Question about Shunyata Power Conditioners


Hi, I recently purchased a couple of cables from Shunyata. First one is the Venom-X speaker cable, and the other is the Venom-X power cable. These are my first Shunyata products, and I am very impressed with them.

I’ve always been a fan of Kimber Kable, Most of my IC are Kimber Select & Hero lines, and I was using a pair of Kimber 12TC speaker cables, before replacing them with the Shunyata. I was actually comparing the Shunyata Venom-X to a pair of Kimber Bifocal XL, which is $1000 more expensive, and I like the Shunyata better especially in the bass department. The Shunyata really adds a nice slam and punchiness to the bass, I returned the Bifocal and kept the Shunyata.

Anyway I’m now thinking about adding a power conditioner from Shunyata. I’m considering either the Hydra Delta D6 or their reference line Denali 6000/s V2.

Has anyone had experience with either or both of these 2 conditioners, and be able to provide some feedbacks on their performance. The Denali is almost twice as expensive as the Hydra Delta, so I want to make sure I’m spending my hard earned dollars wisely.

Also FYI, I have not had heard much improvement of sound when it comes to power cables or conditioners. I currently own a Furman Elite 15i, and mostly Pangea power cables. The Pangea are very affordable comparing to many other brands of power cables. That’s one of the reasons why I purchased them. Mostly for my peace of mind. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard much improvement over stock cables. The Forman Elite is also reasonably priced with a lot of outlets.

I always think that I must have very decent power source in my home already, and therefore I don’t hear much improvement. I’m not a skeptic when it comes to power cables and conditioners, I just simply don’t have many positive experiences with them.

One more thing I want to mention is that I do my own noise test by cranking up my volume control on my preamp to max, with my digital source turned on but not playing anything (of course).   I put my ear right again my speakers and hardly hear any hum or noise at all.   So I concluded that I don't have any noise issue in my system.  This is hardly a scientific experiment and please tell me if this is a stupid test. 😀

Anyway, any comments and shared experiences will be appreciated. Thanks for reading!

128x128xcool

@xcool 

Wny do you think you need a power conditioner? Two houses ago I had audible noise and bought a conditioner, worked like a charm.  In my current (😁) home all is quiet and the conditioner is a  now very expensive 15 amp circuit breaker and no more.

Have you ever considered an Inakustic Power Conditioner?  I have one.  German engineering is at its best.

@curiousjim,  if you read my original post, I kind of have the same thinking as you. I always thought that the power source of my home is pretty good.  That led me to believe that is why I don't get the kind of sound improvement of changing power cords or conditioner.   So long story short, I simply want to explore whether higher end power cords and conditioner will improve my overall SQ.

@willgolf,  I've never heard of Inakustic, but will check it out.  Thanks!

I didn't think I needed cleaner power as I live in a modern home. I purchased a used Ps Audio P10 and the improvement was so vast I vowed to never be without one. Then I tried the Denali V2 and it was like I unlocked another level of detail and nuance I've never heard before. I called Shunyata to discuss the purchase before I made the leap and Grant discussed the benefits to me and explained to avoid making half steps with unknown mixing of cables from other brands and to just wait until I could buy a full Shunyata set up, I didn't listen. Originally I ran the Denali V2 with a 20A to 15A adapter as I didn't want to invest in the cable if the improvement wasn't there. Well that bested the P10 and only got better when I purchased a Shunyata Delta XC. I kind of figured what the heck and then moved to the Alpha XC and have found my happy place. The Denali is light-years ahead of my P10 and just plugged into the wall. My test record was Classic Records 180g Led Zeppelin III and after hearing the improvement, I couldn't and won't go back to running just off the wall. Hope this helps.