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Power Conditioning - How Important for Digital and Analog Source Components vs Amp?

I have two questions:  1) Is it worth installing power conditioning ONLY for my source components, and if so, 2) should I plan to use the same grade of power cords to my sources as I have with my amp (Gryphon Diablo 300)....

How impactful is using a conditioner (say an Audioquest Niagara 1200) on source components, as compared with amplifiers?  Is it worth getting a conditioner ONLY to use for my source components while leaving my Diablo 300 connected directly to the wall (as recommended by Gryphon)?

I can hear major differences with different brands of power cords connected to my Diablo 300, and I'm wondering if I need to invest in the same grade of power cables (3 of them!) for my conditioner (AQ 1200 potentially), turntable (VPS Prime 21), and digital source (Innuos Zenith Mk 2).  Can I cheap out a bit on the source power cords, or are these source power cords just as important as the power cord to my amp?

And finally, if I am JUST using the conditioner for my sources, do I still use a high-current power cord to the conditioner itself?

Looking forward to your thoughts!

 

 

 

nyev

Showing 2 responses by holmz

holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 

Yep, all makes sense.  What I was wondering about however, all conditions including "dirtiness" being equal, is which components are more or less impacted by the grade of power cords and conditioning.  Like, is it more important to put the best cords on the source or amp, etc...

A larger factor might be which source components, and whether they were designed to be more of less immune to power line noise.

One could always as those manufacturers, but whether they will comment is another issue.

holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 

Thanks, I suppose I will need to do a test of a basic cable connected to my conditioner vs a more spendy one.  Since I can’t swap my high end amp power cord without ruining the test results, I’ll need to find a demo cable to try.  
 

Despite my amp power cord making a world of difference, I somehow doubt the cable to the conditioner can possibly matter as much…. But this is just my unfounded speculation.

Your logic makes sense to me.

If the power conditioner is a cure-all then it should not need a PC on top.````````````

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