dramatic but not always welcome, but because you hear a change, you convince yourself that the change was good only for it to annoy you a few months down the road. Not at all saying this was your experience with your power cord upgrade, just making conversation. I fully agree that if you spent $22K on a component, it is reasonable to spend X on a comparable cable solution regardless of any expectations. It just wouldn't make sense to use Zip cord for a $30K pair of speakers, etc. 

@ghdprentice Haha, I use Blue Jeans cables to great affect in my rather resolving system! Many of the highend brands use Belden cable as the basis for their own (fancy jackets and dielectrics) cables and the buyer is none the wiser! As I said, before, at a particular level of clear and transparent sound (I have that in spades) focused and deep soundstage where the speakers cease to be identifiable as the source of the sound (I have that in spades), micro detail that is easily heard vs other systems that do not resolve as well or present such sonic cues as being common to true highend setups (I have that is spades); I don't personally see how one can claim that the change was so profound that the adjectives used are so extreme. If you had a wide/deep/detailed soundstage before, claiming that it was expanded so greatly with some new accessory seems dubious to me. A collapsed soundstage to me is just that, it ceases to give you the impression of the sound coming from behind the plane of the speakers, etc. Deeper is one thing, but many would have you believe that it wasn't present before, and it miraculously now is....