Power cord madness. Can power supply cables affect the sound?

Hello and welcome to whatishifi blog.

My experience with cables up to now is somehow not in line with what seems to be the trend in the Hi End society; you can read more about it (I mean about my experience, not the trend) regarding RCA Vs XLR at this post, digital coaxial Vs digital optical at this post and interconnects & speaker cables at this post.

So, I am skeptical - but due to some reasons. This skepticism was particularly strong regarding power cords; I couldn't imagine how replacing the last couple of meters after some kilometers of power wires that connect your beloved equipment to the electrical power station could improve (or affect) the sound.

This was the reason that when I had in hand some power cables for sale, I wasn't curious at all listening to them. But other owners were very happy - some of them were looking forward to buy more units. After meeting with one of them and seeing that he is not a Hi End victim, I started being skeptical the other way around; maybe there was something here I was missing? After all, my Audio Agile power grid did made an improvement in sound, why shouldn't a power cable make a difference?

I asked our technical guru about his opinion. "Of course they make a difference" he said. "But not in a way that most people think of. You just have to find the appropriate combination. A power cord that sounds good in one equipment / system doesn't mean that it is a "superior" cable, so it won't necessarily sound good at another system". He also told me that when an equipment has a fixed power cable, this is usually the most neutral one and tweaking the equipment to add a female power socket is not advisable. Cutting the end from a power cable in order to install it the same way a factory cable is attached is also not advisable; a power cable's character is made by all of it's components and removing one of them will alter it's balance.


Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler Active X-Series & PS Audio xStream Power Prelude power cables.

Still skeptical, I decided to use a PS Audio xStream Power Prelude cable for some listening tests. I went to Pano's home where we could test the effect of the cable at a power amp (Parasound A21) and a line level component (Parasound DA/C-1500).

To be honest, both me and Panos were somehow anxious how we could hear any differences at a non instant A/B test; we were expecting that if there were any differences in sound, these would be very small. How little did we know.

Taking care to install the PS Audio xStream cable at the A21 power amp with correct polarity, we started by listening to a favorite vinyl album (Stan Getz / João Gilberto Featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim ‎– Getz / Gilberto, Verve Reissues / Quality Record Pressings / Analogue Productions B0015625-01). From the beginning of "The Girl From Ipanema" it was clear that the low end had (unnecessarily) increased in quantity and reduced in control. We plugged the standard cord back (a non-exotic but well made DIY power cord) and we double checked that it was not just our idea. We also noted that the sense of space of the sound stage was better with the standard cable Panos was using. We changed the LP to a Dire Straights album; here the bass increase caused by the PS Audio cable suited the rock sound better. However, taking everything under consideration, we still preferred the sound of the other power cord.

We continued our listening sessions with the Parasound DA/C-1500 DAC. The effect that the power cord had on the sound of the DAC was more or less the same with the effect it had on the power amp. What is strange here is that when we tested the same cable at my system and on a Parasound DA/C-1000 DAC - a component very similar to DA/C-1500 lacking the XLR boards - results were not the same. Still, the stock cable provided better sound but at this case the xStream cable decreased slightly the low energy and made the piano sounding less metallic but dull at the same time.

Testing at the same component a Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler Active X-Series did not made any difference in sound - neither good nor bad - compared to the stock cable.


The Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler Active X-Series looks impressive with it's active shielding design, but the sound at our case was the same.

Another test we did was to check if the active shielding of the Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler Active X-Series has any impact on sound quality. This cable comes with a PSU with which you feed it's active shielding thing. This test was blind, meaning one of us would listen and the other would connect and disconnect the active shielding PSU. As you might have guessed, we could hear no difference in sound. Let me just remind you that the same thing has happened with the active shielding of Synergistic Research Resolution Reference speaker cables; turning the active shielding on / off made no difference at our A/B blind test.

Even though we called it a day, we did not drive any conclusion other than that the xStream cable does not fit to these particular systems. So after a couple of days, I returned at Pano's system with one of the Audio Agile power stripes I have, one of the very few components of it's category that I have found that has something to offer. It was a good opportunity to see if the Audio Agile would have a positive effect also at his system. Indeed it had; the soundstage became more airy without loosing detail and the low end became tighter. Panos bought after 2 days his own Audio Agile power strip.

Still, from these testings we understood that there was a long, long way to go; so after two days, we tried the xStream cable at another system.



Another system used for our tests; from top to bottom: PS Audio HCA-2 power amp, PS Audio PCA 2 pre amp, Accuphase DP-500 CD player, PS Audio Power Plant Premier AC regenerator, PS Audio Classic 250 power amp.  On the right the EgglestonWorks Isabel speaker on factory stand.

We started by using the PS Audio xStream Power Prelude cable on the PS Audio PCA-2 pre amp. For the listening test we choose a track that suits this system particularly well; "Willow Weep For Me", Shoji Yokouchi Trio from a fantastic sounding Cisco Music sampler CD. In this case, the PS Audio power cable had a definite positive impact on sound. The low end became tighter and it's energy was felt better; the small details became silkier and more natural, without loosing anything at all.



The PS Audio xStream Power Prelude power cable at the PS Audio PCA-2 pre amp is a great match. Pity that PS Audio has the Prelude sticker upside down though.

The same positive effects happened - but at a lower magnitude - when we used the same power cable to the PS Audio HCA-2 power amp.

The Accuphase DP500 was a different story however. The PS Audio cable gave similar negative effects at the low end like it did at Pano's system but of a smaller magnitude. Of course we have to also consider that the speakers here are smaller; maybe the damage at the low end is bigger but we just can't hear it. Also, the sense of space of the recording environment was reduced; this was heard at the way the music reflected at the space that the recording was made.

After testing the cable to the CD player, we replaced the HCA-2 power amp with the PS Audio Classic 250 monster. This amp has even a built in, fine tuned regenerator for it's input stage. Connecting this power amp with the PS Audio power cable gave inferior results compared to the stock cable, more or less the same way like the Accuphase CD.

(Of course), the overall sound of the system with the Classic 250 power amp is better than when we use as a power amp the HCA-2. Also, as we saw earlier when still using the HCA-2 power amp, the system sound is benefited by the use of the PS Audio power cable on the pre-amp. However, with the Classic 250 power amp in the system, when we connected the very same PCA-2 pre-amp with the PS Audio power supply cord, the sound quality degraded in the same way like it did with the Accuphase CD!

These results made us curious regarding if the Audio Agile power strip would have a positive impact at this system. Up to now, wherever we have tried it, it had a positive impact. So we gave it a try by using only the stock power cables going from the Audio Agile to all the equipment. This was the first time that the Audio Agile gave negative results; the effect it had was more or less the same negative effect like the PS Audio power cable on the Accuphase CD player.

Connecting the pre amp - the component that was positively affected the most - with the PS cable to the Audio Agile had (again) a positive influence. However, the use of the Audio Agile is still meaningless here.


PS Audio Quintet and Audio Agile line next to our system.

At this point we dig out an old fellow, the PS Audio Quintet. It sounded certainly better than the Audio Agile, but still a little worse than nothing. Plugging the PS Audio power cable to the Quintet power input improved things, but still the logical way to go was without the Quintet, even though we couldn't understand if the Quintet / xStream Power Prelude cable combo was sounding the same or a bit worse than nothing.

At another evening, we were curious to find out the effect of the xStream cable in combination with another old fellow, the PS Audio Power Plant Premier regenerator. Since (as we saw at that previous post) this regenerator had positive impact only to the HCA-2 power amp (which was also benefited by the xStream cable), we connected only this amp to the regenerator. We started by replacing the stock power cable that feeds the regenerator with eclectic power from the wall socket with the xStream cable; after coming back and forth we could hear no difference.

Then we replaced the stock cable going from the regenerator to the amp; in this case we did get an improvement. The soundstage was a little more airy and the high frequencies were better controlled, more natural, less metallic, without loosing detail.

Next we compared the magnitude of the positive effect that the regenerator has on the sound of this power amp (keeping everywhere the stock cables) with the positive effect that the xStream cable has when connected to the same power amp but without using the regenerator; the effect of the regenerator in improving the sound was stronger than that of the cable alone. So, the absolutely best results we got were by using the regenerator and connecting to it the power amp with the PS Audio xStream cable; at last, a logical thing in this madness.

Last but not least, since at this system the component that was benefited the most by the power cable was the PS Audio PCA-2 pre amp, we compared the sound by trying the stock cable, a Nexus Basic power cable and the PS Audio xStream cable; the Nexus cable did make an improvement in the sound the way that the PS Audio cable did, but at a smaller magnitude.

Also, we found out that the positive effect that the xStream cable has on the pre amp was added to the positive effect that the regenerator has on the power amp. I am clarifying this, because as I mentioned before, the very same cable connected at the very same pre amp gave worse results when we used the PS Audio Classic 250 power amp. So, it is not always the case that the positive effects that two independent components have, will work in a synergistic way all together.

Moving on in a different day, let me share an experience I had. I was listening to some music at Pano's system - a system with which I am very familiar. I found the sound more pleasing and involving, like there was a component upgrade. Knowing that Panos had not changed anything, I kept these thoughts for myself. But later as it turned out, Panos had indeed changed the pre amp's power cable with a new one he made himself. I asked him to put back the old cable and yes, the listening experience became a little inferior. Also, I made a rather objective observation: there is a certain point on the track we were listening with deep acoustic bass. In the room, there were some objects that were making vibrating sounds during that part. With the new cable, the vibration sounds were clearly louder as a proof of a stronger low end. Now, somebody might argue whether this stronger low end is just louder and if it is something good or bad. For a start, the low end was not just louder, but more solid and in better control. Still, don't take my word for it; even if we accept that the sound became better according to my subjective opinion, the real question here is if a power cable can affect the sound of a component - and the answer is yes.

As a further indication that this power cable thing is a matter of synergy, we took the same cable at my system and tried it on my Parasound D/AC-1000 DAC. Deep inside me I wanted the cable to help my Parasound sound better, since it would be a nice cheap upgrade. But there was no difference in sound in comparison to the humble stock cable I am using.


Power cords. They look so impressive and their literature is so convincing, that they make you feel like an idiot when you can not hear the improvement.

These tests redefined my perception regarding power cables. Up to now, I believed that after a few kilometers of cables from the power station to the wall socket, the few last meters of cable can't matter except if it was a really bad cable that could ruin the power. I was wrong. It is absolutely clear that yes, a power cord can affect the sound. However, it seems that there is no "good" or "bad" cable, even though I am sure that there could be crappy thin cables with bad joints - or just decent cables with increased compatibility. A power supply cable can potentially affect the sound of a system the same way (but not magnitude) a filter can affect the colors of a photography. Not all filters will have a positive effect at all photographs and at all lenses. I can't explain why or how and I can not predict how a certain cable will affect a certain system. So, I just encourage you to test at your system, without prejudice. Especially after the case where by simply changing the power amp, the pre amp stooped benefiting from a PS Audio power cord, it becomes clear that we are dealing here with a system balance in it's total.

Also, we experienced the first case that the Audio Agile power grid did not improve things at a system. Still, it is a great device and odds are that it will do good at a system, but as it turned out there can be no absolute conclusions or generalizations for this kind of stuff.

Everything regarding power cables is pointing towards dedicated sound testing on a particular component, connected on a particular system. Also, on a limited budget, I wouldn't spend much at the cable; I would prefer spending that extra Euro on speakers.

That said, I am convinced that power cables can help improving slight cases of something not sounding absolutely right. They can't do miracles at bad equipment, but they can offer you the fine tuning at your system's sound you are looking for. But don't try to rationalize their effect or you will loose your mind; just test them at your components, one by one, at your system.

So this post is not about reviewing the particular power cables used here and that is why there is no verdict about them. To be honest, I can't imagine how one can be "objective" and say that the power cable A is better than B and will sound better at any system; it is not how a cable "sounds" but it is all about synergy at a given component that is connected at a given system.

After testing active power components (PS Audio Power Plant Premier & P300 MultiWave Power Plant), passive power components (PS Audio Quintet, Audio Agile Line), the Noise Harvester AC cleaner and some power cables at this post, a small cycle of power supply related product testing is closing for the moment. The conclusion is that these kind of products can do good but also can do bad at your system's sound. Listen before you decide - it is the only way to go ahead and not backwards. The snake oil here is not the products themselves, but the vanity promise that in each and every case they will only improve things. Unfortunately, some Hi-Fi journalists, reviewers and influencers have to take the blame for preserving this common misconception. You see, it is easy to accept the idea that the more you spend, the better things will be.

And hey, don't spend all your time on testing and fine tuning; remember: happy listening as always!

Christos

Testing the PS Audio P300 MultiWave Power Plant AC regenerator.

Hello and welcome to whatishifi blog.

After testing the PS Audio Quintet power strip and Premier regenerator, I had the opportunity to test the P300 - a smaller, older and rather different model from PS Audio.

The PS Audio P300 MultiWave Power Plant AC regenerator.

This fellow is indeed a true regenerator; it will completely regenerate the AC power from scratch. Imagine it like a power amplifier that instead of speaker terminals has a power socket: it uses the AC power from your wall socket in order to create the ideal AC signal that will feed your equipment. That is why these kind of devices have a low efficiency rating; however, their output is theoretical perfect and as long as you keep them running within their voltage range, output is not influenced at all from input. We verified that by using an oscilloscope.


A perfect output!

The P300 is an interesting case since it offers fully balanced output; that means that an 230 VAC output is a result of +115 and -115 VAC at the two schuko output holes rather than a hot 230VAC and a neutral one. It is said that this offers great sound improvement, but Paul from PS Audio claims that this was done for other reason; back then when this device was designed, they had to "share" the load. Another benefit is that you don't have to worry about correct power cord polarity (line phase). Using my multimeter I can verify this; not only it doesn't matter, but the VAC between the earth point and the negative (ground) point of an old Pioneer CT-777 tape deck was significant lower (around 5 VAC) compared to the lower reading when plugged directly to the wall socket (around 24VAC).

An interesting fact is that the P300 has it's own power cord polarity, so there is a "correct" way of plugging it in to the mains socket. However, this has no effect to the connected equipment, meaning that no matter how you plug the P300 to the mains, the VAC between the earth point and the negative (ground) point of the connected equipment is the same low figure. For peace of mind and without being sure if it matters, I would plug in the P300 the "correct" way - I am sure that it doesn't make any harm. Maybe one day Paul will make a video about it.

Another interesting thing was that this time, the Noise Harvester did not light up at all, indicating that there is no noise at the AC mains. Let me remind you that in this older post, the Noise Harvester was blinking much more frequently when plugged at the AC Premier and the Quintet.

The Noise Harvest did not blink when plugged on the P300.

In contradiction to the AC Premier, here you can control the output voltage that you want with accuracy. As I said, the output is "locked" and doesn't depend from input voltage variations.

The output of the P300 is perfect. Remember, it has balanced output and that is why the reading is 115,39 VAC; you get -115,39 VAC from the one schucko output hole and +115,39 VAC from the other, for a total of 230,78 VAC.

Also, you can control the output frequency. According to PS Audio, increasing the frequency makes the connected equipment's power supply more efficient by increasing the effective value of the capacitors. For me it seems like that the capacitors are charged more often, that is, at a higher frequency. Just keep in mind that if a connected device has a cooling fun or it is a turntable, you should not change the output frequency since this will alter the rotation speed. Also, a limitation of the higher frequency charging theoretical benefit can be the bridge rectifier of the connected equipment; it might not be fast enough so it could start loosing it's efficiency at high frequencies.

As you probably already understand form the title, the P300 I had in hand was the MultiWave version. This means that on addition to increasing the output frequency, you can have a sequence of waves of different frequencies and you can experiment regarding what sounds best to you and your system. At this point I have to remind that as we found out at this previous post, the MultiWave function of the Premier did not made any difference at all.

Funny thing with this device is that it doesn't mention it's model number anywhere. I had to Google pictures of "PS Audio Power Plant" in order to find which model is the one I have. Another funny thing is that the P300 is supposed to be 300 Watts, but the device I have in hand has a sticker of 500 Watts at the back. Don't bother to Google P500, I already done it. Anyway, this device is designed to feed pre amps and sources, not power amps. Personally I don't consider this as a disadvantage, my experience up to now (with the exception of the class D HCA-2 and GCA-500-EX power amps) is that more frequently than not, a regenerator will "choke" the sound of a power amp.

Something I didn't like is that this device even when turned off is consuming energy; it stays warm even if it is off and has nothing connected on it.

But enough with the bla bla, let's cut to the chase. Does it improve the sound?

First listening test was done in my system. For a start, we connected the external custom made PSU of the tweaked EMU card that is used for computer audio. We started by listening to Deep Purple - Never Before (Machine Head, HDtracks 24-96) and compared the sound with and without the P300. We were amazed by the impact that the P300 had; the music energy was flowing much more effortlessly and the rhythm of this song was felt much better. At one point we thought that the P300 reduced the low end a bit but we were wrong: the base was tighten, not reduced. Removing the P300 felt like a bad, bad thing to do.

We changed to jazz and we listened to our favorite Girl from Ipanema (an .iso file coming from the SACD of the album Getz / Gilberto remastered by Mr. George Marino) and the results were the same: the P300 improved the sound. Everything was better; music was sounding more alive, soundstage was bigger and more 3D like and the emotions that you feel when you listen to a favorite song became stronger.

Playing with the different forms of output wavelengths as well as voltage and frequency seemed that made no difference for the EMU's PSU.

Next thing we did was to also connect my pre amp (Luxman C-03B) at the P300. Here the benefit was much much smaller; we struggled to listen to any changes and even though there was an improvement, it was not something worth considering.

Excited with the device, we decided to test it at another system, so we took it at Pano's home. We connected on it the custom made tube pre amp and the Parasound D/AC1500 DAC. Again, we struggled to listen to any changes and even though there was an improvement, it was not anything worth considering. Also, playing with the various parameters again seemed to have no affect.

What I found curious was the fact that the most significant improvement was at the PSU of the computer audio DAC. Let me explain why: when me and Panos got our EMUs we had the chance to compare a tweaked EMU with a factory one. This goes also to the PSU. Panos settled with a battery PSU, I didn't want to have a battery so I thought that I was not missing much with a non-battery version. After some back and forth, I ended up with a PSU that back then seemed to offer equal sound quality like the battery PSU that Panos had. But as I now discover I was wrong; when I adjusted the battery power supply to output exactly 5 VAC (Pano's system sounds better at 4.88 VAC) it sounded better than my PSU.

Here comes the magic of P300; plugging my PSU at P300 made it sounding equally good to a battery PSU, which is considered to be the cleanest and best power source.

So, the P300 is a great exception of an active device that during our testing had only good things to offer. It never did any harm to the sound quality. It didn't caused the Noise Harvester to illuminate. It offered from little to significant benefits, depending on what you connect on it. I can only recommend it and I suspect that it is superior than most today's designs. With many similar devices we had the impression that the sound was different and this difference was not always better. With P300 things seemed to improve; sound is not different but better.

The only negative points I can make have to do with the design of the product and not it's performance. I find the shape of this component awkward and inconvenient. I don't like the fact that when you turn it off, it is not actually turned off and consumes energy. Last but not least, in my quiet living room, I can slightly hear the cooling fans during a low passage of a song.

As always, happy listening!

Christos

Testing the PS Audio Noise Harvester.

Hello and welcome to whatishifi blog.

At the same time that we started messing with the PS Audio Quintet and the Power Plant Premier AC Regenerator, we also had several units of PS Audio Noise Harvester AC cleaner, a device that according to PS Audio collects line noise and converts it to light.


PS Audio Noise Harvester(s) waiting to be tested.

I might have created two separate posts for all these devices (the Quintet, the Premier and the Harvester), but actually the testing was done at the same period.

Regarding the Noise Harvester, the first test was again done at Pano's house. His electricity installation is a three phase with the Hi-Fi system solely connected at an ex fan storage heater power supply. Plugging the Noise Harvester at this outlet did not make the light blinking at all - meaning that the AC power is "clean". Nevertheless, we proceeded with the test.

We decided again to use the analogue front end, so we choose our favorite track, The Girl from Ipanema (Stan Getz / João Gilberto Featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim ‎– Getz / Gilberto, Verve Reissues / Quality Record Pressings / Analogue Productions B0015625-01). The test was blind, meaning one would plug and unplug the Noise Harvester at the Hi-Fi's power strip and the other one would listen. After several attempts, we understood that there was no sound difference. We assumed that this happened because the Noise Harvester could not find any noise to fix, so it couldn't offer any benefit. Just a moment before ending the test, we thought of searching in the house for an outlet from another phase that could be "polluted". Indeed, plugging the Noise Harvester at a kitchen's outlet caused it to blink; so we plugged at this outlet a power extension cable and we feed the audio system with this "dirty" AC power.

We started the blind testing again, but still there was no audible difference. Everything was sounding excellent with or without the Noise Harvester. We changed the recording; still the same. Puzzled that we might not be skilled enough to appreciate the improvement, we followed PS Audio's suggestion and we plugged multiple Noise Harvester but at a power strip with an on / off button that we connected to the system's power strip. By turning on and off the power strip with the 3x Noise Harvester plugged on it, we hopped to be able to spot a difference. We listened, listened and listened. Still, no difference. Zero. So, we called it a day and I returned home.


When we use the electric drill, the Noise Harvester array indeed turned on, but does this means they improve the sound?

The next day I continued experimenting. I plugged in the Noise Harvester at various outlets at my home, but it did not blinked; according to it, my AC is clean. I turned on my pre, power, AV amp, laptop, USB Audio Interface and the media player. No blinking. I turned on my Wi-Fi and LAN switch. No blinking.

Only after I turned on the TV or the projector I saw the Noise Harvester blinking. Good, I had the opportunity for some extra listening test at another system, so I invited Panos in order to verify the results.

In the meanwhile, I remembered that if I turn on my pre and power amps, select AV in but leave the AV processor off, when I turn on the kitchen's light (incandescent bulb) I hear a click noise from my speakers due to the switch. So I plugged in the Noise Harvester expecting it to eliminate this noise; well it didn't, neither did it blink. Not so good I would say.

When Panos came, we decided to make the listening tests at the (supposedly) noisy digital front end: the laptop and the USB audio interface, with the TV turned on. I am sure you guess the results; no difference.

Apart from these A/B tests, we also casually used a Noise Harvester at a third system. Sometimes we listened with it plugged in, sometimes without it. We never felt that there was any kind of sound improvement or difference.


Another system that the Noise Harvester made no difference.

As you might already know form this previous post, we also tested the Noise Harvester plugged in the Quintet and the Power Plant Premier. As I said, one of these devices seems not doing what it promises to do; the Noise Harvest kept blinking. It was only until we plugged it on the PS Audio P300 Regenerator (which is a true regenerator, composing it's output completely from scratch) that the Noise Harvest did not blink.



Only at the P300 the Noise Harvester did not blink.

The good thing about the Noise Harvester is that since it is a parallel device, it doesn't do any harm to the sound. The worst case scenario (and the most probable one, according to our experience with it) is that it will do nothing at all. Ok, who knows - there might be houses out there with an AC power so bad and with equipment so poorly designed regarding noise rejection that they might benefit from it, but I am skeptical about that. This is due to the fact that the Noise Harvester keeps blinking even when plugged to the PS Audio Power Plant regenerator; well it shouldn't, since these devises are supposedly giving clean AC power.

For us, it is just a device signaling that there is some noise at your mains but hey; as we saw this noise might not doing any harm to the sound quality.



The Noise Harvester blinking on the Quintet, not a good thing.



 Keeps blinking on the Power Plant Premier; this is really ugly.

So, no need for a Noise Harvester for us. Happy listening as always!

Christos

 

P.S. After I have written this post, at another forum another test with measurements was made; you can have a look here.

Testing the PS Audio Quintet Power Center & Power Plant Premier AC Regenerator, thrice.

Hello and welcome to whatishifi blog.

I was lucky enough to get in hand two components that promise to improve the AC that we feed to our beloved Hi-Fi equipments: the passive PS Audio Quintet and the active PS Audio Power Plant Premier that regenerates the AC power.


From top to bottom: PS Audio Quintet Power Center & Power Plant Premier AC Regenerator.

Up to now, if you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I have experience with two other similar devices: the active ExactPower EP15A and the passive Audio Agile Line power strip. The ExactPower was a mixed emotion; I never reached a definite conclusion regarding if the system sound benefited from it's presence - which means I didn't need it. The Audio Agile was another thing, as I said at this older post before testing it I was laughing to the idea that a power strip would improve the sound but after some listening I shut my mouth and got two units that are still in my system.

I have also tested an isolation transformer; it didn't made any improvement and after noticing that just a 100 Watt light bulb load would cause around a 1 VAC drop in it's output , I understood that I better keep it of the system.

Anyway, let's proceed with our new fellows, starting with the Quintet. The EU version of Quintet offers 5 schuko sockets. It can be described as a power strip that performs passive filtering and offers surge and spike protection, but it is not only that. First of all, the build quality is excellent. Second, it does offer some power management with the aim of trigger signals. On the left of the device, there are three switches and two trigger inputs. Each switch has three positions: ON (always power on the outlet) SW (switched, the outlet will give power only when the Quintet receives a trigger signal) and DLY (delayed, the outlet will give power 3 sec. after the Quintet receives a trigger signal). The DLY is very useful when for example you want your power amp to turn on last, in order to avoid getting any clicks from sources turning on or stabilizing. So, each switch controls a different set of sockets: the first switch controls the first two sockets, the second switch controls the 3rd and 4rth socket and the third switch controls the last socket marked as "Power Amp". This "Power Amp" socket is not different than the other four, PS Audio says it has marked it so for convenience but I have to add that plugging the most energy hungry device at the last socket is the right thing to do; you should start with the most sensitive device and then gradually proceed to the most heavy one. So, for example, the right way to plug your system is this: start from the phono amp, then the pre amp, then the power amp.


The trigger switches and the LAN / antenna in & out of the PS Audio Quintet.

If you have no trigger commands but you still want to make use of the SW or DLY functions, you can do so by pressing the logo that is at the left of the device. This logo is actually an illuminated switch that controls the sockets - the same way a trigger signal would. So, if all the switches are left to the ON position, it doesn't matter what you do with this logo-switch. If you put a switch at the SW position, then the corresponding sockets will be slaves to this logo - switch.

The Quintet will also protect your equipment from spikes, undervoltage and overvoltage. This protection is passive, meaning you don't have to worry that it adds components in series with the power feeding your equipment, so supposedly it won't "choke" the sound or restrict the dynamics.

The surge and spike protection lies at the AC inlet module - it is where you connect the power cable - and this module can be replaced in case of malfunction. Protection includes TV / SAT / LAN signals, there are in and out plugs for all of these.

Also, there is some filtering going on. This includes filtering the AC mains that feed the equipment but also isolating one equipment from another; in case for example you have a nasty device with a switching PSU that creates noise, this noise will be isolated and will not be "seen" at the other sockets of the Quintet. That is why at the UK plug version of the Quintet where the sockets are double, you should group similar equipment together at the same zone, for example digital equipment like a BD player and a laptop should be plugged at the same socket twins.

As I said, build quality is exceptional and the device is beautifully finished. A simple power cord is included and PS Audio suggest that you invest at a more sophisticated one with thick wires and efficient shielding.

Moving on to the Power Plant Premier AC Regenerator things are different, meaning that we move on from a passive to an active component. The Premier will actively try to output a perfect waveform by intervening only at that part of the waveform that needs fixing. That means that a part of the initial waveform will be kept and this limited intervention is the reason that this device can support even a power amp. The efficiency rating is 80% and is considered to be a good one. However, I find the term "Regenerator" a little misleading here; this term suits better the older P300 that completely regenerates the power from scratch. The Power Plant Premier has a wave shaping approach, like the Exact Power EP15A.


The back of PS Audio Power Plant Premier AC Regenerator

So, everything that was present at the Quintet (triggers, isolation zones, etc.) is also present here in the same way, with the addition of the AC regeneration and some other tricks under the name of MultiWave and CleanWave. According to PS Audio: "In the MultiWave position, the peak charging time of the sine wave is extended to help connected equipment lower power supply ripple and therefore improve the performance. MultiWave can have the same improvement gained from adding a larger power transforme ror more power supply capacitance to connected equipment". Also, "CleanWave places a series of higher frequencies that ride on the main sine wave to help "degauss" connected magnetics".

The Premier is remote controlled and has a display that can be dimmed or turned off. At the display you can see the ACV in, ACV out, THD in and THD out. Like the Quintet, the build quality is exceptional and the device is beautifully finished. The two internal cooler fun that is has are almost noiseless and did not destructed us at all.

But enough with the description, let's move on to the juicy part which is the listening test. I brought both devices at Pano's house where plugging and unplugging the power cords is a much simpler task than in my system.

The PS Audio Quintet is connected to our system - or should I say our system is connected to PS Audio Quintet.

We started by listening our favorite "Girl from Ipanema" (Stan Getz / João Gilberto Featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim ‎– Getz / Gilberto, Verve Reissues / Quality Record Pressings / Analogue Productions B0015625-01) without connecting any of the PS Audio devices  in order to refresh our memory regarding how the music feels and sounds. Then we added the Quintet to the equation; we plugged on it the custom phono preamp, the custom preamp and the Parasound A21 power amp. We took care to plug them with the right polarity, as described at this older post. To be honest, we were afraid that we would struggle to hear any differences but that was not the case. The soundstage opened up immediately. Unfortunately, there were some side effects also: we felt like a magnifying glass came to magnify things that did not need magnification. The high frequencies and the small details were increased without becoming harsh, however they did not need to be increased. Also, some of the magic that the sound engineer Mr. George Marino has put at this wonderful recording disappeared, making it sound a bit "naked" and aged. We moved on with Dire Straits, we listened with the Quintet connected to the system, then we plugged everything back to the standard humble wall socket and we listen again. Dire Straights were sounding better without the Quintet which seemed to add some kind of irritation to the sound of the electric guitars.


The PS Audio Power Plant Premier AC Regenerator feeding the system.

We moved on with the Premier Regenerator. Since the mains tester screwdriver lightened at both sides of the output outlets, I thought that the Premier had balanced AC outputs, meaning that instead of having one hot (230V) and one neutral (0V) lead, you have one with +115V and one with -115V. That would mean that there is no "correct" orientation for plugging in the power cords. But as we found latter, my balanced assumption was wrong - but stay with me, we did the same test with the power cord of the connected devices plugged in with the "right" orientation.

An interesting thing is that the Premier has it's own power cord polarity, so there is a "correct" way of plugging it in to the mains socket. For peace of mind and without being sure if it matters, I would plug in the Premier the "correct" way - I am sure that it doesn't make any harm. Maybe one day Paul from PS Audio will make a video about this.

What I found a bit strange is that in Pano's house the AC V is 218 Volts (ah, Greece 2018, I live 5 minutes away and I have 235 Volts) but the regenerator instead of increasing this, it claimed outputting 213 Volts. I would expect it to give at least 220V - ideally 230V - but who knows, probably this is not something bad, however I just mention it.

V in.

V out.

On the plus side, there was a significantly lower THD that was claimed at the output.


THD in.

THD out.

So, after performing a CleanWave demagnetization cycle, we started our listening again. We could not understand any sound difference toggling on and off the MultiWave function but since according to the manual this is something good, we left it on. We started with the Girl from Ipanema and we continued with Intercontinental - Joe Pass (Japan Pressing ULX-25-P, MPS / BASF). Wow, the results where very good: both tracks were sounding much more airy with a better sense of space and a bigger and focused soundstage. Unlike the Quintet, here the work of Mr. George Marino was shining without any signs of oldness. We let ourselves get absorbed by the melody, forgetting about the machines. However, as it usually happens with these kind of devices, there were some mixed emotions when we changed the program. Dire Straights and a not so perfect Garry Moore recording were sounding better and more pleasant without the regenerator.

To be honest, we might have called it a day but I still had mixed emotions. Especially regarding the regenerator, I wasn't sure what to conclude - I mean, I couldn't make up my mind if it made things over all better or worse.

That is why after a couple of days we repeated the test at my home, at a different system and under different circumstances.

In the meanwhile, we have also started testing the PS Audio Noise Harvester - more about it at this post - so I thought to give it a try and plug it at both the Quintet and the Premier. At my home, there is a dedicated socket for the 2ch Hi-Fi system and another one for all the AV / PC equipment. Generally, the Noise Harvester would not blink, meaning I have clean power. Even when I turn on the WiFi, the LAN switch, plug in the laptop and turn on the custom made EMU PSU, all connected at the AV / PC power strip, the Harvester doesn't blink. But if I turn on my trusty Panasonic Plasma TV or my Home Theater BenQ projector, the Harvester starts blinking. So, I assumed that if I connect the Quintet or the Premier, turn on the TV and plug in the Harvester at one of the Quintet's or Premier's outputs, the Harvester should not blink; after all, both devices promise to provide AC cleaning. Right? Wrong! The Harvester connected at my normal power strip with the TV turned on would blink approx. 5 times per 10 sec. Plugged in at the Quintet it will blink approx. 13 times per 10 sec., indicating that... it has more cleaning to do. Connected to the Premier, it will blink like a strobe light at the refrain of a 80's disco dance song.

The Noise Harvester blinking on the Quintet...

... and keeps blinking on the Power Plant Premier.

Skeptical about this, Panos suggested to also plug in my TV at the Quintet or the Premier. "Maybe the isolation zones will kill the AC noise created" he told me. Logical thought I said and so we plugged both the TV and the Harvester at both AC cleaning devices. Well, things did not improved, the Harvester kept insisting by blinking that my AC is dirty. Unfortunately, I have to assume that one of the devices here is not doing what it promises to do.
Update: We also plugged the Noise Harvester on a PS Audio P300 regenerator. This was the only device that the Noise Harvest did not blink. Let me just note that the P300 is a true regenerator, making it's output completely from scratch. You can read about the P300 review here.

Anyway, we wanted to proceed with some listening tests. At Pano's home we listened from an analogue source and with the power amp connected at the Quintet / Premier. This time we left the power amp(s) (2x Luxman M-03 bi-amping) and the pre-amp (tweaked Luxman C-03) connected at my Audio Agile power strip and we connected the digital High Res front end (that is the VAIO laptop PSU and the EMU 0404 USB DAC PSU) at the PS Audio devices. Who knows, maybe these devices are more comfortable without power amps connected on them and they offer greater benefit at the supposedly noisy digital sources.

We started our listening with an excellent recording, an .iso file coming from the SACD of the album Getz / Gilberto remastered by Mr. George Marino. For first time readers, I remind that we have chosen this particular digital file after comparing it with another six digital versions. We started by listening with the usual setup and then we connected the Quintet. Again, it felt the same way: the soundstage opened up but the sound became grainy. Also, we noticed a lack of low end energy; it was not only that we heard it, we also felt it in means of less anticipated vibrations. Now, some listeners get confused when their base is tightened; they anticipate the tightening as reduction, but I assure you that this was not the case here. Don't get me wrong, we did not listen to very high levels neither this song is one with a lot of base. But my system is wonderful at reproducing a low end that is very well controlled and can be felt with your body from very low listening levels, something that the Quintet made it disappear. Also, the clarinet became a little aggressive at some points.

With the Quintet still connected, we listened to some rock: Deep Purple - Never Before (Machine Head, HDtracks 24-96). Again, the sound stage appeared to be wonderful and the organs were sounding very discreet. However, after removing the Quintet we appreciated the song better: the low end energy became more satisfying and the organs felt more of a part of a band rather than discreet solos.

We listened once more time to the Girl from Ipanema with my usual setup and then we plugged in the Premier regenerator. This time, I thought to take some output measurements with my multimeter, so I found out that there is indeed a "right" polarity to plug in the connected equipment - and so we did. By the way, the voltage drop that we noticed at Pano's home was also present here, however it seems like that the regenerator indicates a couple of volts less (both V in and V out) compared with what I get from my 5 digit true RMS mutlimeter. As I said, this is not necessarily bad but I would expect 230V AC output from a regenerator. Another weird thing is the THD; I had less THD in but the improvement factor of THD out was not as big compared to what we got at Pano's house.

VAC in...

... and VAC out.

THD in...



... and THD out.

Listening to the Girl from Ipanema with the regenerator, provided again a wonderful soundstage but we noticed a low end decrease - not as big however like the Quintet. The clarinet was just a bit more aggressive. Overall, due to the better soundstage I liked the sound but Panos was skeptical. Going to the rock track however (Deep Purple - Never Before) cleared things up: the sound was too "polite", lacking the rock energy. It was like eating spicy food without feeling the heat. We unplugged the Premier and we listened again, confirming that this device is not suitable for rock at this system.

Some thoughts and a conclusion.

High End is supposed to be the evolution of good old Hi-Fi, but I am afraid that it has more to do with different and exclusive than better. This goes to the perception that exists for devices like these and not the devices themselves. You see, the most common perception is that these devises will make your gear sounding better, whereas the true is that they will make your gear sound different. Unfortunately, a professional reviewer can not state such a thing for various reasons and a hobbyist needs a lot of confidence to face up all the "experts" accusing him for deafness, or even worse, accusing him for having a system that is incapable to highlight the superiority that these devises generously offer or the delicate improvements they cause.

So, are such devises worthless? No, they are not. In some cases, this "different" might also mean "better". But the key here is "in some cases". I mean, they are not a panacea of sound improvement.

The first thing I will say as a general rule is do not add a device designed to solve a problem that you do not have. You got to have bad AC power and own equipment that were not designed to deal with it, in order for the benefit of such a device to be bigger than the loss. Of course, the question here is how you are supposed to know if you are entitled of the problem. The best way is to get such a device and listen to it without prejudice, it doesn't have to sound better or else you are a worthless piece of shi-fi. If you can't borrow one, I would suggest to try it if the sound of your system is dull, missing details and sense of space in the sound stage.

My second concern is about the active AC devices. They will definitely imply a footnote at the sound of your system and you have to understand if this footnote will be a benefit for your sound. Also, they might have limits. So, maybe the big power amps should better stay plugged directly to the good old wall socket - it is a good idea to start the listening test by connecting only your sources.

Last but not least, a rather philosophical question; if you own equipment that suffer from the AC and you need devices like these to make them sound better, wouldn't it be better to choose other equipment that are better designed in the first place, and pay the extra funds there?

But wait a minute, you said you tested the devices thrice! I hear some of you saying.

Yes I did. What happened is that I left the text above unchanged - this was what I wrote just before releasing my post, but then a new system became available for testing. A new, different system, minimal and smaller than mine and Pano's system: Accuphase DP-500 CD player (yes, the same unit we had at this older post regarding CD players), PS Audio PCA 2 pre amp, PS Audio Classic 250 power amp, EgglestonWorks Isabel speakers (with the legendary Dynaudio Esotar tweeter), at their own speaker stands. Everything connected with XLR cables, plus some impressive Synergistic Research Resolution Reference speaker cables with active shielding. You will have the chance to read more about this system at various future posts also.

The test went like this: we had also available two other power amps, PS Audio HCA-2 & PS Audio GCA-500-EX. We had as a reference the PS Audio Classic 250 power amp. Question was if the sound of HCA-2 / GCA-500-EX was closer to the reference sound of Classic 250 with the aim of Premier regenerator.

Our system used for this test, from top to bottom: PS Audio HCA-2 power amp, PS Audio PCA 2 pre amp, Accuphase DP-500 CD player, PS Audio Power Plant Premier AC regenerator, PS Audio Classic 250 power amp. At the right the EgglestonWorks Isabel speaker, standing on its own stand.

At this point, let me mention that the Classic 250 has built in his own regenerator for the input stage, designed and fine tuned exclusively for this model. So the Classic 250 does not need to be connected to a regenerator.

The result was that both the HCA-2 and the GCA-500-EX benefited from the Premier regenerator and came closer to the sound quality of the Classic 250.

For a start, even without the regenerator, none of them has the notorious sound of a class D amp - I never liked class D but these amps redefine class D. I still believe that generally, class AB amps sound better with a more airy and 3-D soundstage, but class D amps can deal with really long speaker cables and have virtually unlimited drive.

Even though the low end of Isablel is limited due to small size, it benefited when the HCA-2 & GCA-500-EX were connected to the Premier regenerator. It became more solid and better controlled.

But where Classic 250 really shines is at the soundstage. It is this soundstage that the Premier helped
the HCA-2 & GCA-500-EX come closer to.

However, this is not true for the CD player and the pre-amp, They sound better when not connected to the Premier regenerator. You see, the regenerator made their sound too much "in your face", like a magnification glass at a point that you don't need magnification.

An interesting realization about the Power Plant Premier came during another test we were doing concerning the effect of power cables in sound. A power cable that improved the sound of the HCA-2 power amp, when it was connected at the input of the Power Plant Premier did not make any difference. But when this same cable was connected on the output of the Power Plant Premier feeding the HCA-2 power amp with power, it did further improve the sound.

Let me note that this system is plugged to a different electric installation and the Power Plant Premier kept being paranoid regarding what it considers or claims as a VAC out improvement. Weird thing is that it doesn't keep the same style of paranoia, as you have seen each time does it's own things.

An overrated value of VAC...

..and a weird consideration regarding "improving" it.

At a different day and as you will read at the middle of this post regarding power supply cables, we also connected the Quintet, which in this system sounded just a little worse than a common power strip.

So, my final thoughts and conclusion stay more or less the same. Somehow, I feel a bizarre satisfaction that my system does not benefit (need) regeneration. 

Happy listening as always!

Chris

 

P.S. You can also have a look at a review and measurements of the PS Audio PowerPlant 12 at another site, here.