Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Sources: 27" iMac with 5K Retina display, 4GHz quad-core engine with 4.4GHz turbo boost, 3TB Fusion Drive, 16GB SDRAM, OSX Yosemite, PureMusic 3.01, Tidal & Qobuz lossless streaming, COS Engineering D1, AURALiC Vega, Aqua Hifi La Scala MkII, Fore Audio DAISy 1, Apple iPod Classic 160GB (AIFF), Astell& Kern AK100 modified by Red Wine Audio, Cambridge Audio iD100, Pro-Ject Dock Box S Digital, Pure i20, Questyle QP1R
Preamplifier: Nagra Jazz, Esoteric C-03, Vinnie Rossi LIO (AVC module), COS Engineering D1
Power & integrated amplifiers: Pass Labs XA30.8; FirstWatt SIT1, F5, F6, F7; S.A.Lab Blackbird SE; Crayon Audio CFA-1.2; Goldmund Job 225; Gato Audio DIA-250; Aura Note Premier; Wyred4Sound mINT; AURALiC Merak [on loan], Gryphon Diablo 300 [on review]
Loudspeakers: Albedo Audio Aptica; EnigmAcoustics Mythology 1; Sounddeco Sigma 2; soundkaos Wave 40; Boenicke Audio W5se; Zu Audio Submission; German Physiks HRS-120; Eversound Essence; Gryphon Pantheon [on review]
Cables: Complete loom of Zu Event; KingRex uArt, Zu and LightHarmonic LightSpeed double-header USB cables; Tombo Trøn S/PDIF; van den Hul AES/EBU; AudioQuest Diamond glass-fibre Toslink; Arkana Research XLR/RCA and speaker cables [on loan]; Sablon Audio Petit Corona power cords [on loan], Black Cat Cable Lupo
Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all components, 5m cords to amp/s + sub
Equipment rack: Artesania Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc Krion and glass amp stands [on loan]
Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators
Room: Rectangular 5.5 x 15m open floor plan with two-storey gabled ceiling, wood-sleeved steel trusses and stone-over-concrete flooring
Review component retail: $410

LessLoss. That continues to be one of the most poignant honest company names there is in all of hifi. No sound appliance could possibly improve the recorded signal. It can only change it. The takeaway of said change? No convenient "enjoy to go" but the reality of losses. The goal now becomes to reduce those inevitable losses to their absolute minimum. The company's Louis Motek had this teaser about their latest take on the Firewall since my review of its DIY-install targeted precursor a year ago. "Recently we went through a rather quick succession of design iterations. I will send you a complete synapse of all that the Firewall was, is and is quickly becoming. This whole line of development is not unlike the shrinking of processing power from room-sized computers to stand-alone terminals, to box-type desktop computers, to thin laptops, to hand-held smart phones, to flying autonomous robot bugs! 'Smart' nanobots dispensing medication directly into target cells will be in our future. The latest Firewall iteration easily cures the most debilitating of audiophile illnesses: noise!"


On their website, numerous videos of Firewall production focus on the making of the Oak enclosure whilst nothing serious gets divulged about the sound-affecting innards. Seeing a CNC-powered router bit carve model names into raw wood accompanied by solo cello; or a dust-covered hand lovingly sand down a wood surface... it's misdirection. What really matters happens inside the box. About that those videos keep mum to protect IP. But the core notion of their filtering is well known. Because higher freqs migrate across the surface of a conductor to follow the long-established skin-effect phenomenon; and because the noise which LessLoss pursue occurs in the 'bat sphere' well beyond our hearing; a proprietary surface coating of their power wires or traces attenuates the bad signal (noise) but doesn't touch the good signal (the utility company's current/voltage). At 50/60Hz, that energy travels down the conductor's centre. So there are no caps, coils, resistors or other common bits inside.


On coin, a plastic-sleeved DIY module which still requires 32-point soldering goes for $198. The ready variant with C13/C14 connectors gets $268, a duded-up version with Oyaide C-079 plug $410. As the photo shows, these modules can even be slaved in series for presumably even LesserLoss.

With Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated and Apertura Kalya monitors.