This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below |
 |
 |
|
Back on track. There’s a sawing guitar right from the start, brass, snare drums and ride cymbal. These transient elements were more focused and contrasted - less diffusive. Granted, the MiniSub 2 did not cause a wholesale overhaul of my usual house sound. Its contributions could strike more than a few as rather subtle. Whilst trying to avoid princess peas, I always did miss something when the MiniSub 2 exited stage left however.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
With this particular album soundstage dimensionality was more pronounced and less nervous. Tone colors were more saturated and pure. The opening guitar whose timbre is far from complex seemed less canned and sketched. Rather it was texturally more nuanced. The ride cymbal attack setting off the metal oscillations had more purity and clarity, more sheen and realism.
Notable was that all this occurred without side effects. Even the complex Calibro35 disc didn’t lose any rhythmic élan, tension or liveliness. Colleague Ralph who played host to the ISOL-8 commented that the slightly civil effect could seem less of a turn on. Even so I considered its purification as clearly more authentic and in the service of the music rather than any chemical dry cleaning.
|
|
|
|
|
Enter the lower octaves. Be it the mighty ‘kettle drums’ of Shearwater, the dry bass drum impulses of Calibro35's "L’Esecutore" or the martial beats of These New Puritans’ "Three Thousand" from Hidden, the MiniSub 2 clearly didn’t take away scale or drama from such macrodynamic fare. Given my tastes that would have been problematic.
|
 |
Conclusion: Power delivery inevitably is a polarizing subject, the topic of filtration perhaps even more so. Should you wish to explore it for yourself with a system you find could stand somewhat more relaxed accuracy, subtlety, maturity and long-term pleasantness, the ISOL-8 MiniSub 2 would make a good subject. Without any dynamic losses but six sockets to eliminate the need for an additional power strip, this British box seems to quite be a price/performance leader. |
|
redaktion @ fairaudio.de
|
|
|
Facts
- Concept: Conditioning power strip
- Output sockets: Six
- Max current delivery sockets 1 + 2: 10A
- Max current delivery sockets 3 - 6: 6.3 A
- Dimensions: 444 x 85 x 305 mm (WxHxD)
- Weight: 7kg
|
 |
|
|
 |
