Quote:BTW, Will and others with similar experiences:
Now that you have had experience with power regeneration and the also popular UberBoss
Fireblade,
Since you read my MKIV review, I guess you have a sense of my sense of the complexity and delicacy of the sound here. Also, I talked about how anything could impact the subtle qualities be it power, cables, front end, room, etc.
Though both had loads of burnin by the end my saga in the wireworld thread, I just did some listening tests, knowing things could be different now with more burnin on the MKIV and P5.
And things are better, but
I can safely say I would not have the level of sound I wrote about in the MKIV review with just the P5.It does really good things, but it just doesn't allow the level of complex detail I spoke of without help, at least with my front end/system/room.
As you know, I think very fine detail is subtle, but really important. And it is delicate...hard to get in balance and to keep. There seem to be layers, many little parts making a unified complex. It can be read in enhanced ambient information, inner detail and spaciousness, more complex edges, defined core notes transition to ambience more seamlessly, subtler and more natural timbre, soundstage expansion with natural feeling ambience connecting players....
In retrospect, where I started with power treatment was important. It was a transparent, unrestricted Audio Brickwall along with an adjustable Kemp Schumann Resonator, and some Alan Maher things, an EMF/RFI filter plug, and several Infinity boxes. The boxes are interesting. Put on cable ends they create a small but audible improvement in dynamics and clarity across the spectrum. I had a skilled electronics guy with a lot of audio noise management experience describe it once...this was a long time ago, but I think it was something like the quartz in the box acting as a transducer, drawing off noise and turning it to heat???
The Kemp Schumann resonator, I heard also. They are are said to clarify noise in lines as well broadcasting the Schumann Resonance (7.83 Hz) into the room. Maybe that really long wave in the house wires overwhelms and mitigates the higher frequency noise??? I don't know, but set just right, it helps clarify the sound across the spectrum, sounding similar to the rest of good noise reducers. It seems to subtly enhance complexity and timbre while clarifying and expanding the soundstage. Set too high, the sound gets too feathery and diffuse, but just right, it is a last few percent sort of gain that is pretty involving here.
The EMF/RFI filter circuit cleans it all pretty evenly though a little bright feeling, leaving the good stuff with less noise artifacts. This setup was very revealing and clear...lucky synergy I think.
Next I added the Uberbuss. After burnin I found it very transparent and musical, more refined. Having come from a really good place, I realized I had entered the more subtle range of power conditioning. More musical with more complex sound, it was worth it to me though, taking the system deeper into refined beauty. But also this showed me how good my first setup was.
Below is a summary of now. I am using all of my old setup except the Uber, adding the P5, a new cable for it, and a Shunyata Defender. A lot of stuff, but it is really, really good.
The P5 took a lot of effort after the Uber's natural sounding transparency. I don't think it would have occurred to me to try the P5 except I needed power conditioning for my work place system. Then I discovered the variations in density from increased voltage was a long term problem for me, making regeneration necessary. As good as the Uber was, it did not cut quite as much hum-like noise, and could not regulate voltage.
On the other hand, I almost sent the P5 back several times. Lacking some layers of micro detail it was a little hard edged, with an “analog” sound I found darkish and veiled. It was very difficult to get the level of open, nuanced detail I was used to. Luckily, I was given a couple demo extensions to finish exploring and to finish the loooonnngg burnin.
In the end I could not put my Tranquility DAC, its linear USB power, and tweaked Mac Mini, into the P5 without sacrifice. After trying different approaches, these are plugged into my Brickwall modded with a gold plated Furutech plug, and a cryo’d Pass and Seymour receptacle. The Brickwall has quiet surge protection so a Shunyata Defender is used only as a filter. In the Brickwall it refines solidity, definition, and opens a subtle, but sort of vast complexity for the front end. If I plug the Brickwall into the P5, I lose some of this with no benefits I can hear.
I also lucked out on a home-made cable for the P5. It is 8 gauge using many 18, 16, and 14 silver plated copper teflon wires with Neotech rhodium ends on sale at partsconnexion. I think this is described in the Wireworld thread. The PS Audio AC-12 I have brought out a lot of what I wanted, but my cable was better for what I was after with more nuance and delicacy, more layers of complex detail. After trying everything I had, I found Synergistic Research MIG feet under the P5 were the only ones that could get close to the level of open complexity I wanted. The gear other than the front end goes into the P5, and the P5 and Brickwall share a great sounding Furutech copper wall receptacle.
I rearranged the EMF/RFI filters in the system, room and house lines as part of the P5 process for best sound. Also a couple black discusses from Mad Scientist. Though these are not as neutral as the Maher Infinities, (I have never put my finger on why) I like using several of them for the clarity they bring. All the little stuff is cumulative, and like about everything these days for me, they need tuning, locating them best for synergy.
With the P5 and Defender/Brickwall, the rest have less powerful impact than they did in my original setup, but still very important to me. The P5 is a good tool for me since my voltage is nutty and my amp's sounds change with a volt here or there. The Shunyata Defender and Brickwall make the whole way better bringing out more complex musical layers. The rest, the many plugs and filters...at this point, these are more the last few percent. But in my experience, the super refined detail layers are the most fragile and difficult to pull, but are very valuable for a complete musical experience. So these last few percent are as valuable as anything else. For me, this is perhaps the most important area. It makes the rest more real and natural.
Once I got there with this hybrid system, I really think it is great, though it is a little wild to realize how involved it is. Organically developed over time as it may be, that the P5 needed all this and the Shunyata to get this good was discouraging for me. This shows how important where I began was though, with very clean power from the Brickwall and all the rest creating a benchmark that was hard to match. Then adding the Uber, that was a step up, challenging the abilities of the P5 further.
I wish there were more regenerator makers around. I could not find a demo of the Purepower regenerator and was unwilling to go there without hearing it, leaving me with the one choice. Purepower had a lot of trouble when they shopped out building the units, but they are supposed to have fixed all that, moving the builds back to Canada.
I wonder how it compares to PS Audio....
All complaining aside though, my power is really amazing with this setup, another level altogether than before, and the P5 is a big player!