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Power Conditioners: Audioquest Niagara 5000 or Shunyata Denali 6000S

I’ve been trying to decide which of these two power conditioners might make a better purchase. Do any of you own either, have chosen one over the other, or better yet, gotten to A/B them? I’ve found some, but not a lot, of information online comparing the two. So I thought I’d ask if any of you might know something more.

They both come in at $4000 retail which is my budgetary limit. The Niagara is active, the Denali passive. Some threads compare the Denal a little less favorably to the twice as expensive Audioquest Niagara 7000, for what that’s worth. I heard that the Audioquest Niagara 5000 may hum or buzz under some cirumstances. Anybody have that issue? I’ll probably never get a chance to demo them out here in the hinterlands so I’m hanging on your every word before I drop another wad of cash on one or the other.

There is also an Audio Magic conditioner at the same $4000 price point, but I didn’t quite understand it’s function in comparison to the other two. I’ll have to reread that product description.Someone else recommended a Richard Gray model that confusingly turned out to be a giant-sized surge protector.

Anyway I’d appreciate if any of you have any input on this somewhat obscure topic of power conditioners. I’m looking at one of these two power conditioners as opposed to a regenerator, or pure isolation transformer, or other type of line conditioner. If it’s of any import my equipment is a VPI Classic 2 SE turntable with an Ortofon 2M Black moving magnet cartridge, a Marantz SA8005 CD player, a Luxman 507uX Mark II integrated amp, and Magico A3 speakers all to be on a dedicated line and plugged into the conditioner. I am not interested in purchasing used.

Thanks for any input or advice. I hope someone out there knows something about these two.

Mike
skyscraper

Showing 2 responses by rzado

rzado
166 posts
 
Hi Skyscraper,

In a week I should be able to provide a more informed comparison that may be of some interest to you on the Shunyata v. Audioquest issue, but right now I have in house both an Audioquest Denali 5000 and the latest Shunyata Triton v3, which I am comparing to my current Purepower 3000+.  

As of this time, I have not had enough time to give thoughts on the Shunyata, but I was not impressed by the Audioquest.  Like pretty much every serial filtering conditioner I have tried, it presents a mixed bag of audio qualities.  In my system, it constrained the soundstage, bringing everything forward towards the plane of the speakers, and produced a more pronounced lower midrange.  If one's system is laid back, it may provide the sense of more excitement or jump factor, but I found it fatiguing. 

Caveat 1 - I only use power conditioners on front end components, not amps
Caveat 2 - my default power setup is pretty good, with all dedicated AC lines wired with Cardas in wall cable and Oyaide R-0 outlets, with an Eritech 10ft chemical grounding rod surrounded in bentonite clay.






rzado
166 posts
 
Hi Mike,

I have now had enough opportunity listening in my system to provide some comparison thoughts.  The below anysis is with respect to the Audioquest 5000 to latest Shunyata Triton only.  Please note I have no skin in this game, and ultimately elected to purchase neither product after auditioning both for about 2 months. In fact, I own and use an AQ WEL Signature power cord for my current power conditioner (a Purepower 3000).

In short, the Shunyata substantially outperformed the Audioquest in my system.  The Shunyata works well at reducing noise, presenting information with a lot of ease.  Instruments have a lot of tonal density and color across the stage.  Low level resolution is good.  Ultimate stage width and depth is passable, but not remarkable.  My biggest issues is in the lower midrange to midbass.  The Shuyata is, in my system, notably colored, with a bit of a caramel presentation and warmth in the range of the cello and bass guitar.  In many systems, this would work well, but my system is already a touch warm in this range, so the Shunyata is not a good fit.

In view of the above, I would recommend the Shunyata for those in the market for such a product taking into account its characteristics.  I would not recommend the Audioquest, which to me sounds like a typical active filtering power conditioner - you can get the same performance for less.


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