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I read several reviews and blogs where it was suggested that some power conditioners affect sound in a negative way. I wish I had all the links to these articles but in one of them, the reviewer wrote that the manufacturer of an amplifier under his review, recommended plugging it directly into a wall outlet, without even using a surge protector. Another reviewer experimented with several methods of connecting his amplifier. His power conditioner made the sound worse than a bare wall outlet connection. He finally found a conditioner that made the sound better. I looked up the brand. The retail price was close to $20,000! Needless to say, these opinions add to an already confusing topic.My own situation is limited because I live in an apartment with old wiring. I can't do anything like adding a dedicated 20 Amp outlet. I'm currently (No pun intended.) using a top of the line APC power conditioner/ Surge Protector/battery backup. The electricity in my city is dirty and unreliable. We frequently get one second power drops. On a few occasions, the power has come on and off every half minute four or five times. In the summertime, PG&E lowers the voltage during peak summer demand. I detected this on my son's Furman power conditioner. His Furman effectively keeps the voltage steady during these summer periods. The protective circuits in my ModWright KWA-100 SE amplifier are very sensitive and will turn off my amplifier before my APC power conditioner goes to battery power. At one time, I was considering the purchase of a PS audio power regenerator, like the P10. I put it off because I had no idea if it was necessary or would improve my system's performance. Spending $5,000 on a device that isn't needed would be money that I could use do something substantial, like upgrading my turntable. I invite anyone for feedback and advice.
Transformers won't help with sagging. I'm not a fan of them personally. I've never heard compression, but I typically turn up the volume to get a little more sensation since I'm not being battered with fatigue that exists in higher registers otherwise. Generally speaking vocals have much more pronounced dynamics that can really lay some emotion into you. It wouldn't surprise me if the whole system had a decrease in NFB overshoot from all the radiated noise, from power supply, and lack of power factor quality being reduced/eleminated with good power conditioing. But you suddenly realize some albums are not as good as others.
I have never heard a conditioner improve any of the soundstage qualities I listen for, air around instruments, increased clarity of instuments. What I have I heard them do is apply a dark sonic blanket that tends to shade any high frequency clammer coming from what ever device that was causing issue.