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
PS audio Power Plant 15 Hands Down. Helps remove THD Total Harmonic Distortion. I owned a Niagara 5000 for about 90 days thought it was over hyped. You cannot trust most reviewers they don’t get paid to write negative reviews.

For example a reviewer that states  that an Audioquest HDMI cable that cost $2,500 is much better than an Audioquest HDMI cable that cost $400 both 3.5 M

additionally people that drink the cool aid and say that that can hear a difference between two very high end Audioquest speaker cables a $5,000 cable and a $7,000 cable 
Mike, I have recently done an extended test of 3 power conditioners side-by-side. They consisted of the Niagara 5000, Denali 6000 and the Ansuz power conditioners. As you mentioned, I did experience a hum in the Niagara 5000, which I found disturbing. While it did improve dynamics and bass extension, to  me it seemed to veil the music a bit. The Denali was more transparent and did not seem to cloud the presentation as much as the Niagara. Ultimately, I chose the Ansuz line as it presented the cleanest, most transparent sound. It is worth mentioning that I use a Hegel SS amp and my speakers are fairly efficient at 93db. I started with the entry level Ansuz X series conditioner and an Alum power cord from my outlet and an X cable from the conditioner to my amp. The Ansuz line seems to perform best when you use their cables. I started with the entry level as I wanted to limit my investment and live with it long term to ensure that I was on the right path. I have been using it now for a few months and very pleased. I can see myself upgrading to their higher end models in the future. I hope this was helpful.
I started a "Do I need a Conditioner" thread a while back and looked into all the suggestions.  Decided on Equitech balanced power transformer. Had used older Shunyata and PS Power Plant. Equitech is much better. Shunyata cleaned it up but sucked some of the life out of it. PS could only run the front end and didn't make much of a difference that I could tell. I think maybe Niagra 7000 is also balanced power, not sure. Of the two I would take the AudioQuest. But do yourself a favor and check out Equitech. It is money well spent. Makes the rest of your system sound like it cost twice as much.
Skyscraper , I want to second what leotis said about the Equitech balanced power supply . My 1.5 RQ model is all you'll need and available factory-direct in your price range . It even makes the picture on my TV look better . Skywalker Studio uses their products for mastering movies, so it has to be good enough .
Audiofool. . Thanks for sharing your experience with all three of those conditioners.  I'll read up on the Ansuz power conditioners today. I'm not familiar with them.

Leotis, do you have a link to your old thread. I'd like to read it. If not, I'll find it. I'll look up the Equitech line too. I have heard their products mentioned.

Inna, if it doesn't sound good I'll suck up the shipping and send it back. Appreciate the warning.  

The reason I'm concerned about companies remaining viable comes from maintaining my late seventies components for so many years. Sourcing Bang and Olusfen parts or finding knowledgeable service techs has been a bear. Phase Linear preamp repairs were a bit easier to come by as generic caps could be used. Dahlquist parts are still available fortunately.

You're right though, any company can disappear at any time, but to my mind it's hedging your bets to try and buy from the ones most likely to stay in business. I'd rather have a product a little less good, than purchase one from a more esoteric company. I mean, try and find parts for my old Burwen TNE Transient Noise Eliminator if you can. That's been taking up space in my storeroom for three decades. On the other hand you can still get source parts for an old Ford or Chevy, but try the same for an old MG. I've been to that well and I'm not going again if I can possibly avoid it. 

Rbyington, I agree with you about the reviews not being able to be relied on exclusively. That's why I'm asking questions here and have read as many other threads on other forums as I could find from actual owners and listeners. Not to mention calling one products designer and techs at the other company, plus consulting dealers to ferret out information. Some will tell you all kinds of drawbacks to products they don't carry, even some they do if you get to know them a little.

I'll read on the PS Power Plant 15 you suggest. That is a PS Audio product I'd assume, but maybe not? The cable business you refer to is appears altogether over-hyped to me too and really hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff in, even doing listening test at dealers. It would be nice to have access to all these products to try out at home, but so it goes. 

Mike