Pick one:Shunyata Hydra or PS Audio

The Power Plants draw less than many believe, but it is a consideration and one of the reasons why I've never been completely comfortable owning one, although I do (I also have a Hydra).

The Power Plant 300 draws about 40 watts with nothing connected to it, about 43 in multiwave mode. My Pass Aleph 3 draws around 200 watts at idle (196 acutally, although I think the Pass docs say 250). Plugged into the PS Audio, the total draw is just under 300 watts. Which suggests that there is some additional overhead in there somewhere (more than 200 + 40), but not a doubling as some reviewers have suggested. By the way, I don't normally have the Pass amp plugged into the Power Plant; I just used it for this measurement.

I have a device called a Wattsup, which is a small box that goes between the wall and the device under test and gives a nice digital readout of power draw. It is sold mostly to schools as an educational device. I bought it specifically to measure what the Power Plant was drawing because I was curious (and concerned) about how much power I was consuming. My findings are clearly at odds with some of the claims I read in early reviews of the product. PS Audio has not done as much as I would have (if I were them) to dispell the bad information.