I have tried a few pre-owned power conditioners (Shunyata) and regenerators (PS Audio) around the £2,000 / $ 3,000 level and always ended up parting company with them after a few days.
A month ago I bought a new power conditioner called the PSM 156 by Puritan Audio in the UK (£1,450 including a 2m Puritan power cord) and I am keeping it, but with one caveat...
...but first here are the the mistakes which i made:
(1) because i had a dedicated 20 amp supply, and I live in a quiet leafy neighbourhood, I though my power was relatively clean.
(2) because I had fairly high end components I thought they would have pretty good noise rejection (pl see my virtual system if you wish)
(3) my power amp is a bit of a beast driving WWP 6’s which have highly variable impedances so I thought I needed to spend big on a re-generator when i could afford it.
All wrong.
rather than provide a list of subjective superlatives, I will explain some of the SQ improvements with real world examples.
With sound stage it is easy to hear the difference with added width, height and depth but it also brings some sounds much further forward, which isn’t easy.
The WWP’s 6’s have sometimes been criticised for being harsh or bright and I have experienced that too, previously, on some tracks, but not any more.
An example would be a really well produced track, by Edwin Star called Easin’ in. It has a solid finger click during the intro and it was always much too forward for my ears on my system. I foolishly wondered if it was a recording engineers mistake? :) nope! The PSM has removed the 3,000/4,000 Hz bump that I was previously correcting using EQ in Roon.
A final, non subjective, example is that complex pieces of music now present so much more easily that I keep hearing lyrics of songs I have known for years and think “ oh that’s what the lyrics are!”
no doubt there are other conditioners in the market place which can produce these results but, perhaps, not at this price?
The caveat referred to at the start is that I did start adding several wall-wart plugs to the PSM and the SQ dropped off. I currently only have my preamp/DAC/Streamer and power amp plugged in to the PSM and then I run the nasty plugs for ethernet switches and routers off a separate spur.
ps. I found out about Puritan Audio from another ‘goner in a thread several weeks ago but now cannot find or remember who it was...but thank you!
pps. all you naysayers about Wilson’s Watt Puppy’s - are wrong! 😊
