Power Supply - an apology, to myself.
Posted by: Wugged Woy on 14 August 2018
The rear of my system table has always looked similar to Spaghetti Junction - probably like most of you 
. It's so difficult to keep all those cables tidy and not touching each other. Also, there were so many plugs - four standard plugs into a cheap power distribution block, then into one wall socket.
After too many years, I decided to sort it out a bit, and the ideal solution seemed to be a Graham's Hydra. Perfect for tidying things up I thought, but I didn't take any notice of the positive comments on the net about how such a device improves sound quality - after all, how can the four metres of cable from the wall socket to the equipment make any difference, considering the power had travelled many miles already, to reach my flat ! Some people commented that there was a good improvement to sound using an Hydra, almost equivalent to a black box upgrade. Nonsense I thought.
Well I contacted Graham's and they made up a 4 headed Hydra for me and I put it into my system.
It's been two weeks now since installed and I must disagree with those that commented on the net. They underestimated. This darned Hydra has no right to make such a difference to the sound of my system, it's ridiculous. It just cannot happen, but it did. Definitely the equivalent to a black box upgrade IMHO.
How on earth it does it, I have no idea, But if I had to describe the improvements (sound differences I find hard to describe) I would say the bass is cleaner, instruments are easier to hear in the mix and, especially, vocals are spectacularly clear without any harshness. I am listening to Nat King Cole's 'After Midnight Sessions' as I type, and it sounds scary good.
So, if there are any naysayers out there that don't buy this idea that a cleaner power supply can make a difference, please consider my experience and try it out with an open mind. It's illogical to my simple mind, but it works. I would give Powerlines a try, but I think it would probably be overkill (especially price wise !) on my humble Olive system !
Many thanks go to Colin at Graham's, who made up the Hydra with a Euro Schuko plug for me, pretty pronto, and was very helpful and professional. Thank you.
hungryhalibut posted:True Blue posted:It's shielded mains. So less leakage to interfere with delicate signal cables. In layman's terms
The Hydra is just standard mains cables joined together; I’m not aware of any shielding. It works better in this case because it negates the need for a mains block and maintains the star earth. By connecting each box directly to the wall socket, lots of unnecessary plugs and sockets are removed from the system. I used one for years and it was excellent - cheap and effective.
Yes, HH, it's supposed to be the star earthing, together with getting rid of all those plugs and sockets that's supposed to be the reason why the Hydra works. And boy, it really works. Keb Mo sounding fine at the moment 
Adam Zielinski posted:Excellent! Well done - happy to see this worked for you.
Cheers Adam