PS Audio P300 Power Plant for computer - it's back!

10 months ago (VIDEO) I had a 2nd P300 for my computer but the P300 blew up a week later from hardwiring stuff. So I bought another one and installed it today.
Previously I was using an Ultimate Outlet between wall and computer, now I added a P300 between the Ultimate Outlet and computer.

I used a 2m Valhalla from the wall to Ultimate Outlet, from there I have a 50cm Valhalla soldered into the mainboard of P300. Inside a have an output transformer to change from 117volt to 230 volt. From the back of the P300 I have a 1m Valhalla plugged into my Antec Phantom 350 PSU.

With the P300, I'm using the MWave4 setting right from the beginning because it was best for my amp and DAC.
I have Solid-tech Feet of Silence under the P300, everything else has Magix.
I don't have any ERS Paper inside the P300 yet, because I need to see how hot it gets first, I have the computer underclocked but it may not be enough.

Before I installed the P300 I turned off my computer, unplugged it, turned it back on and listened. The computer had been turned on for almost 2 days, and after I cleaned the capacitors by unplugging it, it sounded open and dull with all the low-level details covered up.

So I installed the UO + P300 and compared against UO.

First impressions: It sounds very different. Bass is heavier, everything is darker. I'm not hearing as much of the open and dull signature anymore. I'm hearing more low-level detail, but not as much as when the computer was warmed up for 2 days.
High frequencies are very clean, it sounds crazy! I wonder how good it will sound after 2 days.

Multiple sound signatures

It sounded weird at first, but after a while I could hear multiple sound signatures in my system. It is easy to hear them since I have heard them all separately before.

1) P300 gave a true black background because less computer noise gets dumped back into my 2nd P300 where the amp and DAC is plugged into.

2) If P300 for computer reduced jitter it would have made it sound greyer, but it didn't. I'm still hearing a slight hint of greyness but there is extra blackness and whiteness added on top of the music. It comes from the colored Feet of Silence. I have heard this before.

3) I'm hearing some of the MWave4 signature also.

4) I'm hearing extra whiteness which came from removing the 2nd layer of ERS Paper around my 2m Valhalla, I needed the ERS to wrap my 1m Valhalla. I thought only 1 layer ERS is enough, I guess not.

5) I'm hearing EMI entering the system somewhere. Maybe it's because the P300 isn't wrapped yet.

6) I'm hearing little muddiness and edgy whiteness from too thin transformer wiring of the P300 Power Plant. My other P300 uses Vishnu and Valkyrja wiring.

7) I'm hearing little muddiness from having the vibrating transformers inside the same chassis.

8) I'm hearing muddiness and distortion from the output transformer of P300.

9) I'm hearing the hairy sound signature from doing the CleanSweep for my computer. The transients sound like fine sand, they have never been this quiet before, and there are more of them.

10) I'm hearing the blackness, heaviness, solidness and whiteness of when I tried xStream Statement power cord for computer, but it sounds hairier and more open from the Valhalla coloration. It sounds both black and open, the best of both worlds!



Overall the improvement was HUGE! I'm hearing very quiet low-level detail everywhere, I never heard them before, I need to keep pausing music to confirm if they come from real life or the recording!
The extra whiteness added to my system is great, it emphasizes the low-level detail that I never heard before, it sounds amazing. Further improvements are possible when fixing the edginess. But I don't have enough Magix and ERS Paper!

No problem with heat!

The P300 for my computer has been turned on 6 hours now, and it's just barely warm! A year ago when I tried it I had both P300 inside the same closet, the P300 for computer was burning hot and I needed to use huge table fan to cool it. But now with a single P300 inside the closet I have no problems!

25 hours warm-up of computer

Synergy sounded messed up and fatiguing, but after a while I heard the problem, it didn't sound neutral and flat...could it have been the MWave4 setting? Then I went to the closet and changed to 50Hz Sinewave...wow the bass was gone and it sounded more open. But there was less low-level detail. Then I changed to MWave1 and it sounded brighter, the surface layer of MWave1 is brighter than MWave4. But MWave4 has a deeper layer where the low-level details are. Since MWave4 has less surface clarity the deepest layer in the music is more apparent, and the bass is also huge.

All of these settings seem to color the sound, it doesn't sound flat. Sinewave seems to be flat, but it is lacking in both low-level detail and surface clarity.

Low-level detail is what I like, but when using MWave4 for the computer too I seem to get quieter low-level detail than I can hear.


Ok, I just changed back to MWave4. OMG the crazy bass. Bass is heavier and more solid, it is very fatiguing! The Power Plant's Multiwave settings make too big differences!!

Where is the extra low-level detail???

I'm not hearing more low-level detail after warm-up because it's quieter than I can hear!! When I use the MultiWaves it just makes it sound messed up. When I use the 50Hz Sinewave it sounds flat and neutral, but is also sounds too smooth with less detail, it lacks edginess which makes it sound boring.

I removed the P300 now and went back to my old setup (Ultimate Outlet). Now the 50Hz sinewave from the wall makes it sound flat and neutral but much brighter than the sinewave from P300, I like this brighter sound more even when it isn't neutral.

I don't see the point of using a power conditioner when not using MultiWaves to color the sound, it sounds great for the amp and DAC, but for the transport the MultWaves just makes it sound messed up.

Before I had the P300 for computer the synergy was 99% of perfection, but now it dropped down to 80% even when the overall performance is better.
It seems like I bought the 2nd P300 for nothing, oh well, at least I'm going to save some electricity when I have it unplugged.

P300 is great!

Instead of running away from the bass like sissy girl I put the P300 back. I'm giving it another chance.




After my amp's and DAC's P300 Power Plant warmed up longer it became more revealing and showed the brightness of computer plugged to Ultimate Outlet, it sounded horribly bright and I needed to change from FLAC to WAV to reduce power consumption. I also needed to close all programs on my computer and stop stroking my mouse. All those tweaks made it noticeably smoother, but it wasn't enough. I put the P300 back between Ultimate Outlet and computer, I used 50Hz Sinewave. It got MUCH smoother and bass was bigger. But I wanted more, so I boosted up the bass with MWave4 and bass was huge, I like this more. It also has a new world of low-level detail. It makes me wonder, is it colored or is it neutral...