not a charming day with snakes

Cornfedboy, I heard flaws in the Hydra that you and Albert heard, but nothing is perfect....Upper midrange is down just a touch and there is a glitch way up top, a coldness as it were that bothered me, but not nearly like the ferrite bead tricks lots of folks use.....The lower mids/upper bass is a touch fat, but can speculate it is the cord used as understand it sounds that way.....The bottom line is that in most systems the Hydra will roll off the upper mids, fatten the lower mids and quiet things down a bit with the ferrites used inside the unit......These are good things for most digitally driven systems and I can sure understand the popularity.....I know Albert likes to hear how drunk the players are as do I and we use big analog rigs as a reference.....I think we are all being a bit too hard on the Hydra as it is a godsend to most folks out there that don't have 100K in their systems and the Hydra screws up the music much less than most all of the line filters available.....Oh, the unit I used to make is called a BybeeSucker and a two circuit unit would be necessary for your set-up with a digital preamp and CD player so the clocks don't talk to each other down the AC lines...I have not sold any in a while and there are updates available to those units in the field....It was set-up for those folks that primarily use analog and don't want to turn off the digital gear to enjoy analog as the digital AC backwave can ruin analog sound.......If I were you I would spend a little money and have three lines brought into you room, one for the CD player, one for the digital preamp and one for the amps and other analog gear and just forget about a line filter.....The inductance in the three separate lines should do a decent job of taking care of the digital backwave of one clock polluting other clocks or the analog gear.....

Hi Kelly, I hate to go off the topic, but if the Hydra which I have not heard does not cut it, and if you have the opportunity, please try the LATEST version of the Sound Applications CFX. I was very impressed with this unit. It is the first conditioner I have heard that didn't do something wrong somewhere. I can't say the same with amps plugged into it. If you get the opportunity, be sure it has been fully broke in. I do not think you will find a PRaT problem with this one.

Kelly, did you not baptise the PC in dry ice? You should do that before you pass judgement. Be sure to place in the tank with your left hand and recover it with your right hand. (An often missed part of the initiation.) If you miss this last part, PRAT can turn to TRAP, or worse yet as PART$$$.) Thanks for the music recommendations. Charlie.

p.s. In case this does not help, be sure to consult a dealer who sells them. They are always helpful with what you are really hearing.

CFB

I find your reaction to the Hydra interesting as I do all feedback from audiophiles. I happen to sell the Hydra, the Sound Application, the Audio magic Stealth, and when Jack Bybee was in business I sold more of his Pro line conditioners than anyone else.

I am a firm believer that everything starts at the wall and that once you have installed your dedicated lines that your powercords and conditioning are going to give your system the magic hidden within the components aching to be revealed.

There is a recent review comparing the Audio magic Stealth, the Sound Application, and the Hydra at www.enjoythe music.com needless to say it is just one persons opinion but then that is what all reviews and personal observations can be.

I like all three units alot ( although they are very different from each other) and they each sound better than the others in different systems and especially with the powercords used. A great powercord can change the performance of a line conditioner more than any other component. If the Hydra has an obvious weakness it is that it limits experimentation with powercords by the connection that it uses limiting the powercord choices to the sidewinder (stock with the unit) the Mojave and the Python.

Break in is extensive on the unit and they state that in the manual as does every other line conditioner on the market. Also replacing the fuse with a copper slug improves the unit dramatically.

From your comments I believe that you would find the Stealth and Sound Application more to your liking. Not because they are better but because they may fit your flavor better. Every conditioner changes the sonic signature in some way just as does everything that you do to your system even if it is just putting different wood blocks under your components.

Realize the Hydra is pure magic in many systems and I am sure that is why so many rooms at CES had the unit in their systems. More than any conditoner. When a Hydra fits well within a system it gives it more of an analogue sound. But nothing works everywhere. I learned years ago that mixing different brands of powercords works better in most systems than just using one brand. In our showroom every room has a mix of Shunyata, Synergistic, Electraglide and Audio magic powercords. They all do different things and each have different strengths.

I was once so seduced by my 2 first Electraglide Fat Men that I put them everywhere in the system and suddenly what had been near perfection was transformed to being bloated and slow it was like I was moving through molasses. Too much of anything can move any system too far in many different directions and usually not for the best.

Who knows once it is all said and done you may like having no conditioner and just great powercords throughout your system. In my experience most systems benefit a great deal from the conditioners on the market. One did not work to your taste but there are many others! Also realize that with conditioners, cables, etc. even if properly burned in before you receive them it still takes up to a week for them to settle into your system.

In my experience the greatest mistake most audiophiles make is not giving products enough time to show what magic is hidden within them. The fact is that we all ache for instant utopia and want an instantaneous transformation the minute we plug in a new toy. It just does not work that way all the time.

Hi
We have some similar experiences with our AC power triphazers. Speeding up the connected devices timing can be a serious degradation to system sound.
BUT.. the degrading effects go away after a period from one to three days.
Unless left in one place for several days (A common reviewer mistake )you are not hearing what the cord sounds like. You might read the link "what is break in" at www.triphazer.com for some insight.

mike