Power Conditioners Suited to Digital Front End

I have owned the P300, Exactpower units and Power Plant Premier. I have also used a Power Wedge and homemade parallel filters. My experience is that both regeneration/correction and isolation are very important to good sound. Power cord quality is also important even between the wall and the power unit.

The primary benefits of clean power I have experienced are improved focus, image stability, smoother treble and lower noise floor. In a dialed-in surround sytem, clean power can enhance the holographic effect.

Even with regeneration there can be some day to day and time of day variability but sound quality is much more consistent than without regeneration.

In comparing the EP-15 and the Premier, the improvement with the Premier was very noticable. I am passively biamping my system with linear power supply Icepower amps. The isolation features of the Premier are apparently working much better than the outlet filters in the EP-15. The Premier has each duplex isolated to inhibit noise produced by a component from backfeeding into other outlets. This is not intended as a plug for the Premier - other products can be used to isolate components. There just seems to be a great potential for system induced power contamination regardless of the initial power quality coming out of the wall.

Some components may sound better directly connected to the wall outlet. Most days, my player sounds better directly into the wall than through either the Premier or the EP-15.

Bob

Thanks for your comments Bob. It is the very fact that you sometimes think your system sounds best direct into the wall that makes me wonder about the affect of conditioning. They obviously protect the equipment from spike and surges (or should) and that certainly has some value to it. I would also think that if you had very dirty electricity coming into your house that you might need some conditioning. But I can't help but thinking that putting all these filters and electronics between the straight power from the socket to your equipment might come at a price. I have consistently been told by manufacturers of amps I have owned to plug it directly in the wall - now I do understand that the current demands of an amp are much greater than for my pre and digital gear, but it still makes you wonder. I am curious about these products and will give them a try, but I do so cautiously.

Why not try this experiement, which is totally risk free. Contact Robert at Ridge Street Audio and buy a few of his Z-der blocks. These units perform power factor correction. If you're using dedicated lines and want to continue to take advantage of plugging your gear into the wall, the Z-der blocks may be a better solution than filtered power conditioners. I think they are about $300 each. I use one on my transport and I could tell the Z-der block made a difference. I'm probably going to get one for my DAC.

Plugging digital components direct to the wall here can result in contamination if the others are not isolated. This was obvious playing vinyl - it used to sound better when a CD player with a switching power supply was unplugged. An AudioPrism noise sniffer easily identified the noise it was dumping into the line which went right through the EP-15A.

In my case the bass is firmer from my current player when plugged into a power unit yet the player sounds a bit more open when plugged direct to the wall. Every other component I tried sounds better plugged into the Premier. With the EP-15, one of the amps sounds better direct to the wall (on a good power day). You really need to experiment with what you buy.

It may be that the reason my player sounds better direct to the wall is that greater isolation is achieved in my particular system than if it is plugged into the Premier or EP-15 and everything else is plugged into the power unit. It also may have to do with the difference in outlets used. PS Audio stresses the multiple layers of nickel plating on its outlets but I know I have not liked nickel when used in interconnects or binding posts.

I don't think the Premier or EP-15A power units are current limiting the player. Some people liked to load up the old P300s which would current limit far short of the load required to shut it down. This was fairly easy to identify with demanding recordings.

Bob

Thank you all for your input. I've done a lot of research since I first asked the question and have come to choosing between the Running Springs Haleys and the BPT 2 Ultra +. I currently have a CAT AMP that I would plug into the wall direct, with all else plugged into the line conditioner. I'm contemplating selling my separates and going with a 30 watt integrated (Ars Sonum)which I would plug directly into the conditioner - I don't think there would be any current limitation issues. So, that is where I am at the moment. Thanks again.