I finally added two Taihang Power Enhancers from Vinshine Audio to my system. The hardest part was waiting for them to arrive! It’s a hot day and two window AC units are going and so is an air purifier, so it’s noisy today and not an ideal day for listening (and no, my wife will not let me turn off the AC). The Taihang is replacing a Transparent Powerbank 6 power conditioner (w/6 outlets – first image)
Addressing some of the common questions raised in this thread… the length of the wait. I ordered my stuff on June 1 and it arrived on July 13, so it took exactly 6 weeks for them to arrive (although I could argue that these six weeks were longer than 6 regular weeks, since I was waiting…). I ordered some of the Exact Express Flame and Earth Series interconnects from them at the same time and those arrived in 18 days.
I built a layered platform for it (mostly for fun and to get them up off the carpet) and that platform has spike feet to hold it in place (image 2), and on that I placed “Isolate It: Sorbothane Vibration” pads in place to prevent the Taihang from sliding around – perhaps it will contribute to the sound quality as well (image 3). It feels very secure and does not move – it is also tucked out of the way from dogs and toddlers, under a small end-table. Any improvement in sound from that step alone would be unknown to me, as I didn’t do any comparisons.
As for the power cords that power them, I am currently playing around with them so I cannot yet comment on that – I have a $16 hospital grade power cord going to one, and a $1,000 Pro Thunder power cord going to the other one, and I am sublimely unaware of a difference – my rationale is that I will let the Taihang do the heavy lifting in terms of power quality going to my devices. The Earth Series PCs go to the Laiv components, from the Pro Thunder-fed Taihang (mostly). I have two Transparent Model: High Performance PowerLink power cables I may swap into the wall-to-Taihang connections, or buy more Exact Express PCs.
Changing any of these after the fact is tediously difficult for me, however. As an aside, although Vinshine sells both the Taihang and the Earth and Flame series of interconnects, the size of the Earth Series plugs prevents one from easily seating them side by side in the Taihang (see image 3, right side). A single mm farther apart in the plug receptacles would have made a difference (or a smaller outer diameter for the plugs and connectors on the Earth Series PC) – you can see the slight tilt to two adjacent plugs in the image of two already connected.
Getting all this set up took some time (images 4/5), but it’s clearly better. Improvements to a good system (IMHO) are going to be incremental, and my ears are not trained like some reviewer’s ears are. But I can hear the difference. The main thing I’ve noticed is the sound stage or imaging is just more precise and notable and somehow spread out in width and, oddly, height and placement for instruments. A quiet background is promised, but perhaps I’m too naive to recognize that, or the AC running continuously in the background prevents me from hearing it (I’ve also said that I thought a wine tasted “good”, so there’s that). I wish I not only had the vocabulary that Steve Huff has, but his ears as well. I am stuck with my chronic tinnitus and roll-off of high frequency hearing from aging. But, I can still hear a difference in this setup. My wife can hear it as well.
I guess we could call Steve Huff @stevehuff an “influencer” and that just might make me one of the “influenced”. I have dived into the Laiv Harmony landscape, and his highly recommended Closer Acoustic OGY/BOB speakers. The latter are improved by the addition of isolation platforms I just bought for them. I am (unlike a career reviewer) about to (gasp!) stop buying new stuff – and I feel like I could listen to this setup from here on out. But then I had to go and buy some used Ohm Walsh F3 speakers that are 30 years old and sound every bit as good as the OGY/BOBs. They are in the office and sublime. They are also playing off of a McIntosh that is simply plugged into the wall (image 6). Heavy sigh… Perhaps exploration of the love of listening to quality sound and music shall not leave me just yet.
The sound in my main system is clearly improved with the Taihang Power Enhancer and my interactions with Alvin Chee have been characterized by polite decency and a comprehensive understanding of what he speaks. Worth ordering, and perhaps before August 1st.
Tim
System 1: Taihang Power Enhancer (2), Innuos ZEN MK3 Streamer/Ripper; MoFi StudioDeck turntable; Laiv Harmony Audio components – Laiv Harmony DAC, Laiv uDDC, Laiv HP2A, Laiv LExt and Laiv Harmony GaNM mono-block amplifiers. Cables: Handmade, by Definitive Audio, speaker cables, 25’; Pro Thunder Power PC, Morrow Audio MA4 Interconnect XLR Balanced – 48 SSI; Morrow Audio PH4 Phono Cables; Earth Express Flame Series XLR interconnects and Earth Series Power cords. Speakers: Closer Audio OGY/BOBs on Closer Acoustics Isolation Platform with IsoAcoustics isolators Gaia II footing.
Office: Transparent Powerbank 6; McIntosh MA252, Bluesound Node; Audioquest RedRiver RCA cables; el-cheapo speaker wire to Ohm Walsh F3 speakers.