Power Boards/Conditioners

[GeoffRoberts]

I'm looking for opinions on a good power board, with or without conditioning. Opinions seem to range wildly on the entry level conditioning power strips, from great increases in sound quality, to those celebrating plugging back into the wall. 

 

What have you used, what did you think? Is it something you just need to try in your own system to see if it works, and whether you like what it does?

 

I'm currently using a power board 'from the back of the cupboard', looking for something higher quality even just for piece of mind. If I can make a sound improvement at the same time, I'll be very happy.  

[Krispy Audio]

Hey Geoff, got an IsoTek Polaris available here if you want to demo it. It's a good starting point as a step-up from a generic power board. 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

The best are made by a company called Elsafe. Of course, they're not a fancy audiophile brand, so prices will be lower than expected. They are, however, the highest quality available. 

[GeoffRoberts]

1 hour ago, Krispy Audio said:

Hey Geoff, got an IsoTek Polaris available here if you want to demo it. It's a good starting point as a step-up from a generic power board. 

 Thanks, I may take you up on that if you've got a demo unit. 

 

59 minutes ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

The best are made by a company called Elsafe. Of course, they're not a fancy audiophile brand, so prices will be lower than expected. They are, however, the highest quality available. 

Quite an industrial ranger they've got. Took me a while to find the Powerboat on their site. 

[batou]

monster/belkin home theatre powerboard are actually pretty good for start. or just cut to the chase and go shunyata hydra. 

this is like the benchmark for decent powerboard.

 

if you got basic electrical knowledge you can save $$$ and make alot better quality.

i used oyaide r1 with silver wiring with oyaide iec+ i added bybee on a tuppleware box. the result i reckon is better than hydra, more resolution.

if you want to go another level, you can bring this to your local cyro place and get it cyro. this will go up another level.

 

Edited September 3, 2016 by copa

[GeoffRoberts]

Adding a Hydra would probably double the value of my entire system!

My DIY 'efforts' are generally a disaster, I'm not mucking around with 240v.


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[GregWormald]

Don't do Krispy's trial run!

 

I couldn't disconnect mine after the trial, the let-down was too severe.

 

Greg

[Wayne Elliott]

@GeoffRobertsHi Geoff,

 

I believe you have the Unison Research CDE, an exceptional CD player. My experience in my house with the UR CDE plugged into a PS Audio Dectet is the Dectect makes a positive and cost effectivemusical improvement over just plugging into the wall. Good quality audiophile Power Cables used in conjuction are essential. I find the Furutech & Studio Connection PC's to be good for the money. As well as hearing the benefits of a good Power Conditioner, I can also see the benefits on my big screen TV. Like going from SD to HD or even better.

 

Might pay to take Cameron (Krispy) up on his demo trial offer although I have no personal experience with the Isotek. The Dectet as per name has 10 outlets making it very cost effective. An ok budget conditioner is the Bada LB-3300, this has 4 universal outlets, 2 US outlets and 2 bypass. So would depend on your budget and requirements which options to take.

[GeoffRoberts]

I do have a UR CDE, and the Dectet is one of the boards I have looked, glad to hear it has made a positive difference for you.

All my power cords are stock kettle cords at the moment, I figured I'd upgrade the board first, then look at the power cords next.


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[Wayne Elliott]

@GeoffRoberts Yes Geoff, I started off with just the crappy kettle cords and while I still got an improvement using the Dectet with those, a much bigger improvement came with good Audiophile Power Cables in conjuction with the Dectet. Using a good Audiophile Power Cable plugged into the wall I get X improvement. Using Dectet with crappy kettle cord I get X improvement. Using a good Audiophile Power Cable plugged into Dectet, you would think XX improvement, but I actually get XXX improvement. Appears to be a synergy thing.

 

So maybe if you get a trial and listen for yourself. Maybe you might have "cleaner?'' power in your house already??

 

I have a lot of different Power Cables and find a similar difference in sound quality as Interconnects. All are a significant step up in sound quality from a std. kettle cord. So far I get much bigger differences in Power Cables and Interconnects than Speaker cables, although havn't tried as many Speaker Cables. So have been following Darren's thread with great interest.

[Neo]

What about Thor PS10 power station, regulates voltage and the power board does the filtering 

if the budget doesn't stretch the Thor A12bf from audiotrends for around $240

My setup at home has the Thor PS 10 power station and the filtering board and my parents setup has the Thor A12bf board 

Thor products are well designed and built with Australian power conditions in mind.

Some food for thought and research 

Neo

Edited September 11, 2016 by Neo

[Bunno77]

On 9/3/2016 at 9:49 AM, copa said:

monster/belkin home theatre powerboard are actually pretty good for start. or just cut to the chase and go shunyata hydra. 

this is like the benchmark for decent powerboard.

 

if you got basic electrical knowledge you can save $$$ and make alot better quality.

i used oyaide r1 with silver wiring with oyaide iec+ i added bybee on a tuppleware box. the result i reckon is better than hydra, more resolution.

if you want to go another level, you can bring this to your local cyro place and get it cyro. this will go up another level.

 

I had a look at Bybee and looks like they make some cool stuff. I am a sparky and looking to do something along these lines in addition to my isolation transformer for my front end devices. 

Can I ask what product you used from them?

[batou]

i used the large bybee purifier on each of the live and neutral.

bought them of http://www.soundlabsgroup.com.au/c/BybeeTech/Bybee.html

 

looks like the large bybee for power cord/ power conditioner is gone. only the small bybee left for rca/speaker cable.

have spoken to the soundlab guy, he said he is not going to restock coz takes too long to sell. 

 

Edited September 16, 2016 by copa

[Bunno77]

On 9/17/2016 at 0:52 AM, copa said:

i used the large bybee purifier on each of the live and neutral.

bought them of http://www.soundlabsgroup.com.au/c/BybeeTech/Bybee.html

 

looks like the large bybee for power cord/ power conditioner is gone. only the small bybee left for rca/speaker cable.

have spoken to the soundlab guy, he said he is not going to restock coz takes too long to sell. 

 

 

Thank you very much for all the info. I am currently living overseas but will do this when I get back and set up. Found a store here in Bkk selling Oyaide equipment etc. I have played with Isotek gear alone and with my isolation transformer and they definitely reduced audible noise and made a difference but the transformer in my opinion was better and a hell of a lot cheaper without any bad side effects. I just want to take off the last bit of noise on the front end and run the Mac off the transformer

[qwerter]

On 02/09/2016 at 7:46 PM, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

The best are made by a company called Elsafe. Of course, they're not a fancy audiophile brand, so prices will be lower than expected. They are, however, the highest quality available. 

Any particular model?

[GeoffRoberts]

Last night I picked up a Gigawatt PF-1 filtering power strip, their entry level model. Gigawatt include their LC-1 power cable as part of the kit which I have connected between the wall and the board.

I really like what it does, the difference is subtle but at the same time quite dramatic. The music just flows easily, it's a very organic change. I could hear background details in a way that they were just there. It's a very easy listen.

I've only listened to two records so far and at week day evening volume, at this point I've not heard any trade off.

Looking forward to a few spins over the weekend.



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[Wayne Elliott]

@GeoffRoberts Nice Geoff. Now comes the fun of upgrading Power Cables when funds permit. With suitable cables, this is where you'll get a massive improvement, much more than the conditioner alone.

[GeoffRoberts]

A few more records last night, a little louder because it was Friday. I'm really impressed with this board, definitely a great value upgrade.

I'm not sure how much of the improvement is contributed by the board and how much is the cable, but I'd certainly try some more Gigawatt cables based on what I've heard so far. People seem very happy with the Klei power cables too.


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[Wayne Elliott]

I have a KLEI PC on the way. Will give an opinion down the track.

[Misternavi]

@bunno77 I think the Bybees are over priced for the very minor/if any improvement but I guess in the audio world what's a few hundred dollars compared to what some people spend. 

[audio_file]

Some power boards and conditioners colour the sound slightly, so it's good to try first.

Some power conditioners (usually the ones with more filtering) reduce the dynamics of your system, but have massive gains in lowering noise. With these they sometimes add separate high current plugs to bypass part of the filter so the amplifiers can retain some of that dynamic capability.

 

I've used quite a few power boards, but the ones i've used for the longest time are the Isotek Polaris and Isotek Sirius boards.

The polaris colours the sound very slightly, seems to favour treble and bass more than the midrange. This is a very slight change though and you might not notice.

The sirius doesn't colour at all as far as I can tell, but the reduction in noise is only marginally better than the polaris.

 

Two more notes I'd like to add:

The noise on your mains power might be so low that you won't benefit from a conditioner. I've heard the same conditioner in two buildings where it made a big difference in the one, but I couldn't tell the difference in the other.

Some component power supplies are so good at taking out noise that a power conditioner doesn't make much difference either. It tends to make a bigger difference on sources than amplifiers though.

[Midori]

Just added an Ansuz Mainz8 X to my system. Worthwhile addition in my books. It does different things to the filtered boards such as the Isotek stuff, but the good thing is it does not restrict dynamics.

[realysm42]

Haven't read the whole thread but heres my $0.02:

 

The benefit you hear will depend on:

 

• the problems your power has in the first place
• what kind of solution you adopt (as there's different ways to skin the cat)
• the capacity and quality of the solution you choose
   

On that last point I've seen SO MANY times people buy a budget/under powered (for the job) conditioner and lament it's performance, moaning 'it sucked the life out of the sound'. I've got a Sanders Magtech plugged into an Isotek Aquarius EVO 3 and never hear any dynamic compression or have any other complaints. Not willy swinging here - I'm just observing that if I can power a 500wpc amp with not complaints, there's no reason with a bit of research and realism others can't enjoy those benefits too. The EVO 3 can deliver 3,680W continuously and it sounds like it.

 

This is one those things you should try properly or not bother with IMO, of course.

Edited September 29, 2016 by realysm42

[Juicester]

be careful in that many of them limit current (which i personally hate). To avoid this, i went the route of a Nordost QB8 (operates on the principal of star earthing) - and have a few Qv2 AC harmonizers connected to it. I think the results are excellent.

 

 

[GeoffRoberts]

After a longer and louder listen over the weekend, about 8 records and a couple of CDs, I didn't hear any downside to the Gigawatt, just really good stuff.

Dynamics were as good as ever, and no compression that I could hear.

I'm not sure what the power is like in my building/area but I guess the board has done its job. I figured the only way to know would be to try a conditioner and see, and am very happy with it.


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