Audioquest Niagara 1200 Review (Power Conditioner/Surge Protector)

[Angsty]

One should respect people; one needn't respect all of their opinions and/or statements.

Yes, and there is a respectful way to reply to opinions that one does not share. We should all strive to be so generous whenever possible.

 

[ReevaluateAdNauseam]

Hi John - I definitely heard a difference, but after living with it for almost 30 days and conducting endless back & forth comparisons, I concluded that what I was hearing from this box, I did not like and sent it back for a refund.

I'd like to point out that I "accidentally" performed a blind listening test which sealed the deal for me; here's how it happened: one weekend I wore myself out comparing the power amp plugged into the wall vs plugged into the AQ1200. On my last listen of the weekend, I left it plugged into the wall (as so I thought), and turned the system off to prepare for the work week ahead. It was a busy week requiring overtime and I didn't play my stereo for four days. On Friday, I quit at a normal time and had about an hour to listen to some music before dinner. I put on an original pressing of Beatles "Hey Jude" and played the title track... it sounded awful; thin and anemic - the vocal was rather shrill and the bass was barely there. Erroneously thinking the power amp was plugged directly into the wall, I started looking around at settings on the preamp and turntable, etc. and getting really worried because I know how that song sounds on my system. After everything else appeared to be normal, I went over to the AQ, an lo and behold, my power amp was "not" plugged into the wall as I erroneously remembered, but was plugged into the AQ. I powered down everything, and plugged the power amp into the wall, and "Hey Jude" was restored to sounding like it always has on my system - basically, the opposite of what it sounded like through the AQ.

I did quite a few internet searches and found a couple of people who had the same experience I had: playing music on the more delicate side, e.g., singer/song writer with minimal accompaniment such as acoustic guitar, piano, the AQ seemed to separated out the vocal and gave a deeper sound stage, but when playing heavier, more dense music, the highs seem more stringent and the bass is anemic loosing a lot of it's foundation. Also, after doing a lot of research, I decided for a surge protector to order one from ZeroSurge - absolutely no MOVs are used and it seems they patented the technology that is leased out to others like SurgeX, etc.

Anyway, that's my journey with the AQ1200, YMMV...

--cheers!

You made the right choice! Don't feel bad about falling for the AQ stuff - in the past I used to admire Bill Lowe's creations, even bought some very overpriced HDMI cables.

 

[Angsty]

Bill Lowe is more of a hustler than a scientist, based on the collective Audioquest measurements in ASR.

 

[MoreWatts]

Here are some choice quotes from a thread about this device on the Steve Hoffman Forums. The thread began with a reference to the ASR review, and the poster simply told their readers to "save their money," and skip buying this device. This led to 5 pages and 100 posts. The thread is a mix of ASR bashing and some support.

First, a few ASR defenders:

"If a drug claiming to reduce cholesterol is given to a thousand people and lab results reveals nobody's cholesterol levels drop, should researchers ask them if they feel like they have lower cholesterol, or should they stick to the tests? Do people just 'trust their arteries'?"

"Back to power conditioners, here is a point that I've never understood. These are used usually with expensive equipment. Which have presumably very well designed power supplies. Often multiple supplies, boasted about in their advertising. So WTF do they need power conditioning for?!?!? Seriously, someone explain this."

Our own @MattHooper chimed in: "As expected, this has no effect on the Golden Ears who can hear things the most sensitive devices can not measure, and who can hear things beyond known audible thresholds. How do we know? Take their word for it. (No objective facts can ever dis-confirm their magic power. After all, why relinquish this self-confirming magic power when it allows you to feel superior to the efforts of educated scientists or engineers who say otherwise?)"

Here's the response from a typical listen with your eyes audiophile:

"Honestly I can't take an audio web site seriously that often relies on just measurements to describe how the product sounds. ASR is a bit of a joke for me. When I did a major upgrade to my system in December of 2022, I bought a Niagra 1200 and I can say it made a noticeable difference in the sound of my system. You can't say expectation bias because I honestly expected I would hear little to no difference. The other surprise was I had expected to buy a newer HDTV as part of this upgrade. It turned out the picture on my existing 65" HDTV looked clearer and sharper than it did prior to the Niagra 1200 being in the system. I used the money saved to buy audiophile power cables for all of my gear. My system consistantly sounds and looks better with the Niagra 1200 installed."

This was the next post: "You bought something for $1200 that you expected would not make any difference to the sound of the system?"

At least they allow alternate viewpoints on SHF. Up to a point (Furutech Clean Line Filter discussion eventually banned 'anti-' posts).

 

[tmtomh]

Here are some choice quotes from a thread about this device on the Steve Hoffman Forums. The thread began with a reference to the ASR review, and the poster simply told their readers to "save their money," and skip buying this device. This led to 5 pages and 100 posts. The thread is a mix of ASR bashing and some support.

First, a few ASR defenders:

"If a drug claiming to reduce cholesterol is given to a thousand people and lab results reveals nobody's cholesterol levels drop, should researchers ask them if they feel like they have lower cholesterol, or should they stick to the tests? Do people just 'trust their arteries'?"

"Back to power conditioners, here is a point that I've never understood. These are used usually with expensive equipment. Which have presumably very well designed power supplies. Often multiple supplies, boasted about in their advertising. So WTF do they need power conditioning for?!?!? Seriously, someone explain this."

Our own @MattHooper chimed in: "As expected, this has no effect on the Golden Ears who can hear things the most sensitive devices can not measure, and who can hear things beyond known audible thresholds. How do we know? Take their word for it. (No objective facts can ever dis-confirm their magic power. After all, why relinquish this self-confirming magic power when it allows you to feel superior to the efforts of educated scientists or engineers who say otherwise?)"

Here's the response from a typical listen with your eyes audiophile:

"Honestly I can't take an audio web site seriously that often relies on just measurements to describe how the product sounds. ASR is a bit of a joke for me. When I did a major upgrade to my system in December of 2022, I bought a Niagra 1200 and I can say it made a noticeable difference in the sound of my system. You can't say expectation bias because I honestly expected I would hear little to no difference. The other surprise was I had expected to buy a newer HDTV as part of this upgrade. It turned out the picture on my existing 65" HDTV looked clearer and sharper than it did prior to the Niagra 1200 being in the system. I used the money saved to buy audiophile power cables for all of my gear. My system consistantly sounds and looks better with the Niagra 1200 installed."

This was the next post: "You bought something for $1200 that you expected would not make any difference to the sound of the system?"

At least they allow alternate viewpoints on SHF. Up to a point (Furutech Clean Line Filter discussion eventually banned 'anti-' posts).

Thanks for this summary. The Hoffman forums are full of questionable claims (to put it politely), but as per your comment and the excerpts you provide here, those forums do have a lot of representation from folks who don't believe the nonsense when it comes to power conditioners, interconnects, power cables, cable lifters, and so on.

 

[mmuetst]

Question, what is that tone on 80Khz and why does it not getting smaller after de filter?
when you see the first measurement you see that the filter works:

Then we see before the filter a peek at 80Khz around -80 dB

Then after the filter it is stil -80 dB, that is strange, the signal should be lower.

 

[MacCali]

Question, what is that tone on 80Khz and why does it not getting smaller after de filter?
when you see the first measurement you see that the filter works:

View attachment 352304

Then we see before the filter a peek at 80Khz around -80 dB
View attachment 352305

Then after the filter it is stil -80 dB, that is strange, the signal should be lower.

View attachment 352303

Who knows that’s something in the ultra sonics. But you can clearly see the unit is doing nothing. There’s no difference between direct from the wall and out of the filter.

Whether it is audible difference is highly debatable, besides the fact one has a drop or roll off in the highs.

I always like to point out to the skeptics that Amir has done a test with a power unit, believe it’s B&K, and with that unit you are capable of creating/adjusting a very nasty mains signal. Far higher noise and garbage than what any wall outlet can produce. Even when feeding the test equipment this nasty power the performance of the unit that is being fed the power has no change in measurements.

In addition, this unit is able to actually provide an even cleaner signal when adjusted to be filtering. Far better than almost any power conditioners and filters on the market at a fraction of the cost. Edit: price is around 2000 usd. Considering we have not tested everything and vs what we have tested. With similar results, no change in measurements.

If you really want to test the ability of power interference just buy this and I’m sure you can do a blind test very easily to reach a conclusion if dirty ac makes an audible difference. Again please note, if my memory serves me correct the filtration is only above the audible band. Which is what 99% of all these filters do

 

[MacCali]

Question, what is that tone on 80Khz and why does it not getting smaller after de filter?
when you see the first measurement you see that the filter works:

View attachment 352304

Then we see before the filter a peek at 80Khz around -80 dB
View attachment 352305

Then after the filter it is stil -80 dB, that is strange, the signal should be lower.

View attachment 352303

 

[mmuetst]

Who knows that’s something in the ultra sonics. But you can clearly see the unit is doing nothing. There’s no difference between direct from the wall and out of the filter.

Whether it is audible difference is highly debatable, besides the fact one has a drop or roll off in the highs.

I always like to point out to the skeptics that Amir has done a test with a power unit, believe it’s B&K, and with that unit you are capable of creating/adjusting a very nasty mains signal. Far higher noise and garbage than what any wall outlet can produce. Even when feeding the test equipment this nasty power the performance of the unit that is being fed the power has no change in measurements.

In addition, this unit is able to actually provide an even cleaner signal when adjusted to be filtering. Far better than almost any power conditioners and filters on the market at a fraction of the cost. Edit: price is around 2000 usd. Considering we have not tested everything and vs what we have tested. With similar results, no change in measurements.

If you really want to test the ability of power interference just buy this and I’m sure you can do a blind test very easily to reach a conclusion if dirty ac makes an audible difference. Again please note, if my memory serves me correct the filtration is only above the audible band. Which is what 99% of all these filters do

That is an assumption but no answer to my question. Maybe @amirm can give the correct answer? I don't believe this device will make a difference if you use it in combination with a piece of audio. So you don't have to convince me of that. Just curious what that 80Khz tone is and why it isn't filtered

 

[MacCali]

That is an assumption but no answer to my question. Maybe @amirm can give the correct answer? I don't believe this device will make a difference if you use it in combination with a piece of audio. So you don't have to convince me of that. Just curious what that 80Khz tone is and why it isn't filtered

Definitely, my apologies if I came off offensive.

That’s a tough one. Maybe check his other power conditioner reviews and see the measurements there. It maybe something present in his AC line.

Was searching for an answer, can’t find what the source can be. If it isn’t present in his other reviews it must be something running in his household while he did his measurements I figure

 

[Jeff M.]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the audioquest Niagara 1200 Power Conditioner/Filter and Surge Protector together with their NRG-Z3 AC power cords. They are on kind loan from a member. The Niagara 1200 costs US $1,000 and the power cords costs US $200 in 1 meter length and $280 from Amazon including Prime shipping. So the total package tested costs US 1,480.

The Niagara 1200 comes in a very wide and sturdy package:

View attachment 144940

The main power control switch is on the side. It has a reassuring feeling when you throw it.

The outlets are all nicely spaced and tight in feel as you plug something in them:

View attachment 144941

You can see the shorter NRG-Z3 cable on top of it. It is as inflexible and unmanageable as you can imagine. The longer length is that, plus being quite heavy. This stuff better do something to justify their pain in the neck usability!

I am glad the member sent these cables as that is what they recommend for usage with this device.

Audioquest Niagara 1200 Measurements
Before we subject the device to AC, let's treat it as a black box and measure what it does to its input to produce its output. I set my Audio Precision to 1 Megahertz bandwidth and ran a sweep up to 200 kHz (won't go higher than this):

View attachment 144942

So some good news here. The filtering inside the box goes down to middle of audible band. Company brags about "linear filtering" which is their term for constant filtering regardless of frequency. We can see sign of this in the way the attenuation flattens above 100 kHz or so. To me, this design is poor in that you want maximum attenuation, not flat attenuation of noise. What good comes out of just reducing your cell phone RF radiation by 6 dB vs 30 dB??? This is not an amplifier where you listen to its output yet the company designer seems to be confused to think this the case and hence you want a flat response.

That last point is important: we don't listen to AC mains. We listen to the output of our audio device. And audio devices already have massive amount of filtering of AC to convert it to DC. That job is a lot cheaper and simpler because the voltages are very low so components are smaller and much, much cheaper. But maybe there is benefit to having both filtering. To assess this, I tested my Topping A90 pre-amplifier with a generic, thin power cord versus going through the Audioquest Niagara 1200 with its two NRG-Z3 power cords. First, the A90 used as a pre-amplifier with generic power cord:

View attachment 144943

Distortion is whopping -140 dB below our signal which is some 25 dB below threshold of hearing. Combined with noise we get a SINAD of 121 dB which is 6 dB better than our threshold of hearing (assuming playback level of 120 dB). Clearly the filtering inside this little box is doing its job. But let's hook up the 1200 using its low current outlet, first with our same generic cable going through Niagara 1200:
View attachment 144944

Other than some run to run tiny variations, the results are the same.

Now let's use Audioquest's cable going to Topping A90 from the 1200:

View attachment 144945

Clearly the cables make no difference either.

Let's pretend that we do listen to AC mains directly and see what impact there is on that signal. I use a special high-voltage differential probe for this that has a 100:1 divider. This way, its output is no longer lethal and differential nature resists picking up interference from other sources:

View attachment 144946

Looking at top right for our spectrum, we see the mains AC "tone" of 60 Hz followed by a series of harmonics. Add those together and you get about 2% THD+N which translates into a SINAD of 34 dB. I am using a bandwidth of 90 kHz to allow ample headroom above our hearing and give this device a much better chance to do something. Here is the same test but now sampling the output through the Niagara 1200:

View attachment 144947

There is some filtering at higher frequencies but because the distortion is dominated by early harmonics below 500 Hz, our THD+N essentially doesn't change. If anything other than 60 Hz is bad, then this device is doing nothing useful.

Listening Tests
I used my RME ADI-2 DAC as the source to feed the Topping A90 and then listened through Drop Ether CX headphone. Headphones are much more useful to listen for small impairments since they block external noise and you can turn them up as much as you need to hear low level detail. I first played the system using Niagara 1200 as the power source for Topping A90. I then switched to generic cord. Instantly I could tell the sound was improved with the generic cable! Not a typo. The generic cable sounded better. I then switched back to Audioquest chain and sound was worse. Perfect proof that the generic cable sounded better!

OK, not a proof of anything. When impairments are this small, you need to perform such tests blind and with random sequences a number of times. Otherwise you may fall victim to "second one is better" as you focus more to hear more differences and you "hear" them!

Conclusions
If you want a non-destructive surge protector, the Niagara 1200 provides that. Other than, all the other claims made by the company and its promotional videos are without foundation based on my measurements and listening test. As are such comments from reviewers posted by AQ:

View attachment 144950

Darko knows of no other thing you can do to get this level of upgrade? Seeing how there is no upgrade in sound, that is a remarkable statement! As to Herb's comment, please, let's not get our blood pressure up over fantasies.

Company claims in one of its interview videos that AC mains can "distort or mask up to 1/3 of your low level content." And that any differential probe can show it.

Well, I used a differential probe and can't find any such evidence. Even the AC distortion itself is not filtered let alone be 30%. Let's have the company show us this if it is so easy to measure and presumably, they have done so. Why keep such measurement hidden? Wouldn't sell more product?

If you want to spend $1000 on a sturdy box with surge protection, go ahead. But please don't assume it does something for your sound. It does not.

Needless to say, I can't recommend the Niagara 1000 or the RG-Z3 AC power cords.

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Awesome Review and very technical and informative with testing. I’m not as far and advanced as you are in engineering but, I get the just of it . Thank you for explaining and taking your time to show the graphs and unit being testing and measured. You Just saved me $2,000 dollars. . I did hear this unit in a system with the top of the line Parasound amplifiers. The person told me he got it on sale and he’s glade His equipment is protected but, hears the kicker He said he couldn’t tell the difference with it in his system. It looked like a $20,000 grand system brand new. An engineer told me not long ago that a $80.00 Furman Power and protector is all I need. Anything else is a waste of money. He told me room treatments and speaker placement and a good heavy duty speaker cable will do. Again thanks for your review and your time spent testing the product. God Bless. Jeff

 

[amix]

Power Demystified

New link.