Review on 🔌 Enhance Home Audio Experience with iFi Power Station Active Power Conditioner Mains Bar by Jared Aguilar

Your audio system combines electrical power from a wall outlet with sophisticated music reproduction from your source, which we hope creates an immersive listening experience in your room. However, the saying "garbage in, garbage out” applies. Feed your system a mediocre platter and it won't wow you. Feeding him too much energy too often will have the same result. The difficult thing about power quality is that most of us don't know there's a problem until it's fixed. As a result, too few audiophiles are exploring performance conditioning solutions. Why spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a problem you're not even sure exists? Sign in to iFi Audio. They have more power conditioning products than some audio companies. I have tried almost all of them and I can assure you that they are not "snake oil"; They actually offer a value that in my opinion exceeds their price, especially when compared to alternatives. iFi Audio's flagship powerhouse is the relatively new PowerStation, a heavy-duty eight-outlet metal (USA) air conditioner with great performance and industrial design. I would suggest starting with its predecessor, the AC iPurifier. For less than five times the price, this is a low-risk way to see what's possible. And if you like the power of the AC iPurifier, you can use it with your PowerStation for even more impact. Just make sure you plug it into the same outlet as your system. If you have an extension cord, experiment with plugging the AC iPurifier into an unused outlet. Most interesting among the technologies that PowerStation and AC iPurifier use to get their job done is what iFi Audio calls Active Noise Cancellation®. Think of it like active noise canceling headphones but for the power of the sound; They produce a signal identical to that of the incoming electrical noise but in opposite phase and actively canceling it. Because of this, the AC iPurifier must be plugged into the same outlet or power strip as your devices for best results. These products test your power supply by indicating detected problems with two colored LEDs - one for ground and one for polarity. As you would expect, there is surge protection. Unlike other products in this category that I've tried, they have a smart ground connector (looks like a single socket with a banana plug) that can be used to provide a proper chassis ground for your devices without accidentally creating a ground loop generate. This feature was designed to work with iFi Audio's Groundhog+ kit, but if you're comfortable you can easily plug in most cables with banana plugs to test the concept in your system. Ungrounded components like DACs and streamers, which are normally powered by SMPS, can benefit greatly from a clean ground path. Unlike most voltage regulators, the PowerStation lets you do just that if you want to experiment with third-party power cords thanks to a standard IEC input jack. There's also a sturdy rocker switch to turn it off. From the input to the ground and the outputs, the PowerStation tolerances are tight. The force required to connect is not exaggerated, but it easily doubles compared to other voltage regulators. This is actually a good thing, as a tight grip means less chance of micro arcs. This and nothing is accidentally turned off. The last question you might have is "How does the PowerStation sound?" This question is difficult to answer because unless something has gone completely wrong, the voltage regulator has no sound. The effect its presence has on my system is most noticeable when I remove it and replace it with a regular A/V extender. The soundstage is crumbling, the vocals are getting rawer and I'm completely focused on the music by the end of every album I play, which takes a lot of effort. Plug the iFi PowerStation back in and I can play albums from start to finish again and am completely immersed in the process. Adding a couple more AC iPurifiers, one to a second outlet and one to separate the analog and digital components connected to the PowerStation (as recommended by iFi Audio), adds a little more engagement. In fact, it's enough that I suggested iFi Audio sell the PowerStation and two AC iPurifiers as a set. Beginning. It was also a great ending for me. I'm sure I'm getting a performance that would cost many times what I would have spent choosing competing products from Furutech, AudioQuest, Shunyata Research and others. When in doubt, I recommend you try AC iPurifer and add the PowerStation to your system roadmap.