Products of the Year

Accessory of the Year

AudioQuest Niagara 3000 ($3300; reviewed by Tom Gibbs and Fred Kaplan, January & August 2021, Vol.44 Nos.1 & 8 Review)

Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Degritter record-cleaning machine ($3300; reviewed by Michael Fremer, January 2021, Vol.44 No.1 Review)
Shunyata Everest 8000 power conditioner ($8000; reviewed by Brian Damkroger, May 2021, Vol.44 No.5 Review)
Stillpoints component stand SS ($1999–$2799; reviewed by Michael Fremer, November 2020, Vol.43 No.11 Review)
WallyReference Azimuth Gauge ($275; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.44 No.8 Review)

Designed by Garth Powell, AudioQuest's Niagara 3000 power conditioner combines several technologies together in a box for a very fair price.

In his original review, Tom Gibbs found that the 3000 allowed his system "to extract a previously unheard level of tangibility from the streamed recording." On "Don't Let It Bring You Down" from Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall, Gibbs "was taken aback by the vividness of Neil Young alone with his guitar. The real eye-opener, however, was when the music stopped: The absolute quiet in my room was almost ghostly compared to the state I was accustomed to."

Following up in the August issue, Fred Kaplan observed that "the noise that the Niagara dissipates is something that you don't hear—not until it's not there, at which point you notice its absence. In its absence, you hear—or, anyway, I heard—more detail, more rhythmic drive, more palpable images (on voices and instruments), more air (if it's captured in the recording), more tuneful bass, and more extended highs. Much of this is the byproduct of a quieter—a dead quiet—backdrop to everything your stereo is trying to retrieve from the grooves or bits of the spinning records or discs."

About the Vote
The AudioQuest power conditioner beat out the Degritter record cleaner by four points. The WallyReference azimuth gauge and the Shunyata Everest 8000 power conditioner tied for third, with seven fewer points than the Degritter.