Major Tom to ground control… One of the more recent “discoveries” in the audio industry was the value of improving the signal ground on your audio equipment. As a brief refresher, there are actually two grounds in your audio equipment: earth and signal. Earth ground is the round third connector on your plug and its purpose is to keep your electrical device safe in the event of a short or fault within the component. Signal ground is the ground plane that is created by circuit designers to dump stray voltage found within the circuit. It’s the signal ground that we are interested in and where products have been developed in order to lower noise floors and improve sound quality. There is more than one way to skin a cat, especially when it comes to dealing with creating a better signal ground. Power conditioners claim to improve the ground plane, but do so by using the earth ground. Point solutions plug a small device directly into a component giving it a better pathway for noise. Some of the products try to eliminate noise at all frequencies while others focus on a more limited basis. Which is right for you? It depends… just ask an expert.