What are the sonic benefits you are enjoying/hearing?
TIA.
Words alone are inadequate, and audio clichés will be used, but let me give it a go. The benefits manifest themselves in, dare I say, all aspects of musical reproduction through the profound subtraction of noise, its omnipresence previously permeating into every aspect of music as a grey pall where there should have been carbon black, plus a realignment of previously blurred phase and temporal interrelationships. For me, instrument specificity and size translate best to the illusion of reality, so let me use related analogies. What is particularly evident in my system is the increased liquidity, purity, and spatial solidity of the structure of the harmonic overtones, rendering a cleaner relief of attack and decay in transient edges to build a more visually realistic depiction and location, to pretty much any spot within the very broad, wide, and deep soundstage, perceptually ~15’ wide, ~10’ tall, and ~20-30’ deep. This phenomena extends from airy and crisp high frequency harmonics, down through the midrange fundamentals, and into the deepest bass notes which are now more visceral as well as speedier. Given the more precise localization through the entire spectrum, the “unoccupied” space between instruments have also doubled/tripled. Using another visual analogy, the chromatic scale has also become purer, with a reduction in aberration which previously subtracted from the fidelity of composite colors, both statically when seen as a snapshot, as well as dynamically when the music was ebbing, flowIng, and swirling. Electrons, the basic building blocks of signals and reproduced sound, are now far more pure, transparent, saturated, and effortlessly dynamic, producing music that is far more emotionally accessible, believable, with greater delicacy and finesse, but at the same time electrifying in its authenticity. I did a ton of homework to understand both the art and science of BITs, and it paid off in a hugely disproportionate and happy way, unexpected in its sheer magnitude.
Thanks for the response.
Would you postulate that these improvements stem from a further reduction of “noise” (for lack of a better word) that allows you to hear more of what is on a particular recording – the removal of a veil, if you will?
In any event, enjoy the music as we like to say.
Regards,
Scott
Yes. However, it’s not a postulation - it’s for real. All source components need a BIT for complete noise isolation, both ingress and egress, on the AC/Ground lines. Works in a complementary fashion with AC regenerators.
[Tried to give you two “thumbs up”, but the 4 character minimum nanny would not let me. 
]
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Noise is not the only ingredient for sound quality. My LP system is much more noisier than my digital system, yet it is miles ahead of my digital system in realness and musicality as far as sound quality is concern.
PS Audio’s Noise Harvesters are great AC line noise detectors - I own five of them. When plugged into my BITs, they do not blink at all ! Evidence that the BITs are doing their job filtering noise from the P20s.
I have an Elite BAC 400 coming next week for my preamp and digital source. Will be plugged in to my P20. Should be interesting!
Did you get Statement balanced AC power cables - one each for your components? As there is no inter-duplex isolation, consider getting another stand-alone Elite BAC for your DAC to isolate digital from analog.
Objective data for a Topaz BIT (balanced isolation transformer); the first graph shows common-mode noise reduction of -150dB+ in the audible spectrum, then -140dB+ up to 1MHz, complementing the PowerPlants, which (I believe) cannot do the latter. The more modern, precision-wound PLiXiR BITs will likely trounce the performance of Topaz products. The blue-colored-font guide recommends additional BITs downstream, specifically with floating secondaries, one for each digital component. Note from the flowchart that the role of the voltage regulator (the first power component in the diagram) can be filled admirably by PS Audio Powerplants.
Very interesting information on the Powerplant’s AC noise attenuation/filtering abilities - Paul says that PowerPlants don’t attenuate much line noise above 1kHz.
Paul recommends against using any isolation transformer with power plant due to the increase in impedance.
It depends!
Upstream - no, because of the BIT’s high AC impedance.
Downstream - a resounding yes, especially for low power consumption source components, but a no for power amps for the same reason above. But perhaps a yes, for SMPS low-consumption power amps - does anyone have any experience with this configuration?
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I think they can only improve quality downstream, as John stated. I have heard nice improvements using a BAC Elite 400 connected to a P20 HC outlet, powering my source components.
It would be interesting to assess the differences between adding a BIT and simply using a Shunyata noise reduction power cord. It seems the conversation here has focused heavily on noise reduction. I guess this will depend heavily on how effective the Shunyata cords and the BIT are in reducing sound degradative noise. Also, it will depend on whether the benefit of “balanced” power outweighs the gain in impedance if a BIT is put between the PowerPlant and the device in question.
If noise reduction is more important than the “balanced” attribute of treated power, and the Shunyata cords are effective enough to address any noise capable of degrading sound quality, it seems using these cords along with the PowerPlant would be the best solution since impedance would remain low (no BIT standing in between).
I too would like to know Paul’s opinion of the Shunyata NR cable as a feed to a power plant (Shunyata claim 12db of filtering at 1mhz - I’ve no idea of the overall range that filtering affects).
The cable certainly makes a difference.
I have two P10s and the system is active using three Directstreams (I’ve been using heavy shielded cables to the power plants, and PSA AC5s elsewhere). It sound(ed) fantastic.
Recently I got a Stellar P3 with a view to powering the three DSs. It sounds dull as dishwater compared with what I’m used to.
I recently read some words by Rob Watts of Chord digital fame - he has developed a switch mode power supply for Chord dac/scaler products that he swears does not introduce noise that would excite high frequencies (I also remember that Ted Smith said that Windom could sound quieter due to reduced dac noise). Having read that I wondered whether the SP3 was producing far less noise than the P10s, hence the apparent dullness. [the SP3 has now been consigned to powering front-end equipment]
I had the opportunity to acquire three Shunyata Delta NRs (note - at 10AWG they’re fine to power 240V power components, including the P10s which are very lightly loaded).
If I put the three Delta NRs as feeds from the P10s to the DSs, the sound is certainly fractionally duller and affects the treble/midrange enough to cause a noticeable change in the sound). I then tried the three Delta NRs as feed to the SP3 and the two P10s. The change in sound is not dissimilar to when feeding the DSs from the SP3.
Everyone waxes lyrical about the SP3 and the other new power plants. I’d like Paul to explain why that’s the case - e.g. is it due mainly to lower noise generation by the power plants (rather than less impedence)?. If I were in the US it’d be easy to try things, it’s not so easy here in the UK.
Today I’m likely to take the Delta NRs out and go back to what I loved before - it may not have been as smooth as with SP3/DeltaNRs but was amazingly dynamic with black backgrounds and pinpoint placement of voices etc - everything is more diffuse if I bring in the other options (I can counter, to a degree by adding about a 0.2db rise in treble).
I don’t have any comment on the Shunyata product other than to say I like their power cords in general. Getting rid of 1mHz noise, if that’s what it actually does, would, IMHO, be rather meaningless.
In my system, for my AC power cords, I have eight lengths of Audience SX cables, but just two lengths of Shunyata Sigma NRs, which I’m using to power the class D amps in my Von Schweikert VR-55 Aktive loudspeakers because I believe the Shunyata’s noise-filtering abilities are useful in this particular setup.
In comparison to the Audience SXs, the Shunyatas sounded grey and gritty when powering my other components, so hence the discrepancy in ownership numbers. Not that I have been actively auditioning other AC cables lately, but I have not yet come across any AC cables which sound better than the Audience SXs.
A friend of mine has one of those Chinese knockoff Alpha Audio EMI meters. He bought it from eBay. I borrowed today. It looks like this…
I plugged it into the same wall outlet my P12 was plugged into and got this reading…
Then plugged it into the back of my P12 hoping for a much lower reading. At this time, the output of my P12 was around 90w. It was powering my DS DAC, BHK Preamp and Sonore OpticalRendu. Sadly, the reading was just as high.
Let me zoom in.
I then switched on my mono amplifiers. The reading went way up.
My questions are:
- Is the Chinese knockoff believable?
- If it is, is that much measured EMI normal from the output of a P12?
- Why does the EMI measurement increase when I switch on my amps?
- Do the EMI readings even matter?
- If they do, what should I do about them? Buy a power conditioner?
Thanks guys!
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Just me…just return it to your friend my .02 probably not believable.