PS Audio PowerPlant 3 Review

[fpitas]

Greed is natural. it's merely the derivative of our animal instinct to conserve energy, (turn a profit).

Stupidity, is taking the profits and burning it. That's been PSaudio's only role relative to the industry.

We can accept Greed, we can even accept Tyranny, but we can not accept PSaudio, because stupidity as it is 1000x worse

My sympathies are with you. But PS Audio has not reached the necessary stage of enlightenment. Until then they will have to wallow in the sadness of big bucks.

 

[Speedskater]

It doesn't appear to have the correct IEC chassis connector for 20 Amp receptacles.
Is it 'UL' tested?

 

[YesChickenNuggets]

My sympathies are with you. But PS Audio has not reached the necessary stage of enlightenment. Until then they will have to wallow in the sadness of big bucks.

That's what class action lawsuits are for. Claw that money back.

Assuming "rich" people buy PSaudio's snake oil, they're more resourceful than most if they wanted their money back, or if they're just pissed off.

If any rich guy lawyer is reading this, all the proof you need is in the products, just have Amir measure them, iron clad scientific data that says, PSaudio is Guilty of fraud.

 

[fpitas]

It doesn't appear to have the correct IEC chassis connector for 20 Amp receptacles.
Is it 'UL' tested?

Probably listed as a fire hazard

 

[fpitas]

That's what class action lawsuits are for. claw that money back.

Assuming "rich" people buy PSaudio's snake oil, they're more resourceful than most if they wanted their money back, or if they're just pissed off.

That assumes they admit their error in buying it.

 

[Ziroz]

Anyone interested in those giant powerbanks by EcoFlow? Always wondered how these do compared to wall AC. Maybe Amir can test one of those.

 

[thegeton]

"...McClown-thought..."

 

[Speedskater]

It doesn't appear to have the correct IEC chassis connector for 20 Amp receptacles.
Is it 'UL' tested?

So it has a lower power IEC chassis connector.
but 20 Amp AC receptacles
a 15 Amp breaker.
a fuse ? maybe 2 Amp
Input current rating 3.8 Amp
Output current rating 3.3 Amp

So what use does it have?

 

[phoenixdogfan]

To his credit, Paul has devised a method of delivering cleaner AC power which is much more economical than installing your own AC substation. Well done, Paul!

 

[Spkrdctr]

Multiwave = flattened top sinewave (so distorted) so that reservoir caps in power amps that are significantly loaded get a bit more 'time' to replenish the voltage while limiting peak currents. As the PP limits power output by design it may help with some power amps when regenerated power is needed and poweramps are connected.

Not interesting for low power devices... in fact the powerplant is not really interesting unless one has wildly varying mains voltages that regularly dip too low for the very few not so well designed devices that rely on proper mains voltages.

Cleanwave is utter nonsensical as the magnetic field in the transformer is changing continuous so there is nothing to 'de-gauss'. A typical McClown-thought feature.

I think Amir said it only puts out 300 watts?? If that is true, I can't believe anyone would buy such a weak unit. Should be up near 1000 watts at least.

 

[sam_adams]

Given their track record, @amirm should just post the name of the PS Audio product and the headless panther and move on to testing other devices. It would save a lot of time.

 

[Ra1zel]

Great device if your goal is to void some power, ensuring that not only you lose money when buying it but also continuously while using it! I would expect nothing less from Paul McClown.

 

[CtheArgie]

Wait until their “fabulous” streamer comes into the market. Plus their new and improved DAC!

And I thought his loudspeakers were outrageously expensive for what they were.

 

[Ra1zel]

And I thought his loudspeakers were outrageously expensive for what they were

Would be nice to see how they fare at Klippel NFS

 

[EXIF68]

Don't give them ideas. soon they will start saying that electricity from Coal power plant is the best, you should not be using renewable energy because it's garbage for audio (facepalm)

Coal may be good, hot sound.
but don’t use hydro power for your Hi-Fi grear: washy sound is the result.

 

[fpitas]

Coal may be good, hot sound.
but don’t use hydro power for your Hi-Fi grear: washy sound is the result

Coal gives smoky overtones of plasticity to the reproduction.

 

[DonR]

Interesting increase in noise from your linear supply. 120Hz and subsequent harmonics appear to be diode switching noise completely swamping any benefit brought by the PP. Given how expensive cables are marketed as providing better shielding for RFI rejection, I would have thought better filtering would be of more value than harmonic correction.

 

[Speedskater]

I think Amir said it only puts out 300 watts?? If that is true, I can't believe anyone would buy such a weak unit. Should be up near 1000 watts at least.

Actually for a large power amplifier it would need to be much larger.
Because amplifier when playing loud music, draw large current peaks for a fraction of a second. An amplifier with a 10 Amp fuse might draw 20 to 50 Amps for that brief period. Because fuses & breakers are designed to act much slower they are happy with those short spikes. But active supplies are normally rated into resistive loads they may clip on those short spikes.

 

[DonR]

Actually for a large power amplifier it would need to be much larger.
Because amplifier when playing loud music, draw large current peaks for a fraction of a second. An amplifier with a 10 Amp fuse might draw 20 to 50 Amps for that brief period. Because fuses & breakers are designed to act much slower they are happy with those short spikes. But active supplies are normally rated into resistive loads they may clip on those short spikes.

Probably capable of more power in high current mode rather than regen mode. But then it appears to add nothing.

 

[SuicideSquid]

For me it's interesting to mesure a :

Furman AC-210 A E Power Conditioner​

A professional product that has been proven for a long time and which is recognized as significantly improving the sound.

Not an "Audio(idiot)phile High End" product like this PS Audio Powerplant...

Proven by whom?

Testing these devices is, for me, like testing cables. The tests themselves are never particularly interesting because they always show the same thing: Device/cable does nothing meaningful, or it makes things slightly worse, with the slight asterisk "maybe it does something if your mains power is *really* bad". I can't imagine the Furman Power Conditioner would be any different.

Such testing is still useful though because it adds more ammo in the fight against nonsense and scam products.

The problem with these power conditioners, whether they're sold in good faith or as part of a scam, is that dirty power is almost never a problem for audio gear. In this test, for example, mains noise isn't producing any measurable noise in the Schiit headphone amp's output, so installing any device that purports to clean up or condition mains power isn't going to improve anything, because there isn't a problem to solve here.