First let me say that I have heard my share of multi-thousand dollar power cords and conditioners. They all have their benefit to at least one area of the sonic spectrum, but most are not worth their price and most people aren't willing to fork out that kind of money.
Enter the Belkin PureAV 8-outlet Isolator Strip (its actual name is the Belkin PureAV Home Theater Surge Protector with Advanced Isolating technology) -- the biggest hi-fi bargain I have ever gotten my hands on to date. List price is $100 but I picked it up from PC Connection for $50. This line filter, conditioner, and surge suppressor has 8 outlets (also available in a 10 outlet model) with two isolated banks. Isolating banks are crucial to use with audio and video equipment if you use a power center or power strip. The point of them is to keep the power going to your digital equipment separated from the power going to your analog equipment, and thus isolating the potential line noise that can be shared between them. The different filters clean noises that are produced from the actual equipment.
The isolator strip is also a power conditioner in that it filters line noise and protects against EMI (electromagnetic interference). This unit does a very good job of this. All the outlets are labeled separately so that you can identify your equipment and plug it into the corresponding outlet. Each two outlets are also labeled with the type of filtering associated with them, but each one is isolated from the other. I have both my computer and Opera amp/DAC plugged into the Digital Filter section (2 outlets), but they are both isolated from eachother. I find this yields the best results with my equipment. But you can also plug your equipment into the Analog Audio section (2 outlets), the Video section (2 outlets), and the High-Current section (2 outlets). Also supplied is an input/output to filter your coaxial television cable.
Now that you know what it does, I'm sure you want to know how it makes my equipment sound. Fantastic!!! The Opera is already a very tube-like sounding amp. When plugged into the isolator strip, it sounds even more like a tube amp, and warming up the tone to the point where it actually sounds like I am listening to vinyl. I have never heard my system sound less like digital than it does now, and I have tried it with some very expensive power cords and conditioners. I will note that I still am using the Virtual Dynamics Master LE 2.0 power cord on my Opera, not a cheap cord, and with it yields the best results. But even when substituted for my Cobalt Cable Ultimate power cord (a great but much less expensive cord), it still sounds almost as warm and natural. Listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, I feel like I am about 5 rows back and can hear every note of the violins precisely imaged in space. And on Bela Fleck and the Flecktone's Live Art album, Victor Wooten's solo of Amazing Grace has never ventured so low into the sonic depths. Listening fatigue of any amount is now non-existent.
If power conditioning is new to you and you have yet to spend big bucks on a conditioner, I urge you to start off with something inexpensive -- the Belkin PureAV Isolator strip. If you are unaware of how much polluted power and line noise can affect your audio equipment (and probably is at this very moment), give this isolator strip a try. It will be the best fifty bucks you've ever spent on this hobby. And since this strip works as well (if not better) on my equipment as units 10 to 20 times the price, you may find yourself not needing to spend anymore. It is all up to your ears and what sounds best to you. Different units will impart different sonic signatures on your gear because they all have different methods of filtering electricity. Power is the life-blood of your system and it needs to be pure and clean in order for your system to reveal everything it is capable of. And sometimes it can even have more of an impact than upgrading your source.
But let's be clear -- power conditioning (and thus clean power) is not doing something magical or mystical to your audio equipment; it allows your equipment to function as it should. If your system is not receiving clean power than it is not functioning optimally. This is why power conditioners make your equipment perform better.
Enter the Belkin PureAV 8-outlet Isolator Strip (its actual name is the Belkin PureAV Home Theater Surge Protector with Advanced Isolating technology) -- the biggest hi-fi bargain I have ever gotten my hands on to date. List price is $100 but I picked it up from PC Connection for $50. This line filter, conditioner, and surge suppressor has 8 outlets (also available in a 10 outlet model) with two isolated banks. Isolating banks are crucial to use with audio and video equipment if you use a power center or power strip. The point of them is to keep the power going to your digital equipment separated from the power going to your analog equipment, and thus isolating the potential line noise that can be shared between them. The different filters clean noises that are produced from the actual equipment.
The isolator strip is also a power conditioner in that it filters line noise and protects against EMI (electromagnetic interference). This unit does a very good job of this. All the outlets are labeled separately so that you can identify your equipment and plug it into the corresponding outlet. Each two outlets are also labeled with the type of filtering associated with them, but each one is isolated from the other. I have both my computer and Opera amp/DAC plugged into the Digital Filter section (2 outlets), but they are both isolated from eachother. I find this yields the best results with my equipment. But you can also plug your equipment into the Analog Audio section (2 outlets), the Video section (2 outlets), and the High-Current section (2 outlets). Also supplied is an input/output to filter your coaxial television cable.
Now that you know what it does, I'm sure you want to know how it makes my equipment sound. Fantastic!!! The Opera is already a very tube-like sounding amp. When plugged into the isolator strip, it sounds even more like a tube amp, and warming up the tone to the point where it actually sounds like I am listening to vinyl. I have never heard my system sound less like digital than it does now, and I have tried it with some very expensive power cords and conditioners. I will note that I still am using the Virtual Dynamics Master LE 2.0 power cord on my Opera, not a cheap cord, and with it yields the best results. But even when substituted for my Cobalt Cable Ultimate power cord (a great but much less expensive cord), it still sounds almost as warm and natural. Listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, I feel like I am about 5 rows back and can hear every note of the violins precisely imaged in space. And on Bela Fleck and the Flecktone's Live Art album, Victor Wooten's solo of Amazing Grace has never ventured so low into the sonic depths. Listening fatigue of any amount is now non-existent.
If power conditioning is new to you and you have yet to spend big bucks on a conditioner, I urge you to start off with something inexpensive -- the Belkin PureAV Isolator strip. If you are unaware of how much polluted power and line noise can affect your audio equipment (and probably is at this very moment), give this isolator strip a try. It will be the best fifty bucks you've ever spent on this hobby. And since this strip works as well (if not better) on my equipment as units 10 to 20 times the price, you may find yourself not needing to spend anymore. It is all up to your ears and what sounds best to you. Different units will impart different sonic signatures on your gear because they all have different methods of filtering electricity. Power is the life-blood of your system and it needs to be pure and clean in order for your system to reveal everything it is capable of. And sometimes it can even have more of an impact than upgrading your source.
But let's be clear -- power conditioning (and thus clean power) is not doing something magical or mystical to your audio equipment; it allows your equipment to function as it should. If your system is not receiving clean power than it is not functioning optimally. This is why power conditioners make your equipment perform better.
