Question about Shunyata Power Conditioners
Hi, I recently purchased a couple of cables from Shunyata. First one is the Venom-X speaker cable, and the other is the Venom-X power cable. These are my first Shunyata products, and I am very impressed with them.
I’ve always been a fan of Kimber Kable, Most of my IC are Kimber Select & Hero lines, and I was using a pair of Kimber 12TC speaker cables, before replacing them with the Shunyata. I was actually comparing the Shunyata Venom-X to a pair of Kimber Bifocal XL, which is $1000 more expensive, and I like the Shunyata better especially in the bass department. The Shunyata really adds a nice slam and punchiness to the bass, I returned the Bifocal and kept the Shunyata.
Anyway I’m now thinking about adding a power conditioner from Shunyata. I’m considering either the Hydra Delta D6 or their reference line Denali 6000/s V2.
Has anyone had experience with either or both of these 2 conditioners, and be able to provide some feedbacks on their performance. The Denali is almost twice as expensive as the Hydra Delta, so I want to make sure I’m spending my hard earned dollars wisely.
Also FYI, I have not had heard much improvement of sound when it comes to power cables or conditioners. I currently own a Furman Elite 15i, and mostly Pangea power cables. The Pangea are very affordable comparing to many other brands of power cables. That’s one of the reasons why I purchased them. Mostly for my peace of mind. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard much improvement over stock cables. The Forman Elite is also reasonably priced with a lot of outlets.
I always think that I must have very decent power source in my home already, and therefore I don’t hear much improvement. I’m not a skeptic when it comes to power cables and conditioners, I just simply don’t have many positive experiences with them.
One more thing I want to mention is that I do my own noise test by cranking up my volume control on my preamp to max, with my digital source turned on but not playing anything (of course). I put my ear right again my speakers and hardly hear any hum or noise at all. So I concluded that I don't have any noise issue in my system. This is hardly a scientific experiment and please tell me if this is a stupid test. 😀
Anyway, any comments and shared experiences will be appreciated. Thanks for reading!
@xcool I'm a big fan of Shunyata technology as I have a full loom of Shunyata power, speaker, interconnect and Ethernet cables. I also have the Everest conditioner which you mentioned is out of your price range. You may want to consider listening to Shunyata's Altaira grounding system. I've been at a couple demos letting us hear the difference where the Altaira grounding hub was enabled / disabled in the system and the SQ difference was noticeable.
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I've owned the original V1 Denali with Sigma V1 PC's for all of my components and liked it. When the V2 version launched, I've moved the V1 to my AV system and replaced the new V2 Denali and power cords in my audio. I like this much better, One piece of advise for power hungry amps: more often than not, going straight in to a wall socket works best and leave the Denali for your source components. Keep in mind that quality wall sockets make a difference as well. Warmest regards |
I am a big fan of Shunyata Research products. Years ago, I purchased Sidewinder Gold and Venom Zitron power cords. My system at the time was not very revealing and the cords made little difference to my ears. In 2019 after several upgrades, I purchased a Venom V10 NR. This was a great improvement with lower noise, increased dynamics... Then I purchased a Delta v2 NR. Totally awesome! Much better than the Venom and worth the price difference! To my ears, my best sound is when the Delta is plugged into the DAC. The Venom V10 is on my power amp. The DAC and power amp are plugged into a Shunyata CopperConn wall outlet. I also use Venom V14 NR power cords on my iMac and DDC. I currently do not have a power conditioner. I have a 3 Duplex outlet box from Connex (PartsConnexion) that I have upgraded. I also purchased an AC noise meter like Shunyata uses in dome of their video demonstrations. I plugged the noise meter into an unused outlet in my outlet box. Interestingly, I found the lowest AC noise was when the two Venom V14 NR cords were plugged into the same duplex outlet. Happy listening! |
Thanks very much @bjack70jr for sharing your experience! Very helpful! |
I’m also a fan of Shunyata conditioners and power cords. I upgraded from the old Running Springs products (multiple Haley’s and Jaco). The Denali 6000 v2 came first with the Sigma XC cord, and everything improved in terms of detail, separation, definition and weight. Later I added the Everest with Sigma XC cord and changed over the power cords for my preamps and sources. (I have both conditioners in my main system, as I have a combined two-channel and HT system.). The improvement was substantial with the Everest. I recently changed the Everest’s power cord from the Sigma to the Omega XC and another level of performance was achieved. I would say that the improvement of the power cord was almost as much as going from Denali to Everest in my system. OP in your system, I think that you’d be happy with the Denali 6000 v2 with Sigma XC combo.
Many thanks to @craig for his input in this thread. I guess I won’t try a Puritan any time soon, as I’ve been curious about that conditioner as well. I am confused about not using a cord higher than the Sigma NR’s however. While I do understand the noise reduction in the cords, wouldn’t a larger gauge of the Omega’s be of benefit? I have a QR-s on my DAC and have been thinking about an Omega QR for my Coda amp. Otherwise I’ve been very happy with the King Cobra Helix CX’s on my preamps. I just picked up one of the two KC CX’s recently sold and am looking forward to placing it on my Aurender. |
