Panamax 1000+ Fails and cheaper unit sounds better


recently my panamax 1000+ surge supressor failed. I plugged my preamp and cd player and turntable which I kept on this unit into an inexpensive unit. my system sounded better. What Gives? are expensive power filters overrated?
soundwatts
Keep in mind that the Panamax, Monster, Adcom are at the low end of power products. So Panamax is already a "cheap" unit in relation to many well regarded power conditioners.
Post removed 
I agree the panamax doesn't do a thing, but at the time it was cheap and serves as 'extra' protection(electric storms are frequent up here). Though I can't really coment on any change in the audio performance.