Shunyata vs PS Audio vs Pure Power vs Eqi-tech

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Well after the difficulty working with Equitech I changed my mind and purchased a Torus Power product. I hope to have the AVR15 in two weeks. My dealer is very impressed with the Torus gang.

I still plan to bring in an Audience Adept 6-TSS to compare with after it settles in. and fwiw, I don't have much expectation bias (in fact, I hope they don't work) and look forward to the exploration.

Will be very interesting to hear your thoughts about the 2...good luck. I have read great things about both.
 

microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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micro- how has the P10 worked out for you?

Excellent for source and preamplifier elements, but mixed feelings about its use with the REF 150 power amplifier. I was hoping it would make power cables sound more similar, but unfortunately it was not the case.
 

Jaguar

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Aug 2, 2010
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Bellevue, WA
I've struggled with power in the Jaguar Listening Studio since I moved into this location in Downtown Bellevue last year. The grid here is antiquated and overwhelmed and will stay that way until a major overhaul in 2017. There's also a radio station about 5 miles away.

I've run a 10M Wywires cable from my washing machine outlet to get a dedicated circuit, rather than use the circuit near my system, which runs through a lot of outlets, switches and lights. I'm currently using a PS Audio P10. I changed the outlets out for Furutech GTX (two gold and three rhodium). I think the PS regenerators are fantastic. They don't take anything you want away, but their ability to kill noise is limited. Testing with my Noise Sniffer the noise is substantially reduced, but still notable. The large transformer in my amplifier seems to kill a lot of the remaining noise. However, when I can still hear an improvement in power at midnight vs. 9pm with the same room noise level, there's still work to do. Also, the P10 is rated to 1,500 watts, but the capacity meter maxes out around 1,000. I'd be interested to hear what people say about PurePower regenerators, as they seem to have some interesting features.

I tried a BPT Signature in my last place and despite having good luck with an older version of their product a few years earlier, it killed the noise, but also made my system sound more grounded and more lack-luster than I prefer. I wouldn't go back to balanced power unless it was with a really large capacity unit like the Equitech wall unit. Speaking of grounding, the units like the Entreq can work wonders. We offer a product from Akiko Audio for less than a few hundred dollars that works on the same principal and it's been our most popular product ever; some clients are using 4 or 5 units in their system.

I'm intrigued lately by the Shunyata. It's on the expensive side, but given that it appears to specialize in killing noise I might give it a shot.
 

KeithR

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fork- thanks for your feedback. i use WyWires ICs with my Zu Def4 system :)

I looked at the PurePower gear as well- but that company has some real issues even after the guy ripped off his design. This is the list I came up with:

Iso Tformers: Torus
Conditioners: Shunyata, Audience
Regeneration: PS Audio

Silver Circle is the last brand I looked at, but I found was pretty expensive relative to the other iso tformer alternatives. I did see several at the Newport Show, so am sure their products are excellent.

KeithR
 

VPN

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Dec 28, 2013
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I tried other power solutions in the past (never tried Shunyata or Equi=Tec), and I really like the PS audio P10 with my source and preamp. I also have a PS PPP and two PS P30. The P10 makes a big improvement especially in the preamp sound.
 

Lee

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Feb 3, 2011
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FWIW, I can comment on the lower end. I tried PS Audio Quintets and Quartets versus the Shunyata PS8 and the latter won easily.

Having said that, I did tour the factory for PS Audio two years ago and saw the Dectet being made and it was impressive.
 

Mordecai

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Jul 18, 2014
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That's interesting Lee, seeing as the PS Audio products you mention are conditioners and the PS8 is simply a distribution block, albeit an excellent one. Perhaps it's about current limiting?
 

Lee

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Feb 3, 2011
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That's interesting Lee, seeing as the PS Audio products you mention are conditioners and the PS8 is simply a distribution block, albeit an excellent one. Perhaps it's about current limiting?

Maybe so. It does seem like the PS8 has very "purist" design. But it's more than a distribution block when you plug the Defender in as you get some of the Hydra filtering. Not the same as a Hydra but it seems to work well for me. My path was 1. dedicated line, then 2. Oyaide outlet, then 3. Shunyata Venom and Black Mamba cords, then 4. PS8/Defender/SSF/Venom HC combo. These all lowered the noise floor. Six or so people who have listened have heard the improvement.
 

DEV

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Oct 19, 2011
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Very interesting thread with lots of good information.

I believe allot of this product depends on our actual power source coming in along with our gear we are connecting, we all have different.

Reason I say this is I have owned several manufactures products over the years and found the end result differed when using with different gear.

Most recently I had 2 RM20's and they worked nicely with specific gear, someone whom I know who has the same Vac gear that I own currently recommended I give PS Audio's P10 a try so I purchased 2. I was pleasantly surprised and prefer them over my RM20's. My main interest being to protect my investment but not add any negatives. So far seems to be doing well, what was interesting while I still owned the RM20's was to put on a actual Fluke voltage gauge to see what the power was actually doing. I found this very interesting from one designated outlet and RM20 connected to the other one and actually deferring, what was there along with the fluctuations at different times, seconds.

For example the reading on one RM20 would be at 123v and the other say at 128v, they would always vary back and forth but never noticed both being ever very close, I did this for a week with head scratching results.

Hooking up the P10 there is a window that shows what's coming in and what's available "being converted", very interesting indeed. Using the P10 converts the power to 120v so both sides are consistent - I installed my Fluke again and confirmed this is what's happening.

To me that's important because now my gear is getting the same consistency.

Also interesting to see the THD IN and OUT - I see an average of THD 2.9% IN and then converted out to THD 0.1% OUT - this also fluctuates constantly.

You can go to their site for all the technical stuff but so far I'm very happy with the results but I'm always open to trying - learning.

The units appear to be well made and appearance wise look very nice, see attached picks - I have one placed under each of my mono blocks.

20141009_143737.jpg
 

vinylphilemag

WBF Founding Member
Apr 30, 2010
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in my room i have 'dirty power' which is my regular house panel in the barn, and 'clean power' from my Equi=tech 10WQ wall panel unit. these outlets are side by side in my listening room. it would be easy to move the Shunyata units from the dirty to the clean outlets. the only issue would be the settling and warm-up factors. i'm not sure you could do a quick A/B and it would tell you everything. maybe Grant could comment on how long they need to be plugged in continuously before you would hear somewhere near it's best......to determine what might be involved in a useful investigation.

Hi Mike,

Did you ever get around to performing this experiment? If so, what were the results?
 

Jaguar

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Aug 2, 2010
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I'd like to try a Torus unit. As I said I've had mixed results with transformer-based units before, with them taking away much of what I don't want and some of what I do want (the opposite of my problem with the P10).

However, the quest for power perfection is strong. Torus products have great R&D and their prices make them one of the best values out there. The problem is that the larger Torus units, including all their balanced power units, require a 240v circuit. This makes these unworkable for most environments and an additional minor consideration is that you have to give up your audiophile outlet and AC connector.


Some feedback from Torus about why their balanced units use a 240v circuit:

"Plitron builds balanced/symmetrical power transformers for the major players in the balanced power market including Equi=Tech and BPT. These balanced power conditioners provide cancellation of common-mode noise on the secondary side of the transformer by splitting the 120V output into two out-of-phase 60V lines with the center tap connected to ground. There are provisions in the National Electrical Code for balanced power conditioners but the Code states that such devices must use ground fault current interrupters (GFCIs) for safety reasons."
 
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VPN

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Dec 28, 2013
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I'd like to try a Torus unit. As I said I've had mixed results with transformer-based units before, with them taking away much of what I don't want and some of what I do want (the opposite of my problem with the P10).

However, the quest for power perfection is strong. Torus products have great R&D and their prices make them one of the best values out there. The problem is that the larger Torus units, including all their balanced power units, require a 240v circuit. This makes these unworkable for most environments and an additional minor consideration is that you have to give up your audiophile outlet and AC connector.

I am curious to know if anyone compared the Equi=Tec balanced power smaller units, such as the 2Q, for use with source/preamp vs. the Torus balanced power, such as the AVR or AVR2 20A, also for source/preamp. Anyone compared any of these with a PS P10?

Fork, What was your problem with the PS P10? Were you using it with preamp/source or with power amps? What was it taking away in your system? I currently use a P10 with Source/Preamp, and like the improvement it brings.

Thanks
 

Jaguar

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Aug 2, 2010
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Bellevue, WA
Fork, What was your problem with the PS P10? Were you using it with preamp/source or with power amps? What was it taking away in your system? I currently use a P10 with Source/Preamp, and like the improvement it brings.

VPN, you misunderstood my comment and maybe it was a bit confusing. My problem with the BPT Signature was that it kind of limited my treble extension. As the 6Moons review says it sounds rather "grounded" (not as airy). Comments I've since read about the Torus were similar and lead me to believe this is the character of transformer-based units. Maybe a much larger transformer (the BPT was 20A) would help, but I suspect this is just a byproduct of noise cancellation with the transformer.

The P10 does not have the same effect, however, it's not nearly as effective at killing noise on the line. I plug everything into it except my plasma screen (last time I checked my Bully Sound S5 amp sounded slightly smoother into the P10 than the wall). If memory serves me, when I connected a Noise Sniffer to the P10 during the day the P10 noise ranges from about 20-40% of what's coming out of the wall, which is quite a bit of noise during the morning and afternoon and you could hear it in the music. A Pass amp I was using on the P10 killed much of the Noise Sniffer noise, but not much change with my Bully amp. Interestingly, my Kemp Elektroniks QA plug cuts the noise as much as the Pass did and doesn't harm the dynamics like many of these type of walwart devices. I also use an Akiko Audio Triple AC device in the mains outlet and an Audio Magic Pulse Gen Box (I should make clear that I represent the products mentioned). However, I only host listening sessions in the evenings now, when the outside noise is at a whisper and my power is pretty good.
 

VPN

VIP/Donor
Dec 28, 2013
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Fork,

Thank you. I now understand your comment.

I wonder if anyone compared that Equi=Tec 2RQ (Q series 20amp) with the Torus AVR20 balanced unit (also 20amp). I am considering them as alternatives to the PS P10 for powering just the preamp.

Cheers
 

Chuck Lee

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2015
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I have a 20 amp,#10 Romex dedicated line into a Furutech GTX R to power my Acoustat tube amps.
I liked the sound.
Then I did this.
I plugged in my Furman IT1210 balanced power conditioner(modded with two Shunyata power inlets)to one of the Furutech receptacles and a Nordost QV2 in the other receptacle.
My Acoustat power amps are plugged into the modded Shunyata receptacles in the Furman.

To my ears and those of my friends, this has been an improvement.
In my case mixing and matching balanced power from Furman with recpetacles from Shunyata and Furutech with a bit of Nordost QV2 thrown in for good measure is a nice recipe.
 

Chrk

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2015
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London
Hello,
while being quite new to this forum I can see that I am not the only one feeling unsure when it comes to power conditioning. I was going to ask if someone had a strong knowledge of the differences pro and cons of power conditioning / filtering, knowing that in a rental house in central london I can not use any wall mounted solution like the Torus, Equitech and other huge unit like Controlled Power Ultra K and other RGPC Power Bridge and have dedicated power lines and specific outlets ... so it will be sub optimal but I would like to know your educated opinion using the more usual solutions.
I can use the rack mounted Equitech (5E), the BPT or RGPC 1200C. I can of course try the Shuntaya TritonV2, PS10, Silver Circle Tchak, Isotek Super Titan and others.
Regarding Power cables I am considering the Stage III for the amps / preamps and smaller PAD for turntable, dac and music server
Last but not least and maybe what I will go for : http://silvercore.de/filter/netzfilter-2/
I will appreciate your advises
 
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CKKeung

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Jun 17, 2011
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Hello,
while being quite new to this forum I can see that I am not the only one feeling unsure when it comes to power conditioning. I was going to ask if someone had a strong knowledge of the differences pro and cons of power conditioning / filtering, knowing that in a rental house in central london I can not use any wall mounted solution like the Torus, Equitech and other huge unit like Controlled Power Ultra K and other RGPC Power Bridge and have dedicated power lines and specific outlets ... so it will be sub optimal but I would like to know your educated opinion using the more usual solutions.
I can use the rack mounted Equitech (5E), the BPT or RGPC 1200C. I can of course try the Shuntaya TritonV2, PS10, Silver Circle Tchak, Isotek Super Titan and others.
Regarding Power cables I am considering the Stage III for the amps / preamps and smaller PAD for turntable, dac and music server
Last but not least and maybe what I will go for : http://silvercore.de/filter/netzfilter-2/
I will appreciate your advises

Hi Chrk,
If the house is rental, you probably can't do anything on the breakers & powerlines.
Is the mains voltage stable?
I suggest you to consider power-regenerating type of conditioners such as PS Audio P10 or Pure Power.
Also, please consider to replace the wall-sockets to audiophile-grade ones such as Furutech.
CK
 

Chrk

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2015
19
4
133
London
Hi Chrk,
If the house is rental, you probably can't do anything on the breakers & powerlines.
Is the mains voltage stable?
I suggest you to consider power-regenerating type of conditioners such as PS Audio P10 or Pure Power.
Also, please consider to replace the wall-sockets to audiophile-grade ones such as Furutech.
CK


Hello CK, yes I am going to replace the wall sockets and indeed I can not really do anything on the panel/power breakers/powerlines ...
I am seriously considering the Silvercore ntezfilter with an additional transformer, which in fact are done by Audio Emotion in Germany, but it seems that no one here has any knowledge on them
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Beverly Hills, CA
Due to waterproofing repairs to the retaining wall holding up my house much of the front of my house where the power comes in from the pole, and my listening room, are a mess. I am thinking this is a good opportunity to consider installing an Equi-Tech 10WQ or a similar device.

What is the latest learning in this area?

Mike L, are you still happy with your 10WQ? If you were to do it over again would you still choose the 10WQ?

Are there any new competitors to Equi-Tech besides Torus?

Is there any advantage to using several Furman P-2400 ITs in the listening room, so that there is a shorter run of power line after the balanced power output and before the power goes into components, than is the case with the distributed Equi-Tech system located at the main electrical panel?

Thank you!
 

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