Thoughts on UPC-200 ?

[MikeW]

Hey guys, im considering upgrading my power again, though I know i need to do somthing about my source as well, still waiting some impressions on VDA 2, as i've narrowed it down to VDA2 or DA10. Anyway's current owners of UPC-200 feel free to chime in and tell me what you think of yours, and others feel free to offer alternatives, Can I go wrong with a UPC200 for ~350$ off the gon?

 

[eyeteeth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeW current owners of UPC-200 feel free to chime in and tell me what you think of yours,

It doesn't annoy me.

It's a fancy surge protection/power bar that doesn't have a big sonic fault that I can hear. Benefit? That's tougher to answer.

I set and forget, we ignore eachother, the perfect audio hardware relationship.

 

[akwok]

I agree with eyeteeth. It really didn't do much to the sound, but for $350 it protects my investment. I bought it expecting a sound difference though.. but :-/.

It looks mighty pretty though..

 

[MikeW]

On one hand it's GOod that it dosent change the audio much, as that means it sounds better then at least half the power conditoners out there. But on the other hand it leaves you wondering if you could have got more performance with somthing like BPT stuff. All of this stuff is awefully expensive for what it is, I bet the profit margins are massive.

 

[MikeW]

This unit is particulary interesting, i wonder how good it's high current non-isolated filtering is. My source dosent deserve such a power supply though lol.
With this setup my amp would not be on balenced power, but the DAC would be balanced/isolated. The question remains what do you lose by not having the amp on balanced power as well. And is it worth the extra cost to get a larger unit, and if you did have say a BPT-1 where all outlets are balanced though the transformer, do you lose your isolation from Digital and Analog?

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....6127&demo&3&4&

 

[MikeW]

The more I think about it, it seems like the UPC-200 is an expensive surge protector. If it makes no noticeable differnce from wall power, wouldent you be just as well off with a passive, high quality non current limiting Surge protector, like somthing from brickwall? The reviews are all positive, but frankly I value the opinions real owners more then professional reviewers. There's also the fact that there is a TON of these for sale at any given time on Audiogon, dosent seem like folks hang onto them. Either that or the market is flooded with them compared to other solutions. I hardly see anything from Shunyata or BPT in audiogon, is this because people keep those prodcuts or is there *alot* less of them on the market? That APC unit is still tempting me all the time, at such a compeitive price, and more features (AVR).

Tonight I was goofing off and actually plugged my Monster1000 into my APC UPS and was surprized by the results, it sounds pretty damn good, kinda euphonic, warmer, however I can hear the internal Transformer or DC Converter, or Battery charger coming though my headphones at anything over 3 o'clock volume. That's obviously not an aceptable long term solution, was still pretty surprized by the result though, seems to sound better then the Monster going straight into the wall. (blacker)

I was also able to get better sound out of my Monster1000 by rearanging where the plugs where at, putting only one thing on one duplex at a time. And noiser components towards the end of the line.

Edit: Crickets Chirp... Chirp.... Chirp Heloooooo ((echos)), I feel silly talking to myself in this thread, before you know it im gonna be qouting myself like eyeteeth

 

[akwok]

Placebo effect hurts.. I'm extremely wary of it after my recent Jadis DAC thread, so I really really try not to listen to differences that aren't there, or differences that are extremely subtle. This was the case in my UPC-200, and whatever cables I have been trying lately.

 

[MikeW]

As I research further this thing looks like a better value then I originally thought. It turns out, it's damn hard to find a surge protector only that won't **** up the sound, at a resonable price.

 

[ken36]

I've been breaking in my new unit for the last 36 hours. A little rocky at first. Clipping and sibilance, couldn't listen to it. Now everything is back to normal. I'm somewhat disappointed. No effect on the music.

 

[TheSloth]

I thought it was great. But then, I did some serious thinking about how it could possibly be improving things, and on the basis of that decided to remove both it and my ultimate outlet from my system, and simply connect all my components in order to one of those NAIM/wiremold extension strips, directly into the wall outlet. And as if by magic, the weird lumps in the frequency range of my speakers disappeared, this thing called soundstage appeared, and my TV that I tried with and without the UPC went back to having the correct colour balance (it was overly saturated with the UPC). I also found it didn't even lower the noise floor of any of my equipment.

No, I'm not making that stuff up. There's going to be one for sale soon on the FS forums. Sorry, but I just can't recommend it. And this is with NY apartment quality power...

edit: I've always found the differences to be much more audible with high current equipment (power amps etc.). I find it harder to notice the difference with headphones.

 

[MikeW]

Hmm to much negative press here, I was hoping at least one person would chime in and say "wow when I added it to my system I noticed a signifigantly lower noise floor, blacker background and better soundstage!" like most of the ******** review claim. I guess I can scratch this one off the very short list. The BP-1 and CPC from BPT looking interesting though. Should be able to get them wired with 2 duplex on the transformer and 3 off the transformer for 100% digital/analog isolation. When you waive the return ability (15% discount) and consider the fact that these ship with a pretty nice power cord it puts things intoer perspective, especially considering the UPC has a crap stock cord.

 

[ken36]

I want to apologize for giving you a negative impression. I did not mean to do that. My power situation is not really settled yet.

I still need:

2 cables.
1 wall socket.

Even so, my system already sounds pretty good(check profile). Why should there be a great change in sound. All of the attributes of cleaned up and conditioned power were already in place, so if there is a difference I'm just not aware of it.

 

[philodox]

I would have to disagree that the UPC-200 is just a fancy surge protector. I had some issues with static in my system and they are completely gone. That in itself justifies the price to me. That aside I have noticed some improvements in bass and sounstaging since using the PS Audio unit in my system though I haven't done any AB testing or anything. I will likely do some comparisons in the future, but for now I am just enjoying my system as it is.

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeW Hmm to much negative press here, I was hoping at least one person would chime in and say "wow when I added it to my system I noticed a signifigantly lower noise floor, blacker background and better soundstage!" like most of the ******** review claim. I guess I can scratch this one off the very short list. The BP-1 and CPC from BPT looking interesting though. Should be able to get them wired with 2 duplex on the transformer and 3 off the transformer for 100% digital/analog isolation. When you waive the return ability (15% discount) and consider the fact that these ship with a pretty nice power cord it puts things intoer perspective, especially considering the UPC has a crap stock cord.

Power should be the last thing you do to your system. If you expect a difference, you'll hear a difference. I didn't, so I didn't hear a difference.

Unless patrick has something to say about that..

 

[grandenigma1]

Well unless its for the sake of protecting your investment.