Power line conditioners- to use or not to use? That is the question?

The answer is yes and no. 

Panamax and Furman two very commercial brands tend not to make an audible difference.

We have many different power conditioners in our shop including: Isotek, Audio Magic, Audience. and Running Springs the difference that a good power conditioner can make is huge.

AC power can have noise, RF and EMI which can thereby be amplified and added into a musical signal which create grunge.

The other issue is that the powerline may sag and a good power conditioner can bring stabiity. which increases your systems sound quality.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Audience

PS Audio P5 or P10 or the massive upcoming P20 power regenerators.  My P5 sees 2.5% distortion from the electric utility and outputs .1%.  Clean power=cleaner sounding music.

a used Topaz will cost $200 or so

none will do anything other than 'protect' from noise on the AC input from your utility, etc. and protect from power surges - noise generated by your own components needs to be solved via 1-3 below

1st you will want to makes sure your DAC and/or streamer, computer, file server is galvanically isolated from the rest of the system
2nd - hunt down and break all leakage loop currents in the system

3rd - use a star-quad type cable on your DC power supplies (wall warts)

4th is the isolation transformer

*** Good speakers, room treatments, and source recordings will be of primary importance, and ALL the above secondary ***

There is a 45 page long thread on ComputerAudiophile on how to do this and what to get (but you will need 2-3 days to wade thru it, and there is no summary AFAIK).

From somewhat long experience, but not with every brand, I’d say the first step is to run dedicated lines. There are many threads here on the subject.
I found that most of the conditioners I used back in the day did not improve the sound directly from the wall (with dedicated lines) but could see a situation where, for example, you are in an apartment (condo or ’flat’) and cannot do much.
I would only do a try before you buy deal, though you’ll pay more that way through retailers that permit this.
I’ve had very good luck with isolation transformers. My tone arm uses a large (1/2 HP or greater) air compressor which created a nasty snap on the lines, crossing into the audio signal. (Part of the problem was that my electrician bundled the feeds for the dedicated lines). The thing that eliminated it was an isolation transformer. (Granted, this was not connected to sound producing gear, but suppressing a electrically powered device ancillary to the system).
I’ve since moved, and had dedicated lines installed using best practices, and in addition, have a large (10kVa) isolation transformer that feeds the system subpanel. Dead quiet (I have 104db sensitivity horns and use all tube equipment).
At a minimum, I would start with the dedicated lines if you can, get some direction on best practices from some other threads or those more technically inclined with a knowledge of the Code and go from there. I’ve found that commercial electricians  often understand audiophile needs better than the garden variety electrician. You want the work to meet applicable Code at a minimum. Even with the cost of pulling a permit, not terribly expensive, particularly compared to many magic black boxes.