Yet Another Post About Power Conditioners!


OK, OK, so I know there are eleventy billion posts about what power conditioners are better than others. I've read them all...yes, all eleventy billion! But, I am still wondering which one I should chose.

Here's the backdrop: I have four dedicated, 20-amp outlets. There's a bunch of noise on them. So bad I can hear a local hip hop station clearly playing through my Greenwave Dirty Noise Filter w/speaker. I use an assortment of very high-end, and expensive power cables,. I use very expensive, high-end outlets. My system consists of a Mobile Fidelity Ultradeck, a PS Audio GCHP phone stage, an AudioLab 6000CDT transport, a Burson Audio 3x Reference headphone amp, and Focal Clear headphones. Everything is connected with really good interconnects, most of which are balanced. Having downsized from a much larger, much more power system, these nuggets suit my current needs just fine.

Still that AC noise. Given the size of my system, it's silly to spend mega-bucks on a regenerator, or the expensive balanced isolation transformer PCs. Based on my research, I've narrowed my choices to these in the $1500 and under price range:

Furman Elite 15 or 20 PFi (used)
AudioQuest Niagara 1200
PS Audio Dectect
Core Power Equi=Core 1000 or 1800 (no return policy, ugh)
Shunyata Hydra 8 (used)
Decware ZLC (10-12 month wait, ugh)
NuPrime Pure AC-4
Toroid BTE500E or 1000E Balanced Transformer
Tripplite ISO500 or 500HG Isolation Transformer
Torus TOT Mini Balanced Transformer

Yes, that's an extensive list, but my search reveals these are the top choices by many folks, as well as a few, little-known contenders.

If you have actual experience with any of these--and have compared them to other PCs, your opinion or recommendations would be appreciated greatly. You're welcome to suggest others, too, if you've done hands-on comparisons.


output555
I have no idea about your home electrical system, but Michael Fremer has a video on his Analog Planet channel on YouTube about something similar he was having with his home and problems with "hearing" noise. Check it out, it’s quite informative about outside source causing interference, wiring issues, etc....it might help, cheers.
Great news!  You don't need a power conditioner at all and you were wise to give your audio system dedicated 20 amp circuits.  The bad news is that you have a grounding problem. That ground rod you said is just for your audio equipment absolutely must not be connected to anything but the houses main ground rod, and only if it is 6 ft or closer to the main grounding rod.  If it is more than 6 get from your main ground rod then the most affordable option is to abandon the audio system ground rod.  Everything in your house must tie to that one single point the main grounding rod through your electrical panel. From that main ground point you could put in a new ground rod every six feet until you reach your audio ground rod, but I would just abandon the audio ground rod rather than pound in more ground rods around the house just to reach it.  Once that audio system ground rod is disconnected and you are connected to the house's grounding system in the power panel you will no longer have the noise problem and you will no longer have a blatant code violation that could be used by your insurance company if there was a fire started by any part of your audio systems electrical wiring or anything plugged into that system.

An Audioquest Niagara 7000 would absolutely fix the noise for whatever you plug into it, but you would still have a code violation that could be used against you if there was a fire and you would still have a grounding problem that could cause noise elsewhere.  It would be much cheaper to fix the root cause by hiring an electrician to disconnect your audio system ground rod and verify that you are still connected to the ground in the power panel that feeds those circuits.

Best regards
Hmm you need an electrician first. Ok please don’t spend $1500 on a lower end power conditioning system for your headphone rig. You need like an Audioquest 3000 or higher anyway for that and it’s 3300 plus about a 1000 dollar power cable for it.
After thatThe best power conditioning system for the money is that and after that look into a Shunyata Denali V2 for $5500 and you will need a power cable like a Shunyata delta XC minimum for $1000 ish for that or Shunyata Alpha XC preferred for $1900. The $5500 system has 6 outlets and their 8000 Everest is the same quality just 2 more outlets with a total of 8.

Those cheaper conditioners (even the Hydra) won’t do anything with how resolving your system is. You are better off calling an election and buying a better DAC and getting some speakers.