Bear with me, I have to gush.
It all began when my wife announced she’d bought her own Christmas present–a pair of luxuriously thick wool socks to wear around the house in the winter, and she gave me permission to buy my own gift. There’s nothing I need, I replied.
Well that was true until I saw that the kind folks here at PS Audio had dropped the price of the Stellar PowerPlant 3 from $3000 to $1775. Merry Christmas, to me!
It’s now been almost 3 weeks and I am completley in love with the P3 and how it has improved my system.
My system: a pair of M700 monoblocks, a Stellar Gain Cell DAC, and a PerfectWave SACD Transport all connected to pair of Magnepan LSRs on Magna Riser Multi Riser stands.
Life was complete (Late 2020/early ‘21).
The improvement over my 20-25 year old all-NAD system paired with a pair of polite, introverted but rather pedestrian Wharfedale speakers was truly amazing.
Earlier this year I replaced the courtesy power cord on the transport with a Belden Iconoclast BAV cord and the clarity in the high and low ends improved noticeably. I then replaced the Gaincell’s cord with another BAV and the sound stage opened up. Some more tweaking of speaker placement and I was in heaven. That is until my P3 arrived.
The highs are now open, the bass is evident and clean and 3 dimensional (these are little Maggies we’re talking about!) Voices stand out from the background music. Cellos, lower registers of pianos, and especially saxophones, in particular, are so very 3 dimensional. The detail provided by a strong attack/decay of notes makes my hair standup! The soundstage, already great, is wider, taller and deeper and with greater separation between instruments. Musicality is the clichéd term that comes to mind: Instruments sound more like themselves, the sound of drums is real and not just a generic “thump”; tabla and sitar music is truly mesmerizing, and I swear that Zuill Bailey and his cello ARE in my livingroom.
The system is louder (at the same pre-amp level) which also means that I can satisfy my wife by (occasionally) playing it at lower levels and still enjoying the sound. It’s like a loudness curve is being applied. My NAD FM tuner has been given a new life—much cleaner and with a wider range.
Listening is so very non-fatiguing now. Even the few rock CDs I have are a delight to listen to. Orchestral and chamber music are a joy, as are small folk/jazz ensembles.
The differences between the GainCell’s filters are now very apparent and I have moved from #2 (for enhanced brightness) to the default (#1).
In short, if going from my old NAD system to my PSA system was a +10, then adding the P3 is another +10. It is honestly that great an addition. I cannot believe I was so damned resistant and reluctant to believe all that folks at PS Audio, and so many of you on these forums, were saying about power regenerators. I can now assure anyone that there is no fear-mongering, no snake oil, no voodoo science at work here.
So, for Paul and all the fine folks of the PS Audio family, a heartfelt thank you. You, your products, and your advice are the best!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Cheers all, Nick.