Puritan PSM156

I have been using a puritan 156 with their upgraded power cord for about 6 months and am impressed by the improvement in sound, especially the clarity of the bass, the articulation and separation in the midrange and lack of harshness in the treble and timbre.  After experimentation, I have both my preamp and mono block amps in the 156 along with the DAC and my SoundSmith Strain Gauge.  In fact, with the 156 I could clearly hear the difference between the Rogue Audio Stereo100 and Apollo Dark amps, a DAVE vs a Rossini vs a Briscati DAC etc. (I guess you could quip that being able to hear the difference was a "downside" since I ended up trading by Stereo 100 for the Apollos and my DAVE for the Rossini. ) There is a "break-in" period.  My system also consists of Nordost Valhalla cables and Sonus faber Amati tradition speakers so is fairly revealing.  Whether the 156 is beneficial also depends on the quality of your electrical service.  I do have a dedicated 20A circuit and prior to the power company replacing a transformer near my house, I did not seem to have significant noise.  But, about 8 months ago, when the transformer was replaced, I could clearly hear a difference despite the dedicated circuit.  The 156 "fixed" the problem.

Given my budget - and the demands of my current system (somewhat modest, by audiophile standards) - I opted for the Puritan PSM136 and couldn't be happier.  Granted, this is after going from NO power conditioner, but I really try to restrict my purchases to things that will make a positive, appreciable (audible) difference.  Not all have. This one did.

FWIW, I run a small SET tube amp, Belle Klipsch horn speakers, and Sennheiser HD650 cans - nothing exotic or extraordinary.

As a side note, I found Mike Kay at Audio Archon to be professional, responsive, and easy to to deal with.  (No affiliation - just a past customer).

My .02. 

Had the 156 on demo and my SR Galileo SX sat In the corner and cracked up laughing at it. What a POS. Really dead next to my SR Powercell SX. On a scale of 1-10 a 1.

Love it when other members create a well constructive post about a product.

Just so other members know:
- Galileo PowerCell SX specifications:MSRP $22,995 with 6ft. SRX power cable
- PSM156 with Puritan Powercord $2,300

Thanks, stack of bills in the corner …..