Garth Powell came, saw, and agreed: Even if the individual groups for constant current consuming devices in his Niagara are so strictly separated that digital sources connected to one group do not have the slightest influence on the analog sources connected to the other group and on the preamplifier, it could make sense to feed them via the Niagara 1000, just because of the large number of digital devices in my system. With regard to the background noise, he noted that he knew the reason as well as the solution, but would like to try again if the phono stages could not be connected in such a way that they performed their task silently. When he heard the annoying noise, he immediately ruled out that it could be caused by a ground fault of the drive, tonearm or phono amplifier. It was clearly due to the power supply – including grounding, of course. Garth Powell managed to minimize the interference by cleverly distributing the power cables of the preamplifier, the phono preamplifiers, the bearing heater and the tube power supply of the turntable to the two groups of the Niagara 7000. But that didn't satisfy him, of course.

He then had the influence of the Studer A 80 on the power supply demonstrated to him. Afterwards he decided that the Niagara 5000 was the better choice for my system: In hifi and studio technology, different grounding concepts are used, which is only a problem if the power supply works with a "floating" ground, like the Niagara 7000 does with the balancing of the mains voltage. The 5000, on the other hand, offers all three groups a solid ground. In addition, only half the financial investment would be necessary. In terms of filter effect – and ultimately sound improvement – the two differed by just eight percent. Frankly, I don't have the slightest idea how to quantify something like that. But I tend to believe someone whose power correction improves the dynamic performance of power amplifiers as much as the Niagara 7000 does. Did I mention that the 5000's power correction is the same as the 7000's?

Even if the idea of being able to get almost the same sound advantages at half the price may seem tempting, I have to be patient first. Of course, even the developer doesn't carry a net conditioner in his hand luggage. So, Garth Powell and I will stop experimenting with the hardware and prepare the planned interview. But first I'd like to tell you how I got to know Garth Powell. In recent years it had almost become a tradition that Audioquest's brand ambassador Joe Harley met with my wife and me at an Indian restaurant on the last day of the High End show in Munich. The year before last, Joe Harley brought his colleague Garth with him. Nevertheless, it was not primarily about hifi. Joe Harley had not only made the recordings for Audioquest's own label, but had also recorded for ECM, Enja and GrooveNote. He was also significantly involved in the production of the Reissues of Blue Note classics on two Music Matters 45 discs. In the course of the conversation he then asked what "sommelier du son", my wife's and my record label, had recorded recently, and we reported about a previously unreleased six-channel recording of a concert by Günter Baby Sommer – which completely inspired Garth Powell: He had invited the drummer and co-founder of Free Jazz in the GDR to the USA, was well acquainted with him and even played together. With this Garth Powell not only revealed himself as an active percussionist, but also – which is even rarer in the USA – as a connoisseur of European jazz. And that's why my first question was about his musical career: