Listening – Stage 2
Starting with the L1 preamp and C1.2 DAC connected while the rest remained on the passive power distributor, the PowerPlant’s positive impact was already undeniable. Its more instantaneous transient behavior and more profound inner-note silence vividly revealed low-level details, clearly shaped reverbs and decays, and created a deeper and lusher soundstage with more distinct layering within.
Despite being massively powerful, the P20 never sounds overly controlled. Instead, it sounds effortlessly fluid and very smooth. And sure enough, with every component I added to its output, the sound tightened up and became more expressive.
Adding the Aqua LinQ streaming endpoint to the P20 further improved crispness, expression, and clarity. Perhaps unexpectedly, for a purely D-D device, even transparency improved. Next, I connected the Music Servers, providing similar incremental improvements but of an ever-smaller magnitude.
The cumulative effect was that the P20’s core benefits became ever more pronounced while my reservations increasingly took a back seat. An intermediate check with everything connected to the passive power distributor’s raw AC made me very quickly plug everything back into the P20. At this point, the raw power was unlistenable, making the system sound confused, blurred, rough, and shouty. This is a crucial point to make as, sometimes, grunge and even a modest compression may make the sound appear more dynamic, even though that is not truly the case. The P20 really drives this point home and made me scratching my head how I had been listening to a handicapped system for all these years.
At this point, the P20 outperformed the P10 in all aspects except perhaps in ultimate raw expression. As mentioned, my system requires the most neutral accessories to avoid becoming too polite, but even though the P10 addressed that issue, its performance was otherwise far behind the P20. On that note, I mentioned that the P10 did not change the sound of my system compared to raw AC, and at that time, I felt that was a positive. Now, it is becoming clear that is a relative matter after all, as the P10 does not allow the system to unfold all of the fluidity, subtlety, and immense resolution it is capable of.
Until now, I had been holding off on adding the A1.5 power amplifier to the P20. Even though PS Audio indicates the PowerPlant has zero issues driving big power amplifiers, history has taught me that any filter or semi-active device ahead of an amplifier has a negative impact, at least on my system, hence my reluctance. But now, it was time to try again.
Lo and behold, with the power amplifier also powered by the P20, the entire presentation snapped right into focus. Now, the system had it all: fluidity to spare, delicious delicacy, and resolution up the wazoo, as well as amazing crispness, expression, and huge dynamic impact. Every trace of thickness and politeness had vanished, and the pacing was now absolutely spot on, neither hurried nor relaxed but precisely neutral. Oh, those aforementioned soul records now sounded better than ever, easily surpassing what I achieved earlier with the P10 by a massive margin!
Based on my experiments, analog components such as turntables, phono stages, preamplifiers, and power amplifiers, as well as digital components with an analog output, seem most sensitive to the quality of the mains power and benefit most from being powered by a PowerPlant. As demonstrated by the Aqua LinQ, a purely digital streaming endpoint is still affected, but to a smaller extent. Finally, Music Servers also benefit, but to an ever-smaller extent.
With the entire CH system, including servers and streaming endpoints, powered by the P20, would you think I was starting to reach the PowerPlant’s limit? Heck, no! Even when playing loudly, the P20’s power meter hovered consistently just above the 250-watt mark, while the unit is specified to offer 2000 watts continuously. Holy cow!
Epilog
My experience with the PowerPlants taught me that a good power supply is every bit as essential as a thoroughly acoustically-treated room. These PowerPlants are large and heavy, and they may appear rather costly if you think of them as power distributors. But that’s the thing. They are so much more! If you live in an apartment complex in a crowded city, chances are your power is as severely affected as mine. And if you have a carefully assembled high-performance system, you owe it to the system to allow it to perform its very best.
Another thing the PowerPlants made abundantly clear is that there is no substitute for true dynamics. One may try (as I did) to inject excitement into the system by selecting specific lively-sounding power cables, connectors, and distributors. This works to a certain extent, but the PowerPlants make it very clear that I was listening to an edgier and flatter version of reality. Meanwhile, passive filters do have a limited ability to clean up the sound, but in my experience, always at the cost of a measure of speed, dynamics, and impact. After hearing the P15 and P20, I know there is no substitution for actual power regeneration when the AC power is as compromised as at my place. Indeed, those who live in the middle of nowhere may benefit less from adding a PowerPlant. But that is speculation on my part and something best experienced in person as part of a home audition.
Conclusion
The P15 and P20 PowerPlants are large and heavy units demanding what initially seems like a very serious investment. But when considering they are not just filters but convert your home’s variable, compromised AC power into pure DC, and then back again into safe, protected, regulated, distortion-free, low-impedance, perfect AC using an analog-like DSD generator for the input waveform, the proposition becomes far more understandable. Now, consider that a PowerPlant raises the quality of an entire audio system to an otherwise impossible-to-reach level, and their prices become entirely reasonable. Now, consider that even a single high-end component can easily cost more than the P20 PowerPlant, and the products become a no-brainer purchase. A great bonus is that the P15 and P20’s many outputs negate the need for additional power distributors for all but the most elaborate systems. PS Audio offers the PowerPlant 12 and Stellar PowerPlant 3 for smaller systems and catering to more modest budgets.
The choice between the P15 and P20 is simple. If budget and space allow, get the P20. It costs a relatively modest extra amount but offers notably better performance than the already mighty fine P15, with more power and additional outlets.
Either way, the P15 and P20 are highly recommended. Since I am no longer willing to listen to my system without one, I am holding on to the P20, making it the new cornerstone of the system and, with it, a brand-new HFA Favorite.
Highly recommended: P15
HFA Favorite: P20
External Links
Manufacturer: PS Audio
Distributor for the BeNeLux: AsperaAudio
If I am not mistaken, the power amplifier outlets on these units do not provide regenerated power, that is only for the lower power outlets (as confirmed in a phone call some year ago to PS Audio’s technical department). The older PS Audio regenerators fifteen years did provide regenerated power for all connected units, but those regenerators were massive, much bigger and heavier than the P20 tested here. PS Audio discontinued those models since they were utterly impractical from a marketing point of view.
Hi Ronnie, as I understand it, all outlets provide regenerated power. The difference for the power amp outputs is that they are prepared for high current inrush. I found an old post by Paul on a forum where he also mentioned that the power amp outlets were different, but he rectified that later on the same forum. This is substantiated by the difference I heard when connecting the A1.5 to the P20’s power amp outlets (the same benefits as with the other outlets).
Hi Ronnie, I double-checked with PS Audio, and they just confirmed the following:
“The “high current” outlets on both the P15 and P20 are definitely regenerated. The difference is the high current outputs have a slow start feature that permits the turn on of big power amplifiers without kicking your circuit breaker off (but only if started via the P20). The commenter might be thinking of the Stellar P3 PowerPlant and that, definitely, has power amplifier outlets that are NOT regenerated, but rather they are conditioned.”
“Incidentally, the Stellar P3 is the only PowerPlant that has the ability to send non-regenerated power to the HC zone. However, if you flip the switch to “regen” the power will go through its active circuit and be regenerated just like all other zones. This is only applicable for the P3 though. The P12, P15 and P20 are always regenerate through all of the zones, no matter what. Lastly, the P20 is one of the largest regens we have ever made. It is capable of powering the largest load as well.”
Great review, Christiaan! I had here for my stereo system many power conditioners from TMR, Audio Agile, Burmester and Shunyata. All changed the sound but finally I had them remove them from my system. They finally all reduced punch and dynamics and connection to a power amp was a no-go. I then got two PS Audio PPPs and one PS Audio Quintessence – the latter set in series with a PPP. However the balun in the Quintessence created some strange results (including a shift of phantom images) and had to leave the system. And again: the power amp preferred the direct connection to the wall outlet. With increasing number of digital audio components a PPP was replaced by a P10. However my power amps didn’t like to get their power from this power regenerator. Obviously, according your findings, a P20 seems to able to deliver a better performance for connecting power amps. But there is one point in your review which doesn’t seem to be logical: if a power regenerator has a negative effect on the quality of the mains power supply as do have SMPSs and to a lesser degree every LPs (backward RFI created by the diode bridge rectifier) I wonder why you do not use specific filtering between the P20 and each component? The power conditioning concept of TMR emphasized this aspect.
Kind regards
Michael
Hi Michael, thanks for the feedback. I do not use passive filtering between the P20 and each component, or in general, because I have consistently found passive filtering solutions to reduce the transient sharpness, dynamics, expression, and pacing. The PowerPlants are the first devices I heard that clean the AC without introducing other detractive qualities.
Indeed, Christiaan, that’s what I concluded from your review too. Does this also mean that you no longer use the Ansuz Mainz power distributor reviewed earlier? Regards, Michael
Hi Michael, the Ansuz was on loan and was returned again after the review.
Interesting and confirms once again that component changes downstream of the power base quality can only do so much. Perhaps you can also review Stromtank Audio Power, which is off grid battery-based. I love what it has done for my system’s sound quality.
Hi Christiaan, great review! I was wondering, did you notice that main cables do perform different when fed by the powerplant? In other words, when fed decent current, do they still show the big differences we normaly hear when comparing the main cables or are they behaving more alike and could we settle for cheaper man cables instead?
Kind regards,
Hi Serge, To some extent, power cables do become less pivotal and they do not tend to make or break the sound quite as “severely” as without a PowerPlant, but their respective characteristics are still clearly audible. The sound can still be tuned using, for instance, warmer or crisper sounding cables.