Sorry for covering a lot of things but I need to finalise some equipment before it can be ordered to complete my new system.
Does anyone have any experience of Shunyata power conditioners used in conjunction with DcS equipment? I recently had a demonstration where the dealer used a Shunyata Everest and he swapped the Shunyata power cables for those supplied by DcS. The difference was astounding! Quite how a power cable can make any difference is beyond me but unless there was some sleight of hand going on (there wasn’t!) there certainly was a big difference in sound quality.
He had connected the Vivaldi DAC to a CH Precision L1 preamp using Siltech A680i cables. I foolishly let him swap those for the Siltech Royal Single Crown cables. Again, the difference was staggering, unfortunately for me because the cost of those is considerably more and now I have to make decision.
I have always been sceptical about these things but have since learnt a thing or two. I am also sceptical about audiophile switches. In the latest demo the dealer had installed the Melco S10 which is hugely expensive for a switch. I wasn’t sure I could really tell the difference between that and the S100 which is much cheaper but still very expensive. I have put that on hold until the system is installed and the two can be compared to a decent quality ordinary data switch.
In the system was the Melco N10. Again very expensive but it gets good reviews. However, I am not sure it is significantly, if any, better than the N100 but it was getting late and I may have been suffering from listening to too many permutations by then, so that will also have to revisited when the system is in place and there is more time. I also see the new Melco N1-S38 gets good reviews but I haven’t yet been able to get to see or hear one.
I have been using the Denali v2 together with the Vivaldi DAC and Clock for years, to my complete satisfaction. My Auralic streamer and Passlabs power amplifier are also connected to it. All devices with Alpha v2 power cords. But one of the biggest upgrades has to be my new Shunyata Altaira grounding system. For me, the most underrated upgrade. Not normal what that does while I also expected some improvement but not that much. I have tested with many different grounding cables and those differences are often much bigger than power cables. Believe me or not, I don’t care at all because I know how much I enjoy this upgrade. I connected the Altaira directly to a ground wall outlet and not to the Denali’s ground terminal which they recommend.
I’ve been using the Shunyata Triton v3 and Typhon QR power conditioners for some time and love them. I also have a mix of Shunyata and HFC (High Fidelity Cables) and love them too. The latter company, unfortunately, failed during COVID.
You don’t have to take our word for it, your local Shunyata dealer should be able to arrange a loan of cables etc
I added Shunyata Everest (with Omega XC power cable to dedicated 20A wall outlet) to my system and experienced a marked improvement w/r to separation, sound stage, articulation, bass clarity, tonal accuracy, etc. My local audio dealer loaned me a device that measures “noise” from an outlet. It displays the amount of noise as a number from 0 to “Max” (1000) and also allows you to “hear” the noise. Plugging the detector into the dedicated wall outlet, the “white” noise was 450. Plugged into any of the sockets of the Everest (with all the other equipment simultaneously plugged into other sockets on the Everest and with all the equipment running) the noise was “0”… yes zero. The Everest actually delivers as advertised. Highly recommended.
Note: I have recently added an Altaira ground system from Shunyata and there is even more improvement with respect to the separation of musicians/instruments, deeper sound stage, absolute silence between notes, etc. I have the cable from the Altaira going to the ground plug of the Everest.
Thanks Craig, and others that have responded about the Everest, that is reassuring as I have had to order two Everests, one for the audio rack in the listening room and the other for the three ATC P4 power amplfiers and subwoofers and surround sound equipment rack behind the screen. The way my room works means we have had to split the two systems which also means 7m cables from the preamp to the power amps, all horribly expensive but worth it I hope! I will wait to let things settle in before considering a trial of the Altaira. Once you are in deep there really is no getting away in this hobby!
I currently have an Everest and Denali LE and they are both excellent. I also have found the Altaira grounding system and Omega/Sigma v2 cables to be effective. I was at Shunyata around October and it’s a great company filled with friendly people who make great stuff.
Craig and Lee, I auditioned the Shunyata Altaira system yesterday. Frankly, I was sceptical that grounding could make much, if any, difference. Well, I don’t know what’s in those boxes but it transformed what I was hearing with more depth of soundstage, greater separation of instruments and a much more precise placement of the instruments within the soundstage. I felt I was drawn more into the whole experience which was just so much more involving. Black magic it may be but it certainly seems to work, at least for me and also my wife who, unprompted, noticed the difference immediately.
I have exactly the same experiences and am still amazed every day how good it sounds now. I hardly dare to change anything anymore, afraid it will sound less… haha.
Has anyone with a Shunyata Triton or Everest tested the Altaira? I wondered how much difference this made given they already have grounding posts (that I would imagine use similar technology)?
The system I was listening to yesterday at my dealer comprised a Vivaldi Apex 3 box stack, CH Precision L1 preamp and X1 power supply into active ATC SCM 50s. The components were all fed from a Shunyata Everest. The actual purpose of the listening test was to listen to the Melco N10 switch (I won’t go into that one!) but my dealer offered to let me try the Altaira, in this case the digital equipment used a separate Altaira hub from the analogue and the active speakers were also on a separate unit . The difference with it in place was staggering.
