Review: Shunyata Research Hydra AC filter

Category: Accessories

The reviews I have written this past couple weeks of my systems components have lead to questions of the rest of my equipment. So now I am finding myself writing reviews of my power cords, power conditioner and isolation devices. This review will address power conditioning and power supplies.

I have tried a few of the power conditioners available. The first conditioner I bought was the Monster HTS2000. This is a very reasonably priced "power strip" that has filtering on different outlets for different components. It also has non restricting outlets for power amps. The benefits were noticeable but not jaw dropping.

I next got a PS Audio P300 with multi-wave. This is really a power regenerator that converts the power to DC and then back to synthesized AC, producing "clean" power. The unit is in effect a power amplifier for a fixed frequency so it does draw a lot of electricity and produces a fair amount of heat. The multi-wave feature provides eight different wave patterns to the power. Alternating frequency from a simple 60Hz to several different options between 50Hz and 120Hz or some combination of frequency, in a sine or square wave pattern. The P300 was a great product and I could run both the Aloia amps, the Aloia pre-amp (now replaced in my system) and the Sony SCD-1 from it using about 130 watts total. I found however that I was limited on the amount of settings I could use. The amp's transformers rattled a lot on some settings, with other settings it was quite but the result was not pleasing. I think there were two that I used, #2 and #5.

I then bought the Shunyata Research Hydra. This is a non limiting power conditioner. I have found it to produce extremely quite black backgrounds. The Hydra can drive both of the "class A" Plinius SA-102 amps with no problem, but I do not use the Hydra for them. Rather the Hydra is only used on the Placette active pre-amp and the Sony SCD-1. The Hydra can provide all the benefits of the other conditioners I used, but does not have any of the problems. There is no change in PRAT with or without the Hydra. Bass has a slight improvement in focus and definition without darkening or bloating the signal. The highs are grain free, and the Hydra removed more vales of haze or noise than either of the other products. In fact if no conditioner were equal to looking through ten layers of smoked glass, the Monster removed three or four of those layers. The P300 removed up to six or seven and the Hydra removes all ten. The improvement in lower noise level, lessening of layers of haze tend to improvement the detail, imaging, definition and sound stages.
Power cords, Audio Prism Quiteline filters and dedicated circuits with audio quality outlets will also provide a similar level of improvement. I highly recommend that all these improvements are made together. The net result is positively jaw dropping. The reason I went to the Hydra was it simply made everything extremely quite, clean and had no apparent effect on the sound. The PS 300 did something different with each setting, and my thought was it added something to the signal. On setting #1 is seemed neutral but was also the noisiest on the transformers. I LOVE THE HYDRA and think it should be one of the first upgrades made.
I have tested the SMART power conditioner along with Audio Power Industries Power Wedge Ultra 116 and Chang Lightspeed 9600. The SMART was too grainy and seemed literally to add to the high frequency haze of which I am trying to get rid. The Power Wedge was not of the quality in sound I would expect for the cost. Again it was relatively noisy and grainy. The Chang was ok, but they did not amaze or blow me away. I felt the Monster offered most all the benefits of these three products for a fraction of the cost.

Associated gear
Sony SCD-1 SACD player
Placette active pre-amp
two Plinius SA-102
Dunlavy IVa speakers
Nordost Valhalla interconnects and speaker cable
NBS Statement power cords

Similar products
None I've tried