I keep reading very positive stories about the Audes ST-900 power conditioner in the Netherlands but I can’t find any information on the forum if anyone uses it in combination with Naim equipment.
Very curious to hear from anyone on this forum about it.
I’m using one with a ND5 XS2, Nait XS 3 and HiCap DR plugged in. And I’m extremely happy with it. The sound is more relaxed, much wider soundstage and better placement of the sound in the room. It’s kind of an investment, but worth every cent I think!
With relaxed, do you mean that it loses some drive that is characteristic for the Naim sound? I tend to not always like it when the sound relaxes too much. Especially for rock I don’t like it too relax.
I don’t use the Audes Power Conditioner, but i do use a “Balanced” power supply.
In case you didn’t know the Audes is a “balanced” power supply, it may well be sold as an audiophile power conditioner, but it is still a balanced power supply. That means that when you plug something into it, both the live and the neutral leads carry 115v each rather than just the live lead carrying 230v.
There are a lot of “Audiophile” grade balanced power supplies around, they all share one thing in common, price tags to go with the word audiophile. In the case of the Audes ST-900 it’s about 2200Eur. The ST-900 is only a 1KVA supply as well.
There are other options available at less that a 1/4 of that price and at 3KVA, 3 times as powerful.
I’d suggest having a good look at the one i’ve been using for the last 10 years, mine is a UK spec.
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No to my opinion it doesn’t lose anything of the Naim sound, it’s just easier to listen to, less fatigue is a better description. The Audes is basically a huge isolating transformer which decouples the power from mains. But there is almost no filtering if I understood correctly so there is nothing lost in the sound itself. I have the DC version with built in DC blocker by the way.
Also, another benefit is that the transformer gives out balanced power, so +115V on each pin. So there is also no issue anymore with the correct phase of the device, depending on how you connect the plug: 0 or 180 degrees rotated. In the UK this is not an issue in general because of the fixed earth in the plug, but in the Netherlands it is.
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Interesting! Thanks for the tip!
Have you compared this one to some other blocks or conditioners?
Please don’t post unauthorised commercial links in the HiFi corner. Thanks.
I use Isotek and their power cables. Very satisfied.
I can only apologise for the link.
I thought i had read many threads on here with links to manufactures websites, as i had provided.
It won’t happen again. In future i will just mention the name, is that ok ?
No i haven’t. There is actually no point in comparing one balanced power supply with another balanced power supply. They should all be made in the same way, they should all have the same safety built in if sold in the EU. They all do the same thing to the inbound mains, that is kill stone dead any mains born interference both from the main grid or from any domestic interference.
The point of my post was to point out that in reality any so called “audiophile” balanced power supplies are just to rip the customer off by thinking that you need to pay 4 times as much for something just because it is supplied by an audio company.
The chances are that the company i mentioned stands more than a chance to have provided Audes, Russ Andrews and many others with the basic supply in the first place.
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That’s fine.
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One more thing that is absolutely worth mentioning about Airlink balanced power supplies is that they are all star earthed. The reality is of course, all balanced power supplies should be star earthed. So all of them are or should be a bed made in heaven for any Naim system, Even more so if you are using a Grahams Hydra as your power leads to all your your Naim boxes. One plug and one fuse, so it’s not too difficult to find the correct orientation for the fuse 
but only for the 115v that goes through the fuse
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I like the idea of the Airlink. Three sockets is not a lot though. I amazone that if I connect my Wireworld block to the balanced PS it also benefits?
If you look at all that is available from Airlink, you will see that they also do a 5 socket one as well.
If 5 sockets are enough for you i wouldn’t use any block in conjunction with the Airlink. What i would use is a Grahams hydra with a 3 socket Airlink and have enough leads on the Hydra to feed all your gear. That would leave you with 2 sockets left for anything you might want to add in the future.
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