@John_H
“Easy to hear, as the soundstage on the L is deeper, wider, of higher resolution, with faster attack/decay, and more liquid”
I found this part of your discussion most interesting. Your system, your room and your ears must be incredible to hear those differences in left and right soundstage!
Hey Ron! I paid special attention to my listening room during the design and build-out process to optimize room acoustics through the liberal use of quadratic diffusors, diaphragmatic bass absorbers, active bass traps, and balancing direct sound with indirect de-correlated reflections, etc. Next, the power source and power supplies - hence the two P20s. We’re all naturally endowed with the ability - our ears are exquisitely sensitive to differences in tonal shading to discern the nuances of sound, especially the temporal characteristic of acoustic events (for precise localization). Time-based accuracy is the most important attribute for me, once the frequency balance / distribution is up to snuff. My setup of having two L and R “bubbles” of stereo signals reproduced side-by-side in real time (in my acoustically and electrically optimized listening room) makes it very easy to hear the differences.
I have not spoken to Pete but last night I jumped on the Shunyata bandwagon so can’t look back now! 
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Ron,
Here’s a piece I wrote about on my room:
BTW, I have two lengths of the Shunyata Sigma NR AC cables (for my two VSA VR-55 Aktive loudspeakers), and eight lengths of the Audience Au24 SX AC cables (for the rest of my system). The AC cables feeding my two P20s are the most important ones; they have a huge influence on the performance of the entire system, so one must audition and choose carefully.
I have a Shunyata NR on the way for my DSD Snr but still have to get something for my BHK Pre and Innuos Zenith.
What is the consensus? NRs all round or are there better options for the same money or less for the pre-amp and server?
I heard improvements when I got my Delta NRs. I hated the thought of spending the money for Alphas. So I bought Sigmas instead. No regrets.
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Your journey is just beginning. Shunyata has released V2 of the whole Delta, Alpha, Sigma lineup.
[hides]
I heard that next year there will be v3 and then v4 series and they double prices everytime… 
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Oh, well as long as they double the prices every time then I’m good.
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I just found this thread. I have a Denali 6000 v2, a Sigma NR C19, and everything else is Alpha NR. I’m addicted to what their noise reduction circuitry does to my sound. Especially with the DSS, it cuts away so much junk that I can really appreciate the texture and holographic shapes of the instruments. I’m hoping to upgrade to the NR v2 series soon.
I recently tried out a $2200 Transparent power cable, and in many ways it was on par with the Alpha NR and maybe more incisive, but I really missed the calm sound of the Shunyata noise reduction. The PS regenerators maybe reduce noise a bit more than the Shunyata distributors, but they have a sound signature. For me the Denali with the NR cables just go together really nicely.
As crazy as it seems to spend that kind of money on power, it seems so essential to me now (or what I prefer) that I’d probably compromise on proper components before compromising on cables and noise reduction.
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I put three Alpha v2 cords into my system, one to feed an oldish Hydra 4 and two to feed power amps (Perraux mono blocks). The preamp is still fed by a Shunyata Anaconda Alpha and the CD player with Anaconda Vx (which is not ideal but that’s another story…).
The impact over some random wires was huge and the first impression was pretty shocking. It’s like someone stole the low end of my system. However, once the shock cleared I’ve been quite happy. Had to roll some tubes, though, to make the most of my preamp.
Here’s the first impression (a bit long - just a copy and paste of an email). The references to the Clearaudio tonearm are to a discussion about the weaknesses of the Tangent tonearm which I’m looking into replacing one of these days.
I have had a chance to get some first impressions and the findings are quite interesting.
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As expected, the noise level dropped dramatically. The background is very quiet now.
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Also as expected, the stereo image improved a fair bit: the spacing of the instrument, and in particular the depth of the sound stage and to some extent the height. Width is a bit of a problem in my listening room - it’s echoing and asymmetrical so image width remains a problem which I don’t think can be fixed as long as I stay in this house.
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Nuances in the music are quite pronounced and there are lots of them.
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Now… the interesting bit is that the immediate impression was that bass disappeared. Clearly the low frequencies weakened both in vinyl and in CD playback. But…
a) after listening a bit more it seems that what disappeared is the over-emphasised in-your-face bass. There’s still quite a bit of low frequencies but they don’t stand out like in a P-plated V8-Holden. This may sound like a reduction in sound quality for some but I am not sure I would agree with that.
b) something happened that is hard to explain but it’s as if the system now makes a point of the musicality of the low frequencies, not of the strength. On the likes of Neil Young (Rust Never Sleeps, Live Rust, Weld) on vinyl it does sound a bit weak but those records do NOT have strong base, they are more about the tight mid ranges and the crazy noisy sound of Young’s guitar. That noisy mess is now even a bigger mess than before 
c) I did toss in some acoustic jazz (Phronesis, Edition Records vinyl) that I often listen to in my car. In the car it’s like a bass and drums fireworks but on vinyl now it is a lot more subdued. The presentation changed a fair bit and the rest of the music is now not overpowered by the bass and drums even if they clearly are there.
d) I also tossed in two albums (one studio, one live) of a Swedish prog band Agusa (Kommun 2 on vinyl). A fairly unknown band but a nice one and the records are very well made (the whole Kommun 2 catalogue is very interesting if you are into prog/psych). The low frequencies remain a bit on the weak side but overall the music is very coherent and balanced. I am aware I need to do something about that tonearm of mine but it’s not like the Clearaudio arm sucks. It can still dig up a fair bit of music from the records.
e) Patricia Barber’s Companion (Bluenote/Premonition) is my standard test CD. The sound stage is now really, really nice and her singing plus the instruments even better than before. The lower frequencies are there and once those congas or bongos or whatever they are hit, they do hit with no doubt. There are those occasional individual bangs of them which make you prick your ears and go WTF was that?!?
Overall, I get a feeling that my system has tossed this rough bass on my face just to get attention (sound systems need love, don’t they?) I have 1300W/channel to 4ohm so the amps are not shy of telling the speakers who’s the boss but the power cords flatten the frequency response so that none of the stuff stands out and the whole becomes very coherent.
I believe the cords increase the musicality a lot but don’t give you the immediate effect of being hit with something blunt. That’s a good thing but one will have to listen to the music, not the sound.
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Interesting that cables effect systems so differently. I recently upgraded the 20 amp cable to my Denali with a Sigma XC and to DAC/headphone amp with a Sigma NR v2 (replacing Alpha NRs) and the amount of bass power, speed, and slam is massive. Almost too much! Pretty incredible extension too, on both ends. The only qualm I have with the v2 is that after more than a week the treble has not settled much (it’s a bit like adding silver into my system).
That is quite interesting. Goes to show how the findings on one system generalise very poorly to different systems. I use the 220/240V version (but with US plugs), maybe the behavior on 110V systems is different.
Now that you mention it… I’m also in the need of taming the highs in my system. It’s like the preamp has too much gain. Already replace one set of 12AX7’s in the phono stage with 5751’s but may need to do something about the 6922’s at the line stage as well.
It seems that the Shunyatas are very brutal in a sense that they have no mercy to less than ideal upstream components or, as is in my case, listening rooms with poor acoustics.
The voltage difference could be a deciding factor, and also the difference from Alpha to Sigma.
I think the merciless quality is more this generation, as earlier ones could be mellower, but not as transparent. I actually spoke with Shunyata today about the top end thing, and it could be that they need longer to settle than you would expect. I think it is also an inherent characteristic of the v2s, and some system rebalancing is probably needed.
I would definitely pair them with warmer tubes (NOS) and maybe not new ones, or Amperex or Telefunken.
You are lucky in the USA for how cheap the gear is. Gets nearly twice the prices when shipped to Australia. I was crying blood when I saw the closeout deals one could have on Sigmas in the USA when the v2 was introduced.
I’m in a stage four lockdown here with lots of restriction, including exercise max. an hour and no more than 5km away. Luckily, the tube guy has his shop 4.8km away so just about to hop on the bike and cycle there to collect some JJ Gold 6922’s. A bit limited on what one can get within 5km radius from home Will need to get into this with more effort if ths doesn’t help.
Plus, I may want to tweak the equipment stands a bit. No shortage of moving parts and things to try in this hobby!
Meanwhile, are you able to comment on the Denali vs. old (think 2003 or so) Hydra?
Yes, the import costs are crazy! I am actually hope to move overseas sometime in the next couple of years, and the advice I got was that it is cheaper to buy in the US and put your stuff on a cargo ship than to try to buy anything in Europe, Oz, or Japan, etc.
Are you in Melbourne/Victoria? Nice that the shop is under the 5km! I was down there for a few weeks back in 2018. Had a pretty nice time in spite of the 40 C weather.
I had a Triton V3 before the Denali, so only a modern comparison. The Triton may have been a little chunkier (thicker) sounding, but the Denali v2 definitely has lower noise (more comparable to PS regenerators) and probably a more transparent sound. I’m using a headphone system at the moment, and have not put it to the test with my BHK250, which is in storage. My impression is that the Shunyata power distributors have come a long way, especially in the past few years.
I grew up in Finland but have lived in Norway, Singapore (twice), Netherlands (twice), UAE, and Australia. In general, I prefer shipping stuff but it’s also expensive and accident prone. On electrical things one needs to also worry about voltages. When it comes to audio and some other stuff, many manufacturers have the resellers by the balls and there are strict penalties for selling outside a specific region. Shunyata seems to be particularly strict.
Yes, I’m in Melbourne. It’s not a bad place and known for many good things but weather is not one of those things.
When I got the Hydra and Anacondas I also checked the Nordost power box and Valhalla power cords. They sounded just awful. Still have Valhalla speaker cables and tonearm cable, though, and a Valhalla v2 from preamp to power amps but the power products were a disaster. The only power cords to match Shunyata at the time were some Harmonix cables (talking of brands that are hard to find!). Burmester power cleanup box was way ahead of Hydras but also three times the price.
I also had some quite early PS Audio power cords but don’t remember which ones. They were blue, heavy, thick and stiff as he** and had some sort of a grounding wire running outside the shielding. Don’t have a memory of their sonic impact, though.