Hi folks, I want to report you my experience with regard to power conditioning. I've been using very rare Tamura (Tamradio) and Audio Consulting isolation transformers for quite a while. Initially I thought the sound became more "fleshy" and alive (through better dynamics), there was more 3D stage, more (micro) detail, etc. Yesterday I removed all the transformers out of my system, and guess what... the system sounded more musical to me without them! Of course with the transformers there was more silence between the notes ("blacker background"), slightly better dynamics and a more pronounced left to right separation (+ bigger soundstage), but I found that the sound also became somewhat "sterile" and artificial. Could it be that the exaggerated left to right separation and bigger soundstage was in fact a sort of out-of-phase phenomenon induced by the transformers? Without the transformers the system sounds less "clean" (because of increased level of noise floor) and less dynamic, but the whole picture is more like real music to me, less artificial. What do you think? Btw, do you have experience with the original Shunyata Hydra power conditioner? I think I will try this one in the near future.
Chris
Chris