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Power Conditioners: Audioquest Niagara 5000 or Shunyata Denali 6000S

I’ve been trying to decide which of these two power conditioners might make a better purchase. Do any of you own either, have chosen one over the other, or better yet, gotten to A/B them? I’ve found some, but not a lot, of information online comparing the two. So I thought I’d ask if any of you might know something more.

They both come in at $4000 retail which is my budgetary limit. The Niagara is active, the Denali passive. Some threads compare the Denal a little less favorably to the twice as expensive Audioquest Niagara 7000, for what that’s worth. I heard that the Audioquest Niagara 5000 may hum or buzz under some cirumstances. Anybody have that issue? I’ll probably never get a chance to demo them out here in the hinterlands so I’m hanging on your every word before I drop another wad of cash on one or the other.

There is also an Audio Magic conditioner at the same $4000 price point, but I didn’t quite understand it’s function in comparison to the other two. I’ll have to reread that product description.Someone else recommended a Richard Gray model that confusingly turned out to be a giant-sized surge protector.

Anyway I’d appreciate if any of you have any input on this somewhat obscure topic of power conditioners. I’m looking at one of these two power conditioners as opposed to a regenerator, or pure isolation transformer, or other type of line conditioner. If it’s of any import my equipment is a VPI Classic 2 SE turntable with an Ortofon 2M Black moving magnet cartridge, a Marantz SA8005 CD player, a Luxman 507uX Mark II integrated amp, and Magico A3 speakers all to be on a dedicated line and plugged into the conditioner. I am not interested in purchasing used.

Thanks for any input or advice. I hope someone out there knows something about these two.

Mike
skyscraper

Showing 2 responses by whart

whart's avatar
whart
2,967 posts
 
Mike- I used a series of Shunyatas circa about 2006?, but after I installed dedicated lines and changed my electronics, I found I didn’t need the conditioners; the amp manufacturer cautioned against using any as well. But, Shunyata products have no doubt improved in 12 years. At the same time, I know that lots of people use the conditioners only for front end or digital components to avoid current limiting their amps. I guess it also comes down to how bad your ’dirty’ power is to begin with.
I do think that home trial would be the way to go before shelling out for one of these at around 4k, even if it means you are paying more.

whart's avatar
whart
2,967 posts
 
@skyscraper-- given that both brands of power conditioner you are asking about are from major companies with pretty large distribution networks in the States, is there a way to get the opportunity for home trial?
That may mean paying for the units with the right to return one or both of them- does MusicDirect carry both since you are only interested in new, not used?
My experience with power conditioners is that they do yield a difference but whether that is an improvement may be something only you can decide based on your ears and your system. It also seems that these devices are not a one time investment because there seem to be continual improvements.

I’ve pretty much abandoned conditioners about 10 or so years ago, so my experience may be dated. I do use a 10kVA iso transformer with surge protection feeding a subpanel that routes some dedicated lines to the music room and it does not seem to negatively affect sonics.
There is probably some burn in time, and even 30 days for evaluation may not be sufficient, but if you want the best answer, it’s probably going to come from your own experience with any of these devices in your system.


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