Filter x trap. Here we see the contestants installed.
My takeaway was simple. The filter did more and what we'd expect of an effectively lowered noise floor. It increased contrast ratio for more silence-to-sound difference. Images popped harder. Even though that's casual phrasing, it conveys the effect correctly. People with a painter's eye might say that negative space intensified. It's the same observation keyed into the other half. Rather than focus on sounds, it feels into the quality of space they occupy. Either way focus went up. I also heard a smoother treble where this combination of a small widebander out to ~15kHz plus tiny auxiliary AMT is super alert to changes.
The trap was more subdued. Rather than filter noise along higher-contrast expectations, its smoothing mellowed or de-focused a certain energy transmission which I deliberately tuned this setup to have. So it had a mild effect but for my preferences still steered in the wrong direction. I incidentally feel the same about too much LessLoss noise-killing bits. In this system, two noise-cancelling LessLoss power cords between wall and AC distributors plus their passive speaker filters are my happy dose. And, I wouldn't want to be without Akiko's Corelli parallel AC noise trap which here sits on the lower right shelf. Corelli has an accelerator/energizer not damping/darkening effect. On that score its stablemate Loudspeaker Improver had the opposite effect. In the right context, that could be the proverbial dot on the 'i' like a virtual tuning knob to mellow out a frisky slightly nervy system. Unlike Corelli, I simply found the scope of sonic impact rather narrow. But here the prior detour into general accessories factors. None of my systems are just basic hardware any more. Because that hardware locked into my rooms as neatly as money and exposure knew how to, I subsequently began polishing it with AC filters, resonance control, bass optimization with subwoofer and active crossovers, cables, various reclockers on the LAN and USB, upsamplers and such. To reuse earlier language, I found my groove and feel quite allergic to relinquishing it even slightly. As a user not reviewer, my interest now is to make this groove even deeper but otherwise not move it sideways.
As I see it, feeling already most groovy leaves ever less room to squeeze extra percentage points shy of a more drastic hardware change. As long as I play in the same financial sand box and rooms, coming across a drastic improver doesn't seem very likely. From what I've heard in Akiko's catalogue, siphoning off noise on the AC is a rather bigger building block toward better sound than today's parallel noise trap on a speaker's return post. Could this be because not letting noise into a system at the very beginning is superior to trying to remove it at the very end? If so, it's why I purchased my earlier Corelli review sample but will return today's two little black boxes. Yet YMMV—your mileage may vary—could lead to yummy. The only way to know is to judge whether your system has arrived at a state of equilibrium and resolution where small changes translate clearly. If so, give today's accessory a chance. See whether its smoothing and mellowing takes your sound in a direction you fancy. If your system is still a work in progress, attend to first things first. Embrace having to be a general contractor before you can become lawnmower man then window washer then picture hanger. Disobeying a rational sequence is bound to disappoint either by accomplishing nothing meaningful at all; or not getting the full return on an investment. As far as I'm concerned, today's device belongs at the very end of that sequence…
