Industry Reviews - P12

As good as the system had sounded with the P5, with the P12 there was a major step forward in overall realism. With no change in volume setting, the sound was more dynamic. This was particularly noticeable with audiophile blockbuster CDs…. In my initial bout of listening, amplification was provided by the PS Audio Stellar M700s, and as it's likely that PSA "voiced" those amps with a Power Plant in their reference system, the P12 and M700 might be expected to act synergistically. And might it also be that amps with a class-D output stage, such as the M700, are particularly sensitive to the purity of the AC, but that this would not be the case with amps of very different design—say, my own McIntosh MC275 LE? The improvement wrought by the P12 was, if anything, greater with the McIntosh.

I know PS Audio is doing things differently, and I had a basic grasp of the technology, but the deep, inky darkness coming from my system was quite unnerving. Once heard, it's difficult to forget. This non background, in conjunction with some superior cabling, allowed hyper details into the gulf that was the soundstage.

One thing did surprise me. How do you make a four thousand dollar headphone amplifier sound better? Well, give it a clean sine wave source of power…. even the Pass Labs HA-1 was improved with the DirectStream Power Plant 12's regenerated power, and that caused me to spend way more time listening to my headphones than I probably should have. Overall, I think the DirectStream Power Plant 12 enhanced the quality of my systems without changing the nature of them. I used both aftermarket and generic power cords, and while there was a difference in sound with each power cord, the overall improvement of the system could not be doubted….I recommend giving a DirectStream Power Plant 12 a listen.