Audioquest Niagara or other brands vs. PS Audio AC Regenerators

Hi BillT,

Any update on the P20 vs. Niagara since installing your P20? Love to read what you think! Thanks, Paul

Sorry for the late reply Paul. Bottom line is I could happily live with either although I clearly prefer the P 20. The P 20 power regen vs. the noise dissipation/filtering strategy employed by the 5000. The P 20 also has more sockets for more components. the Niagara 5000 weighs 38 pounds, the 7000 weighs 86 pounds (each has 12 sockets) while the P 20 weighs in at a hefty 96 pounds. While it would be fairer to compare the P 20 with the 7000, I have not herd that. But with the special the PS was running with their regenerators, I’m of the opinion that they were a no brainer addition.

I understand that weight might be a consideration for a lot of folks. The Niagara 5000 is just a fine product, especially when coupled with a good power cord. I listened to it with the AQ Hurricane pc and it shines. But the P 20 run with the same pc (even with the lower end AQ Tornado pc) gives the music more presence in both soundstage and depth, which is important to my tastes.

If you can afford the cost differential and don’t need to do a lot of component moving, I’d would recommend the P 20 before you make another system upgrade of comparable cost. Which ever one you select, pair it with the highest quality pc you can. Happy listening my friend.

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Excellent way of putting “it”…

Enjoy.

Thanks Bill I appreciate your time! Happy listening to you!

Thanks for the comparison. Impressive

Hello Ron!

I have an AudioQuest 1000 that was an upgrade from a ten-year old Chang Lightspeed power conditioner. I use all AQ Hurricane power cables except for dual subwoofers where I use two AQ NRG cables. My system includes a PS Audio DirectStream DAC with Network Bridge using Roon and Qobuz, Mark Levinson No. 326s preamp, McIntosh MC452 amplifier (please don’t judge me I feel in love with blue needles in 1968 lol), two Paradigm Seismic 110 “Bulldog” subwoofers, and B&W 804 D3 speakers. Everything but the McIntosh is plugged into the AQ 1000. The McIntosh is plugged directly into the wall as I found that it sounded better with power coming from there. With the amp power coming through the AQ 1000 Led Zeppelin sounded much less exciting. They sound really nice at 95 dba at the listening chair. I like to rock! I have 800# of bass management CP panels coming soon from Acoustic Fields to help handle the low frequency waves.

Given all of that, and your own experience with both the AQ 1000 and the PSA regenerators, I would assume that you would say that the DirectStream P15 Power Plant would be worth my time to audition in my home, and probably would end up being worth the money to purchase.

Thanks for your insight!

Loyd

First of all, I LOVE the blue meters and I LOVE the sound of some Mac stuff.
The AQ 1000 is an excellent value for money. It does improve the sound of what’s plugged into it.
Herb Reichert loves his.
That said, the PS Audio regenerators, any model, are in another league. There is no comparison in my opinion.

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OK you are teasing me Ron. :slight_smile: Would you say the sonic benefits of the PSA regenerators fall into the realm of a darker background, soundstage width and depth, musical instrument truth, vocal realism, aliveness, or all of the above? I know it is hard to quantify sometimes when EVERYTHING sounds better. Thanks again!

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Welcome LloydT! The Audioquest Niagara 1000 and 1200 are fantastic products. If you are staying in the AQ family and want to upgrade power sources than you need to step up to the 3000,5000, or 7000. Those three models are the only in Niagara’s line that offer the power correction circuit. The 1000 and 1200 do not store power for powerful transients when needed. That said your best choice in my opinion would be a Niagara 5000 or PS Audio P15. There is a P15 for sale here on the forums market place.
https://forum.psaudio.com/t/p15-with-with-warranty/20888/11

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I bought a P12 a few months back. I’m hearing tighter bass and an overall improvement to the soundstage. I’ve described it as looking through a SLR camera and getting the focus that much better. Try it and judge for yourself.

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I purchased a P10 and I agree with you more focused and the sound is refined.

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I found this on YouTube. The noise level in the power was greatly reduced coming from the Niagara 5000 than from wall with a test equipment. I wonder how the PS Audio regenerator would test, should even be lower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo3_9KVEAOw&ab_channel=JustAudio

Yes. I saw that review. I’ve considered the Audioquest Niagara 5000 because it uses a 20amp circuit. I wish PS Audio would make the P15 with the 20amp capability like the P20. The AQ Niagara 5000 is closer to the P15 budget wise.

The main reason I got the P15 is its ability to deal with serious voltage fluctuations! Lower noise & lower distortion benefits came as a bonus!

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A couple years ago, I lived with an Audioquest 5000 for a month while the owner was away.
It didn’t even approach the SQ improvements of my P20. And it buzzed, barely noticeably but constantly. It sat in my house for a month but was used only about a week.

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Curious if anyone has compared any of the Audience line conditioners to the PSA regenerators? I’m currently using an Audience aR6-TS with great results, but wondering if a regenerator would improve things even more.

MinnesotaFats and I tested various Shunyata power conditioners that we were told would blow away his P15. We never found that to be anywhere close to true. And I believe my P20 is a few quality steps up from the wonderful P15.

But I am guessing the P20 would give one of our users headaches.
One can only hope.

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