Power Conditioner and Surge Protector

I would personally avoid any of these as more often than not they can be detrimental to the sound. in particular dynamics can be compressed. I am however talking of more high end models which can be well engineered in the power supply department in the first place. Far better in my opinion to get a very good power cord, or a good jitter buster between dac and transport (monarchy DIP), or a high quality passive transformer isolator after a dac or preamplifier e.g the sound enhancer by vintage audio lab. All these refine the sound in a way I expect you would like the conditioner to work. Conditioners can also be a hit and miss proposition even for cheaper units with less than ideal power supplies.

Jump up the level and enjoy the extra money spent wiser.Yes it absolutly makes a differance.My brother was using computer power surge suppresor.Gave him my power wedge cond.He was floored at the level of performnace differance.Only when all things are there though,cords,cond,interconnects,ect.

It often makes a big difference, but units and results vary.

My best results have been obtained using BPT Balanced power products.

Dynamics never suffered- with Pass X-250 amp no less.

Tube amps I've owned benefited as well, as did the digital front end.

My bet is you'll never really know until you try.

Surge protection is not a bad idea. However most of the damage I have seen (many years in an engineering capacity and background is BSEE) involves nearby lightning coupled via phone lines. Problem is that this is not all that easy to protect against - need rather fast acting protection. As to a power conditioner, unless you have a particularly hostile electrical environment or own particularly badly designed equipment it isn't going to help (or for that matter hurt) anything because you are protecting against something that isn't there.

Get rid of your power strip!!! Throw it in with your x-mas lights. Plug amps direct in the wall. Pick up a something like a BPT or Shunyata product (used) for all your other gear. There are endless threads on line conditioners. I would stay away from Panamax and Monster.