Am saving up for a power plant but wondering if the component looses any of its ‘power’ output capabilities or somehow degrades over time. Am trying to reach nirvana on my firefighter’s budget here, but it seems a bit far away. Do wish PS Audio offered first responder discounts! 
The only input I can provide is that I got a P600 last year for $400 and replaced all the main capacitors (easy job as the P600 is a simple and industrial build), and it works perfectly as far as I can tell. 
I believe it’s around 20 years old now, IIRC.
Cheers
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It measures itself so you would see in the output if it was not working right. A friend just bought one (very old model) and it told him it was higher distortion out than in, he sent back to seller.
I would also think they have a similar lifespan as a big ol amplifier. many years.
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I suspect each generation will have its strengths and weaknesses regarding long term reliability. I needed to replace the regen boards on a P10 recently and it now sounds fantastic (something made it suddenly produce low output voltage and output distortion that was higher than input distortion. I’ve no idea whether a P15 would last longer than a P10 but hopefully any weakness will have been improved upon).
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My P300s lasted a bit over 3 years. Power supply caps failed took out my Resolution Audio Quantum DAC when the first P300 failed.
My P15, since sold, had three years on it without issue.
I’d say a PowerPlant should last 7-10 years without issue.
One reason I went with a Gryphon PowerZone3.10 is that it is an effective passive device. Downside being its price.
wow, a failed PS regenerator can take out a DAC? gives me pause
Unfortunately, a catastrophic failure of any piece of equipment can potentially harm other connected pieces.
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I’ve had my P20 for 5.5 years now and have never experienced any problems or degradation in performance.
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I owned a P5 whose regenerator board failed. I don’t remember hearing any change in sound until the board actually went out (that is, no gradual loss of sound quality). But this was a long time ago. None of my other gear was harmed. PSA gave me a good trade-in towards a P12 even though I told them upfront that the P5 was no longer working.
You can check the performance of the unit by using the front panel or by logging into the PSA website if you have the power plant connected to the Internet (a feature called “PowerPlay”).
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