Review: Shunyata Hydra 2 AC filter

Category: Accessories

After having some power problems with one of the computers in my house I decided I ought to investigate some power conditioners / surge protectors. Most of my system had been plugged into a Monster power strip that's about 10 years old, except for the integrated amp and the CD player. The amp was plugged into a dedicated outlet on its own breaker. The CD player was simply plugged into a regular outlet.
I looked at the PS Audio, Furman, Shunyata, and Maple Shade conditioners online. I essentially got the Shunyata on a whim because the company claims their products are used in various professional recording studios and I was intrigued by the gibberish on their web site about why their products work. I'm an electrical engineer and what they described was voodoo to me. That doesn't mean it doesn't work of course and I wanted to see for myself.
So I ordered the Hydra 2 and the Diamondback Platinum power cord. (Their conditioners required power cords which are not included.)
The owner's manual suggests burning the equipment in for 200 hours, which I'm doing right now. Before this however, I did some listening. Critical listening but not exhaustive. Here's what I found:
I plugged the integrated amp and either the CD player or the phono preamp into the Hydra 2. At first I just listened to some CDs and Who's Next SHM-SACD. I noticed no difference. I was hoping Who's Next would sound better, but it still sounds like crap. Later, after reading Robert Harely's suggestion in his Absolute Sound review of some Shunyata products (included in the Hydra 2 box), I tried some hi rez digital and an LP. This consisted of Grateful Dead's American Beauty, Steely Dan's Gaucho, and Rush's Moving Pictures, all on DVD-A, and AC/DC's Highway to Hell on LP. The only difference I could hear was on the Rush album, which is spectacularly recorded for a rock album. The song YYZ is mostly just percussion. Without the Hydra 2 and Diamondback, the drum transients and decay were excellent. You really feel like you're in the room with the drum kit. With the Hydra and Diamondback, these parameters were diminished ever so slightly.
That's it; that was the only difference I ever heard.
So I'm going to give the conditioner and its cord the benefit of the doubt and burn them in as suggested. I've got them hooked up to an air filter in the bedroom and will continue my review 200 hours from now. If they don't improve I'll be returning them. It won't be enough if they bring the sound back to par with the original set up; they have to improve it otherwise I can't justify keeping them.

Associated gear
Audio Research VSi60 integrated amp
Rega P3-24 turntable
Dynavector P75 phono preamp
NAD M5 CD/SACD player with Burmester power cord
Denon 2910 universal disc player
Green Mountain Audio Continuum speakers
Audio Magic, Nordost, and AudioQuest interconnects and Audio Magic speaker cables

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