GIGAWATT PC-3 EVO+ is a technologically advanced, new generation power conditioner, designed to power and protect audio-video systems of Hi-End class. This conditioner not only effectively protects against interference and overvoltage existing in the home power grid, but also guarantees a significant improvement of the quality of sound and displayed picture of the devices connected to it.
The main differences to the PC-2 EVO+:
CONSTRUCTION
All internal elements of the conditioner were enclosed in a rigid, steel-aluminum chassis, supported on anti-vibration feet made from solid, anodized aluminum, with a layer of proprietary elastomer 3.5mm thick.
The front panel of the conditioner is made from a thick slab of aviation grade aluminum. Its surface is brushed, after precision milling, and then anodized black or silver.
The PC-3 EVO+ has six, high quality proprietary GigaWatt power sockets, with large surface contacts. The brass contacts of the sockets were subdued to the process of technical silver plating without usage of intermediate metals, like copper or nickel, which could introduce an unfavorable serial resistance and a voltage loss. The increased surface of the contacts and the thick layer of silver guarantee good contact with the plug pins. The sockets were additionally cryogenically modified and de-magnetized.
In the central part of the front, there is an LED display indicating the voltage of the input current. The precise voltmeter is very resistant to distortion and measurement errors caused by upper harmonics, at the same time not generating any interference, which would impair the quality of the power filtered by the conditioner.
The voltmeter display is red as standard, but is available in green, blue or white on demand.
The conditioner is also equipped with an additional circuit signaling wrong connection to the power grid. Its action is indicated by a red LED on the back of the unit, which signals wrong polarity of the device or faulty grounding.
TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS
The conditioner PC-3 EVO+ is equipped with multistage parallel filters. Three, independent filtering branches, which supply three sections, composed of two output sockets each. Due to this solution the kind of filtering was adjusted for the load it has, different for each type of devices – digital, analog or high current devices. Autonomous passive filters allow for isolation from interference produced by the devices connected together via a shared power line.
The PC-3 EVO+ is based on a novel filtering architecture and uses new components. The main novelty are the anti-interference capacitors and the compensation batteries for the buffering circuits, which are manufactured by the company Miflex, according to GigaWatt specification.
In the PC-3 EVO+ an innovative, two-stage current distribution system is used, a proprietary design of our company. It is based on massive third generation distribution rails, made from polished slabs of oxygen-free copper OFHCC 10100 with 99.995% purity. The first stage allows for lossless and even distribution of voltage to each of the filtering branches. The second stage provides current directly to each pair of output sockets via bolted and clamped connections as well as cabling with conductors with 4 QMM cross-section made from oxygen-free copper isolated with FEP Teflon. The star connection topology and high conductance combined with the 30 QMM cross-section of each of the rails allow for an uniform and stable power distribution regardless of the load on the individual outputs of the conditioner.
Due to the improved efficiency of the filtering circuits, they were mounted using silver solder on massive PCBs having eight times the amount of copper compared to standard PCBs. The dual layer PCBs have very wide traces made from silver plated copper, with a thickness of 280 micrometers. The interference is damped by filtering blocs of RLC type, built around proprietary Audio Grade capacitors and Super-MSS (Sendust) core filters.
In the conditioner there are no traditional protective elements, like thermal or blow fuses, which throttled the free flow of the current have a negative influence on the sound. The surge protection of the conditioner is provided by the starting block, which utilizes plasma spark-gaps, UltraMOV new generation varistors and an initial filter. All those elements working together with a well-made, contemporary power grid, guarantee a complex protection against surges and overcurrent.
To allow for the maximum impulse response, the PC-3 EVO+ is equipped with a double buffer circuit with Audio Grade compensation batteries, a proprietary design. The circuit increases the current output with non-linear loads, like power amplifiers, as well as eliminates the difference of power between the input and output of the conditioner. This allows for almost unlimited impulse capabilities, unheard of in other passive conditioners and not reachable for active conditioners. The impulse capabilities of the PC-3 EVO+ surpass even the values of clean power line without any devices connected to it.
The standard equipment of PC-3EVO+ is also DC Offset Blocker – a circuit eliminating unwanted DC component of the power grid. This DC component is a very deteriorating phenomenon, which exists in almost all power grids. It results in the sinus wave of the alternating current become non-symmetrical (non-sinusoidal) and has negative impact on all devices using transformers. It causes their cores to become magnetized, what increases their noise, diminishes the efficiency of power supplies and lower sound quality as a result of those. The DC blocker allows to eliminate this phenomenon effectively, without causing any compression or any other negative influence on the sound
OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT
This product is covered by an insurance policy for the connected equipment, with a total insurance value of 1000000 PLN. The insurance is valid only in the European Union member states territory.
Available socket types: EU (Schuko), US (Nema 5-20R), AU (AS/NZS 3112)
Line voltage: 220-240 VAC 50/60 Hz or 110-120 VAC 50/60 Hz
Maximum output power : 3 680 W
Maximum current load: 16 A
Absorbed impulse current: 20 000 A
Dimensions (W xH xD): 440 x 115 x 400 mm
Gross weight: 15,8 kg
In the opinion of specialist audio magazines the devices from GigaWatt are among the best in the world, both in terms of effectiveness and manufacturing quality, and even surpass the standards used in the branch setting new masters. This statement is confirmed by many reviews and prestigious awards given to GigaWatt products. You can find some of them below:
„As I had occasion to say to the Italian importer, it is unlikely that a number of components that are placed between the wall outlet and the audio devices do not impose their voice. In the case of the PC3 Evo you hear clearly a change in the sound; but it is immediatly obvious that the system becomes more quiet, so that a slight audible hum from the horns of the Davis Monitor 1, staying just ahead of the cabinet, has disappeared thanks to the PC3 Evo.
In other words, how the Gigawatt PC3 Evo changes the sound? In my system, it worked in the right direction, producing a “more human” sound, approaching it to the music as it is perceived in a theater. So, no dynamic compression (indeed, since the equipment becomes very quiet, you might hear some very weak signals that, in other occasions, are hidden by the noise), no major interventions that alter the signal, but just some minor modifications to the frequency response, which leads to lighten a bit the medium-low at the crossing with the mid, but leaves intact all what is between the deep bass and the medium-low. The top range is of excellent quality, although in its extreme part is certainly less present; while exalted a little the mid-high range, sounding as a modern concert hall, with audience around us.”
„Test it in your system, if you have the chance.”
Author: Domenico Pizzamiglio
Full review
Once I returned to my system for more attentive listening I noted all the sorts of things one associates with a good power line conditioner and it didn’t matter whether I played WAV files vinyl or the silver stuff. The goodness was more or less the same regardless of source. Most obvious was an overall reduction in low-level line noise that allowed for greater insight into recordings. Music playback became bigger, more immediate and also clearer, more intelligible and focused without any negative effect on drive and momentum. Textures were more realistic. Dynamics improved too. There seemed greater range between soft and loud. Drums and percussive instruments had more bite and snap and greater sense of liveliness. The PC-3 EVO also removed a mild electronic edge that was particularly noticeable on voices and strings. It’s one of those seemingly minor things you either don’t notice or learn to tune out until it’s reduced or removed all together.
However, the real surprise was in areas that I don’t normally associate with PLCs. Bass weight and articulation was superb and might be the best I have heard yet in my system, particularly from my REL subs. It’s not so much that bass was deeper but rather it was more visceral with greater pitch definition a more realistic sense of flow. Vocal and instrumental images were denser more robust and tactile. Timbre or tone color was more intense too. Going through my rough notes, “flesh and blood” was an oft repeated phrase. Overall the musical message was clearer, more life-like and more revealing of textures and nuance.
Author: Paul Candy
Full review
Gigawatt is most probably the best recognizable Polish Hi-Fi equipment manufacturer. The products of the company are exported to 23 countries over the whole world. Innovative solutions backed with experience in power devices, as well as very thought through development of their portfolio, led to GigaWatt being named at the same level as the most renowned manufacturers of power accessories.
In the catalog special role was always played by the power strips and conditioners, and the PC-3 EVO will probably be one of the biggest hits of the Lodz based factory. When we plug it into our system we do not need to think about what has changed. The effect is immediate, and the return to another solution – even if only for comparison reasons – painful. With the LC-2 Mk2 power cable the conditioner brings the sound of the system to another level. We have an impression, as if somebody would change all of our cables for better ones.
“The priorities were put very clear: dynamics, transparency and space. The increase of the sound quality after plugging the GigaWatt into our system was clear, and in some sense indisputable. If the sound stage would get closer or further away from the listener, everyone would be able to assess this parameter through the prism of individual preference. But here the change is based on the increase of sharpness of localization of the individual sound sources and better separation of the musicians from each other. The PC-3 EVO made the background darker, and the instruments – clearer, more realistic and convincing. The GigaWatt puts us in a situation, which does not leave space for discussion. If the sound is clearer, more dynamic, full of detail and truth, then it is better.”
“Near the end of the test I decided to make a small experiment and change the conditioner for a standard power strip and computer cables. The sound collapsed in such a way, that I could not hold it out for five minutes. You tend to get accustomed to something better quickly.”
Author: Tomasz Karasiński
Full review
Author: Alek Rachwald
Author: Aleksandra Chilińska
Full review
“The result clearly contradicts the common belief, that all filters, and similar devices, devour dynamics. It turns out not to be true. Extreme signal jumps are reproduced with the same speed as when the device is connected directly to mains. Additionally, with the GigaWatt the bass became deeper and clearer, maybe because the component of interference got lesser.”
“With symphonic music, the spectrum of the instruments became a bit more visible in the midrange, and the timbre and shades of the vocals – richer. At the same time some nuances were pushed out, for example the movements of the violin bow, which were almost unnoticeable before. Chamber music recordings became more transparent, the second plane details more audible; opening of the mouths of the vocalists, breaths into the microphone and similar details. Let us agree with this, this is a very good compromise, as the main function of the devices similar to the GigaWatt PC-3 EVO is a kind of protection and safe connection of expensive gear in such a way, that it’s performance gets least deteriorated. And in this case this is successful in almost one hundred percent.”
Author: Nikolay Efremov
Full review
PC-3 EVO
High Fidelity No. 89,
September 2011
“Also plugging in the PC-3 EVO to my system, well “supplied” in terms of power, resulted in concrete, unanimous modifications of its sound – for the money unanimously and indisputably positive ones.”
“(…) in fact listening to music with Gigawatt we do not engage in analysis of the timbre, but we look at the same musical material under a different angle, from a slightly different perspective. (…) The sound we get is closer to us, is more palpable and nicer.”
“This is audible best when we listen to Gigawatt comparing to some cheaper power strip, with a cheaper power cable – like with the mentioned Oyaide set. This is still a very good set, my second choice, when we are talking about expensive systems, but much lesser than the reference system. And compared that, we can really hear what Gigawatt proposes, and why it is worth to pay for it almost EUR 3.300.”
“The sound with it, in such comparison, seems cleaner and (yes!) more resolved. This is mostly the result of a slight exposure of the individual instruments, their “own” sound at the expense of the acoustic environment. This results in a splendidly shown, nice, dynamic piano in recordings so distant in terms of the way of recording and time as those from the discs Moon Beams The Bill Evans Trio and Songbird Eva Cassidy. The dark, warm disc of Evans sound slightly softer, in a slightly more open way, as if the instruments would be slightly embossed, slightly pushed forward. The already mentioned disc of Audiofeels (…) sounded in a very credible way, it could be heard, that this is a meeting of a few guys who met to sing (play) together, that there is a kind of tension between them.”
“The Oyaide seemed to be the bottleneck. The Gigawatt sounded in a more open and resolved way. It was also unanimously more “three-dimensional”, the shapes were shown clearer and more unequivocal. The change seemed not be big, but you listened to everything in a completely new, comfortable way.”
“The sound of the system is very vivid and “clean”. This cleanness is not clinical, what would mean in fact depriving the sound from the flesh, but it is rather showing the depth of the sound, its physicality. Were those voices, or piano or finally the contrabass, especially important on the discs of Evans and the Modern Jazz Quartet, with Gigawatt they gained depth and mass.”
Author: Wojciech Pacuła – “HIGH FIDELITY”
Full Review
PC-3 EVO
Hi Fi Choice, January 2009
“30 kilograms of weight clearly indicates, that we do not deal with a run-of-the-mill unit here. Inside we did not find any lead pellets, only technological advancement and high quality passive filters.”
“After long time of burning-in of the splinter new conditioner, we have started the listening sessions. PC-3 was used to power the whole home cinema installation, including the LCD screen. We are convinced, that the GigaWatt does its job well. When we disconnected the audio gear from it, and plugged it back to the wall sockets, we felt slight discomfort, that grew on us in time. The sound with the conditioner gained on directness and cleanness, became less nervous and more balanced. On the LCD screen we noticed more stable and fluent picture and much better sharpness and vivid colors.”
VERDICT
“PC-3 has a positive influence on all AV systems. It clearly betters their performance.”
Author: Arkadiusz Ogrodnik – “HI-FI CHOICE”
Full Review