Niagara 7000 vs Denali 6000T - my experience

Thanks Mike, good info. Have you found that the Niagra and Denali complement certain component brands and or types? Maybe SS or tubes match one better than the other?
 
Mike said:
Not exactly. I have a full Shunyata system in the front room in the store. Shunyata Sigma cables, sigma power, sigma digital, sigma everything plus Denali 6000T.

In the middle room it's AQ power cables, Niagra 7000 and MIT speaker/IC's. I tried the MIT power cables, but they weren't as good as Shunyata Sigma NR or the new AQ hurricane.

In the back room I'm using Ansuz. At home I use Siltech on my AG's and Kimber for my Home Theater.
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I'm a little off-topic here (and I'm sorry for that) but what do you think of the new Hurricane? I'm anxiously waiting for mine to arrive and I'm curious about your experience with it..
 
I'm going to demo 3 conditioners: Audioquest Niagara 5000, Shunyata Denali 6000s, and Richard Gray 1200c.

I have two dedicated lines.

Richard Rogers, at Shunyata, has advised that given my two lines, rather than run both my Sources and Amp both through the 6000s, it would better to run my Sources (Mac Pro Server and Lumin S1) through the Denali 6000s and the Amp direct to the wall outlet on the 2nd dedicated line. Even better, for an extra $3400, would be to run the Sources through the 6000s and the amp through the 2000t.

I plan to also ask Audioquest if they agree with this approach (to separate Source and Amp on two different dedicated lines rather than run everything through their condiioner.

Does anyone have opinions on this?
 
The AQ has a giant transformer and four HC inputs. Try it both ways. I have found running the amp into the AQ HC input to produce more clarity in the highs with no loss of dynamics.

That being said, I also use the Denali 2000T for the amps in the store and love what it does.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Willco said:
I'm going to demo 3 conditioners: Audioquest Niagara 5000, Shunyata Denali 6000s, and Richard Gray 1200c.

I have two dedicated lines.

Richard Rogers, at Shunyata, has advised that given my two lines, rather than run both my Sources and Amp both through the 6000s, it would better to run my Sources (Mac Pro Server and Lumin S1) through the Denali 6000s and the Amp direct to the wall outlet on the 2nd dedicated line. Even better, for an extra $3400, would be to run the Sources through the 6000s and the amp through the 2000t.

I plan to also ask Audioquest if they agree with this approach (to separate Source and Amp on two different dedicated lines rather than run everything through their condiioner.

Does anyone have opinions on this?
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I use a Triton v3/Typhon for my source gear, and it is on a dedicated 20 amp line. Each amp also has a dedicated 20 amp line, and each line has a Denali 2000 for the amp. No issues at all, just a dead quiet background for music to emerge from.
 
I have several dedicated 20A lines. My source components are connected to a Shunyata Triton V3. My amp is connected to a 20A dedicated outlet with great results. I need to tryout a T2000 for the amp.
 
It's interesting that the recommendation from Audioquest, at least the guy I heard from there, is to run all components
including amps through their Niagara 5000/7000, and not use a dedicated line for amps.

So, I'm wondering why Shunyata comes at it from a different perspective?
 
Willco said:
It's interesting that the recommendation from Audioquest, at least the guy I heard from there, is to run all components
including amps through their Niagara 5000/7000, and not use a dedicated line for amps.

So, I'm wondering why Shunyata comes at it from a different perspective?
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People that race cars know that there is no replacement for displacement to make horsepower. Likewise, there is no substitute for total current capacity in an audio system. Especially so if you have high power amplifiers. So, for the fortunate people that have more than one dedicated line, it is always advantageous to use them. The best method of dividing the workload is to put the amplifiers on one circuit and all the source equipment on the other.

For those of you that do not have more than one power line available - no worries. The Denali is more than capable even if you have very high power amplifiers. Just plug the amplifiers into the HC (high current) sockets. The Denali D6000/T is designed to deliver 30 amps of continuous current (US models).

If you have the luxury of two dedicated lines - use the Denali 6000 for the source equipment and use the Denali D2000/T for the second line. The Denali D2000/T was designed specifically to improve the performance of amplifiers but many people use them for video projectors, two component systems and for headphone systems.
 
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I thought I would report on my demo of these three Conditioners: Shunyata Denali, Audioquest Niagara 5000, Richard Gray Power 1200c.


It's pretty interesting how different they are. These are just my impressions and in my system with very sensitive, highly dynamic
Avantgarde Duo Grosso Horn speakers. Of course, YMMV!


I found the Shunyata Denali has a warmer laid back character.
For me, too laid back compared the AQ and Richard Gray.

The Audioquest 5000 has the AQ "House Sound." That is, resolved but smooth,
refined and almost delicate. Interestingly, the AQ's are the only one of the two
that showed a lowering of line noise as measured by my Alpha labs EMI meter.
(This meter is simple and a bit crude, but does measure wide band ac line noise.)

The Richard Gray, which I'm just beggining to demo is more dynamic than the other two (independent of the dedicated line). In fact it sounds downright Powerful-- power to spare and transmitting excellent
realistic timbre.

This little known conditioner, the Richard Gray Power 1200c works with a different tech than the Denali
or AQ. It uses two large 6000 watt parallel chokes which, as explained to me, means the output is from the
power cord with -60db of parallel impedance filtering applied across the load.

With my 30 watt/channel Master Sound 845 tube amp there is a sense of easy power I've never heard before. This
tech reportedly allows tubes amps to burn cooler and last longer. I can verify that the main transformer on this amp which is usually
about hot enough to fry an egg, is now only mildly toasty.


This is all pretty surprising given the Audiophile street cred of the Shunyata's and AQ's. The RG's have been
around for over 17 years and have a following mostly with the AV market. I would not have even
seen them on my radar without the recommendation from Alan Maher Designs.
http://www.richardgrayspowercompany.com


It's too early but I'm leaning to the RG, but will definitely give the AQ another whirl after the RG's
have a couple of more days of break in. And to be fair, I haven't listened to the Shunyata or AQ with amp to dedicated line which I
suspect is making a significant impact.

I'll be very interested to hear the AQ with the amp plugged into the dedicated line.
 
I found that, despite the advice from Gryphon to plug the Diablo into the wall, I got slightly better sound, particularly low bass, by plugging the Diablo into the AQ Niagara 5000. There was even more improvement when I plugged my Lumin into the Niagara 5000 compared to direct into the wall. The biggest improvement was plugging my router and NAS into the 5000. The aggregate improvement with everything plugged into the 5000 was substantial.

Caveat is that I only tested the 5000. I got a great price and went lazy and didn’t compare others. I wish I had now. Not because I regret the decision but because I was impatient and it would have been fun to test other products.
 
I also took considerable comfort from the advice from fellow AS members re the AQ 5000. This forum is awesome.
 
Has anyone done a direct comparison of the AudioQuest Niagara 7000 and 5000? If so, please describe the differences.

Thanks,
Ken
 
GSOphile said:
I'm also interested. The review linked below is about the only thing I've seen.
http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/audioquest_niagara_5000_7000.htm
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I have both and compared both. They are sooooo close. The 7000 seems to be a little more dynamic and ever so slightly blacker backgrounds. The 7000 has the Dielectric-Biased AC Isolation Transformers, the 5000 does not.

If you have ANY tube piece, I recommend the 5000. The Dielectric-Biased AC Isolation Transformers can create a very soft buzz when a tube component is plugged into it. I mean, you have to get down on your hands and knees and ear and put your ear up to it.

Using my new line noise analyzer (I forget the name), the wall outlet measured around ~650mv of noise. The 7000 measured 4mv and the 5000 measured 5mv. My new line noise analyzer measures the whole band. Some poo-pooed the Entech as being “ban limiting”, so I got this one.

Hope that helps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm using the AQ right now in my main system and the old Richard Gray for my modem, router etc on a different line in the same room. It made a nice difference for the digital stuff believe it or not. I'm running my two dedicated lines that have been in the room, but on the wrong wall, to behind the system. I"ll probably either get the AQ5000 and use it for the built in Vandy subs and then mono blocks if I go that route (have Ayre integrated now). Lot's of choices. I love the Shunyata and the AQ power conditioners. Right now, for my money, they've been the best I've heard anywhere. I have NOT heard the larger Gray unit though.
 
I'm using PowerBridge 8 from Clef Audio, really good one, cheap price. Now I want to upgrade it, do care about Shunyata Denali 6000S and AudioQuest Niagara 5000. Just one question: are there any hum from AQ Niagara 5000?
 
Airman said:
I'm using PowerBridge 8 from Clef Audio, really good one, cheap price. Now I want to upgrade it, do care about Shunyata Denali 6000S and AudioQuest Niagara 5000. Just one question: are there any hum from AQ Niagara 5000?
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I've never heard of anyone having a humming or grounding issue. Garth is possibly the top designer out there for power, cords and cables.
 
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