Price: $5000.
Website: www.shunyata.com
Design: I described the Alpha A12 in my April 2020 review:
The Hydra Alpha A12 power conditioner has six pairs of Hubbell outlets, each pair surrounded by one of Shunyata’s Cable Cradles, to support the terminations of the cords plugged into them—no strained and sagging connectors here. The Alpha A12 can be used with high-current devices, due to its use of Shunyata’s Dynamic Transient Current Delivery (DTCD) system. The Alpha A12 uses several Shunyata noise-reducing technologies, including the CCI filter, the Noise Isolation Chamber (NIC), and Ground Plane Noise Reduction (GP-NR). I won’t try to describe what each of these do—you can read more about them here—but briefly, each is included to ensure that your components are fed the cleanest power possible, for better sound.
The Alpha A12’s case has been treated with vibration-absorbing and -damping compounds and materials, and its footers are designed to minimize the transmission of resonances from the support platform to the component. Overcurrent protection is provided by a hydraulic electromagnetic circuit breaker, a type superior to thermal breakers or fuses. Even the Alpha A12’s internal wiring, for which Shunyata used their own ArNi conductors, incorporates several of the company’s technologies. All in all, the Alpha A12 seems to have been thoroughly engineered, from soup to nuts.
Why I chose it: One of the main features that attracted me to the Shunyata Research Hydra Alpha A12 was its high-current capability.
You can plug powerful amplifiers into the A12 without experiencing a loss of dynamics. What you will experience, though, is less noise. What better reason to use a power conditioner than removing noise while allowing maximum sound quality to come through? Of course, you can also plug your other components into the A12 for the same benefits.
The Hydra Alpha A12 is the type of product that seemingly helps everything, and has no drawbacks that I can hear. Add in protection from powerline anomalies for connected components and you have one of the great no-brainers in high-end audio.
. . . Jeff Fritz
jeff@soundstagenetwork.com
