Is an isolation transformer better than a power conditioner?

I will add that my BPT 3'5 Signature plus unit is silent in my room. As @sns mentioned, this is likely a reflection of stable AC voltage coming into my home. It has been one of my best audio equipment purchases over the years.

Charles

The cleaner the power the better the sound, hence start with a separate spur and cleaning up your fusebox.There are passive conditioners from Akiko, Acoustic Revive and Furutech which achieve great results without the side effects of active conditioners and transformers. And by the bye…Small power supplies in a high efficiency system have a much easier job than giant torroidals driving transistor amps (EFI et al). In other words: horses for courses rather than simply asking what’s better…

And for the adventuresome among you: try power modulation à la Add Powr or Nordost as well as grounding devices as further useful ways of improving power.

Power conditioners come into their own where there are major voltage variations on the grid, in most other instances they tend to be overkill.

The problem I have with evaluating PC's is the subjective impressions of improvement relative to what they had before adding such gear. The responses would suggest (at least to a laymen) that what you had before wasn't really that good, and by adding a PC all of a sudden the sound was so improved that you can't imagine how you lived without it! I understand that there must be some excitement to any improvements that one makes to a system, but a little truth in advertising would help put things in proper perspective. If your system was quite good before, additions/upgrades should yield incremental and subtle changes, not watershed changes! 

boostedis"The problem I have with evaluating PC's is the subjective impressions of improvement relative to what they had before adding such gear."

I do not know why that is a "problem" for you or why it causes you concern, doubt, or confusion you can simply listen for yourself in a familiar system and decide for yourself.

@clearthink My pockets are not empty, but neither are they brimming over to the point that I want to spend $4-10K on a PC if the gains are marginal at best. I’m not suggesting that the potential differences are marginal, but you completely ignored my point which was the gains/improvements couldn’t possibly be that profound (unless they are) without the system not sounding very good prior to the addition of a PC (or any other component for that matter, excluding speakers which will by far have the greatest potential to transform the sound of a system). I have heard highend PC’s on SUPER highend systems and the differences were not easily detectable (if at all) so again, how could my experiences be so mild and others stating profound changes? And before you insult me with my experience level, trust me, it is sufficient to know what a ’difference’ is and how I should interpret those differences.