I’ve had a couple days with the PerfectWave Power Plant 3, so I thought I’d post some quick thoughts. The main difference I’m noticing in the sound with this in my system is that everything seems more “crisp” (not more detailed, but just snappier) and that bass impact is stronger, but note that these aren’t huge sonic improvements. The difference feels like it’s on the level of a tube-roll or something to give you an idea of the degree of change I’m hearing.
I’ll be honest, I was a bit disappointed at first, but I’m really growing to appreciate the improvements with time. It’s only been a couple days and I can already feel that I would miss the Power Plant if I had to give it back.
As for negatives, I’ll also say that for the first day or two, I was having little moments in songs where something would feel a bit sharp or shouty in a way that I don’t remember my chain doing before, but that quality seems to be going away with time, almost like something in my chain needed burning in.
I bought this Power Plant used, so I would assume that it’s already been burned in, though it did arrive in /very/ nice condition, so it’s possible this unit just doesn’t have that many hours on it? Or maybe it could be the new power cables? Also, m0n’s MYSPHERE article mentioned that the Allnic could get a little hot in the treble sometimes, so who knows?
(EDIT: I haven’t heard this in a long while, so yeah, I guess something was burning in. No idea. shrug)
My entire desktop headphone chain uses like 50 watts, so if my system suddenly tried to draw 10x what it’s currently drawing, it still wouldn’t be near the limit of this Power Plant. And my next potential moves for this system are likely a higher tier DAC and DDC, both of which probably wouldn’t increase the power draw much, so I’ve got lots of room to grow.
It’s also nice to imagine that there’s some kind of barrier between the wall and my audio gear if my house gets struck by lightning or something, lol.