Transparent Audio PowerLink Ultra 8 Power Conditioner Black

Price reduced! A lot. 

We were skeptical. How much, we wondered, can a power conditioner like the Transparent Audio PowerLink Ultra 8 really improve your sound? It was natural to write off this unit, part of a collection of high-end gear from the estate of an insanely discriminating audiophile, as a bunch of high priced electronic voodoo in a box. Then we tested it.

It's kinda shocking to discover you've been cold-bloodedly wrecking the sound of your quality gear by feeding it a steady diet of filthy dirty AC. This unit is a whole lot more than a glorified power strip or some fancy store-bought surge protector. Simply plug into one of the PowerLink's eight hospital-grade outlets and prepare to be stunned by the sonic upgrade it delivers. Who knew?

All that AC-powered stuff you drag onto the stage? All those flickering neon beer signs, even the venue's air conditioning and those big screens stapled to the walls around you? They're giving off a whole lotta electromagnetic interference, or EMI. It's odorless and it's tasteless. But all this time you've been unknowingly amplifying this noise and bouncing it off your crowd. Or burying it in your recordings. 

A power conditioner like Transparent Audio's PowerLink Ultra counteracts all this interference by serving as a buffer between the garbage wall outlet current and your rig as it filters out all that nasty EMI. The box then takes this squeaky clean current and passes it along to your gear. Simple, right?

Uh, no. Absent a degree in electrical engineering, it's anyone's guess what's going on inside this toaster-sized wonder. But there's no guessing when it comes to the audio clarity it delivers. And, of course, the margin of protection it provides your sensitive gear. Built to take a direct thermonuclear hit, these all-metal magic black boxes can and do fetch prices in the $700 to $1,200 range. Or more. This one? Originally listed at $450, the price had been reduced to $400. It's now at $300. And, per the estate's instructions, we're taking offers.  

The PowerLink 8, or P-8, gives you the security of surge protection without any of the performance drawbacks normally associated with retail surge protectors. It has eight hospital grade grounded outlets. The green dots on the bottom of each duplex indicate that all eight outlets are hospital grade. You can select two levels of AC line noise filtering. The Transparent power cord provides additional filtering and isolation. The unit isolates components, removes line noise and modulation distortion, and suppress spikes and surges without the use of transformers, chokes or other series filtering devices which limit current capability and can add distortion.

As one online reviewer noted, "if you’re doing professional work, or on your way to becoming a professional, the P-8's clean power will make your gear work for you instead of working against you."

PS:  This unit has been fully tested. As you can see, we opened the box and checked it out. Everything's where it should be. All eight outlets work as Transparent Audio intended. We also tested the P-8 with a variety of gear, including an old Hammond B3 organ. Plugged into the P-8, it started in roughly half the time it normally takes. And the old organ's tone was also notably brighter and delivered more punch. Also, a habitually buzzy guitar amp became a habitually quiet guitar amp. A mixer's stubborn background hum also disappeared. Like we said, we tested it.