Hi Tom: I use both though neither the conditioner or PC are expensive ones (Monster HTS 2000 and HT Pro 11 PC). I have made a fairly thorough assessment (with my ears and brain, not electronic test equipment) of their impact on my system and have come to the conclusion that after 11:30pm until 3-3:30am (not all nights as sometimes the power never cleans up) it is difficult to tell whether the power conditioner makes an improvement or change at all (I have tried it with and without), so I use it all the time as it does not seem to, on the other hand, deteriorate the sound either. Outside of this narrow window of time the improvement that it offers is very noticeable. The power cord (was on my CD player previously and has now been switched to my new DAC) however makes a very noticeable improvement at all times of the day and night. I have two standard manufacturer's generic cords that I have tried in place of the HT Pro 11 for this test. The results of the tests were the same when done to my CD player only, and most recently to the player/DAC combo. Because of this I will be picking up and upgraded power cord to use on my player (now used as a transport) as well. I assume that the sound will improve when using upgraded PC's on both of my digital front end components. That said, I also assume that if you have a very clean AC source, then a power conditioner (reasonably priced) would offer little improvement, if any. I would not expect this to necessarily hold true with state of the art conditioners such as the PS Audio and others that really do a number on the AC current. Other than being curious, I am also very cheap and do not wish to spend money on items that do not improve the sound quality of my system. I would also like to point out that the differeces that I noted may not be considered to be an actual improvement by others (as this must be left up to personal taste and there are also general trade offs to be considered with any improvement made). In other words, different is not always better on a whole, it is just a balancing act.
Power Chords and Line Conditioning
Does a good power chord do the same thing as a line conditioner does? I hear in terms of performance that they both provide lower noise floors and with less hash and white noise. They tend to tighten up loose bass and smooth out the overall presentation of the signal. Just curious before I purchase either one of the two mentioned. Thanks