Country of Origin
Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (4GHz quad-core with Turbo, 32GB RAM, 3TB FusionDrive, OSX Yosemite. iTunes 14.4), PureMusic 3.02, Audirvana 3, Qobuz, Tidal, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, Sonnet Pasithea DAC; Active filter: icOn 80Hz/4th-order hi/lo-pass; Power amplifiers: Kinki Studio EX-B7 mono, Enleum AMP-23R; Headamp: Kinki Studio; Phones: HifiMan Susvara; Loudspeakers: Aurai Audio Lieutenant w. sound|kaos DSUB 15 on Carbide Audio footers, Audio Physic Codex, Cube Audio Nenuphar Cables: Complete loom of Allnic Audio ZL; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all source components, Vibex One 11R on amps, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc Krion and glass amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, LessLoss Firewall for loudspeakers, Furutech NCF Signal Boosters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat
2nd system: Source: Soundaware D1300Ref SD transport clock-slaved to Denafrips Terminator +; DAC: Denafrips Terminator+; Preamp/filter: icOn 4Pro + 4th-order/40Hz hi-low pass; Amplifier: Goldmund Job 225; Loudspeakers: sound|kaos Vox 3awf, Dynaudio S18 sub; Power delivery: Furutech GTO 2D NCF; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Audioquest Fog Lifters; Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
Desktop system: Source: HP Z230 work station Win10/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; Headamp/DAC: iFi iDSD Pro Signatur; Headphones: Final D-8000; Active speakers: DMAX SC5
Upstairs headfi/speaker system: Source: smsl Dp5 transport; DAC: Auralic Vega; Integrated amplifier: Schiit Jotunheim R; Phones: Raal-Requisite SR1a
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note I-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: $4'380
Absolute power corrupts? Absolutely. Taking Lord Acton's words, when scaled up to power six components simultaneously, less loss ought to equal less corruption; squared. Zero corruption then? That would mean absolute honesty. Beyond playing lame linguistic games, today—all contacts ensconced in clear epoxy resin inside a solid-wood 31x16x16cm case festooned with screw heads—promises maximization of our Lithuanian firm's proven noise reduction aka signal conditioning tech. It means 4.6mm² Entropic Process'd C-Marc hookup wiring; doubled-up Firewall inline passive noise filtering on all three legs; gold-plated i/o without nickel substrate; and Panzerholz frames with carbon-fiber face plates for the US/Japanese outlets as shown above.
Absolutely pure power. It powers, perfectly? This wooden box certainly purifies our power delivery of all capacitors, coils, resistors, metal-oxide varistors, fuses, circuit breakers, switches, idiot lights, transformers, phase indicators, displays and other usual suspects common to this category. By name it's not even a filter. It just routes AC like any Electric Avenue outlet multiplier aka juice bar does. One wall outlet turns into six. Plug 'n' play away. Done. Of course Louis Motek's team in Kaunas approaches the topic with rather more inventiveness and rigor than a cheap plastic strip does with back-lit mains rocker, outlets with wobbly contacts and questionable wiring. Behind C-Marc, Entropic Process and Firewall in fact hides much proprietary tech. We've covered it all in detail many times before.
Just canvas our well-stocked archives under LessLoss; or use these three embedded links.
C-Marc geometry.
Using classic terms, this is a purely passive outlet multiplier just as was the late Lloyd Walker's Velocitor; and as are current Furutech models with proprietary NCF compound. Much attention gets paid to resonance control, low contact resistance, maximal current flow, appropriate conductor mass and ultrasonic noise.
It also means nein Danke Ihr Schweinehunde to all noise-generating parts or circuits which might impede current flow. By containing scaled-up Firewall tech, each power cord that plugs in is automatically preceded by it. That requires none of the firm's add-on modules at left. By spreading that luv around to up to six pieces of kit with even standard power cords—LessLoss wouldn't mind if we used their own—the effect of multiplied honesty must get – well, still more absolute and honest.
That's the theory; and trouble with superlatives. How to exceed absolute and honest for example?
Absolutissimo? Honextreme?
It's why I called such linguistic games lame before. They simply make for a good segue way into the AC power subject.
Putting it all to the practical test would be our two primary speaker systems. One thing I was already certain of going in. The Firewall/C-Marc effect I'm familiar with from it being built into my sound|kaos Vox 3a monitors; and hanging off Acelec Model One… that simply couldn't fail to intensify.
Could it?
