Power Conditioners: Audioquest Niagara 5000 or Shunyata Denali 6000S

I think I’m going to go with the Shunyata Denali 6000S. I found a place to get it for less than retail, and only slightly more than the Audioquest Niagara 5000.

If repairs are ever needed, Shunyata seems like a big enough concern to be around for years to come. It’s less big than Audioquest, but certainly not a boutique operation. Reviews for it are consistently good, as were those I found on the 5000.

I won’t have to worry about the Denali 6000S humming, or dealing with having it modified, so it won’t hum if that problem crops up. Audioquest indicated that a simple modification could be easily be done for their Niagara 5000, if the utilities transformer is not up to snuff and causing that problem. But ten years from now the utilities transformer on the pole behind the house may not be up to snuff any more after routinely electrocuting overly venturesome squirrels two- three times a year. Then what? The Shunyata Denali uses passive technology hopefully obviating that potential issue,

This doen’t make sense, but I also got to thinking the Audioquest Niagara 5000 admittedly is only a poor mans version of their 7000, so its going to be comparatively lacking in some regard from that model. I didn’t get that sense about the Denali 6000S and their higher models. Some said they’re comparable with the Shunyata Triton, and not so much lacking, as sounding a different compared to the Audioquest Niagara 7000,

Stupidly, if I got the Niagara 5000, I’d feel aggravated I couldn’t afford the Niagara 7000, even if the 7000 does have a low hum from it’s isolation transformers. However, if browndt were to send me his wonderful sounding Audioquest Niagara 7000 for Christmas there would be no further sour grapes or jealousy to be mentioned.

So this decision to get the Shunyata is at least partially, but not completely sensible. If it were possible, running an A/B comparison at home would have made this choice less of a crap shoot. But it didn’t sound like from what I read there is all that much difference between the two in any event.

That leaves only an interconnect from my Marantz SA 8005 CD player to the Luxman 507uX Mark II amp yet to be determined, before I’m operational when those Magico A3's finally arrive. Got to run down to Salem and pick up some vibrapods and cones too. I’m going to start constructing new built in shelves for my relocated components tomorrow. Picked up the wood and some simple damping materials for the shelves today.

Thanks again for everyone’s input as I pull into the home stretch on my new system.

Mike

Mike, you are about to spend $4000 on you don’t know what. It is unknown how it will work in your set up, by itself and in comparison with other devices. And it doesn’t stabilize voltage.
I just felt that I had to warn you.

By the way, I never read any review of anything that would tell the whole story.
Another point, since it's important to you, absolutely any company can disappear at any moment, don't count on any service long term.

PS audio Power Plant 15 Hands Down. Helps remove THD Total Harmonic Distortion. I owned a Niagara 5000 for about 90 days thought it was over hyped. You cannot trust most reviewers they don’t get paid to write negative reviews.

For example a reviewer that states  that an Audioquest HDMI cable that cost $2,500 is much better than an Audioquest HDMI cable that cost $400 both 3.5 M

additionally people that drink the cool aid and say that that can hear a difference between two very high end Audioquest speaker cables a $5,000 cable and a $7,000 cable 

Mike, I have recently done an extended test of 3 power conditioners side-by-side. They consisted of the Niagara 5000, Denali 6000 and the Ansuz power conditioners. As you mentioned, I did experience a hum in the Niagara 5000, which I found disturbing. While it did improve dynamics and bass extension, to  me it seemed to veil the music a bit. The Denali was more transparent and did not seem to cloud the presentation as much as the Niagara. Ultimately, I chose the Ansuz line as it presented the cleanest, most transparent sound. It is worth mentioning that I use a Hegel SS amp and my speakers are fairly efficient at 93db. I started with the entry level Ansuz X series conditioner and an Alum power cord from my outlet and an X cable from the conditioner to my amp. The Ansuz line seems to perform best when you use their cables. I started with the entry level as I wanted to limit my investment and live with it long term to ensure that I was on the right path. I have been using it now for a few months and very pleased. I can see myself upgrading to their higher end models in the future. I hope this was helpful.