I joked with Marc that like the maturation of fine wine, balsamic vinegar or Serrano ham, seven months for their process is quite long. "It is but then the effect gets very clear. That's most important to us. Our approach is very pragmatic. We want results without any esoteric vagaries. In our process, the generator simply does the job."

Now we've chanced upon Akiko's tool which activates the discs. "It generates the energy we need to treat them." The analog dither tech of Ansuz sets up pulsed radiated fields. Titan Audio's ForceField module creates a counter field to their power cord's primary radiation. The obvious key difference is Akiko's tuning disc being passive. It plugs into no power socket. It needs no electricity to work. It freaks out certain minds who conflate being passive with an inability to do anything. Frank Tchang's very small acoustic resonators faced the same when launched. Being demonstrably effective when used correctly, they subsequently triggered multiple commercial copycats who wanted in on the action.

To mentally accept Akiko's concept, it might help to think of magnetizing a material where enough electrons spin in the same direction. Iron and cobalt can be strongly magnetized, aluminium, copper, platinum and uranium only weakly. A typical process to create a powerful permanent magnet is to expose a ferrite to a strong magnetic field whilst being heated to high temperature then cooled down again. Applying the correct process to a copasetic material can permanently bake in a new behavior it didn't exhibit before. [Above a process diagram for the manufacture of neodymium magnets made from a mixture of neodymium, iron and boron.]

Cryogenics too permanently change the molecular alignment of suitable materials subjected to extremely low temperatures then gradually returned to room temps. That just putting a razor blade into our kitchen freezer won't have it holds its edge any longer goes without saying. Proper cryo takes very specialized equipment and know-how. Because it's effective, Audio Group Denmark invested into two cryo tanks on their own premises. Meanwhile Akiko have their generator to irradiate stainless steel discs until they form their own version of 'permanent magnets'. It's not magnetism of course, just a conceptual parallel to remind us how passive objects can exert a very real influence by sheer proximity; hold a charge that sets up a field; and require a process or treatment to inject that charge in the first place. There are parallels even with so-called structured water created by centrifugal force. Though chemically unchanged, such water exhibits different qualities and in agriculture is said to require just 1/10th the volume to grow the same crops. In nature water following a sufficiently high waterfall exhibits the same qualities created by the implosive force of falling from great heights.

With four discs dispatched, two ended up on the Enleum AMP-23R, one on the Singxer SU-2 USB bridge and one on the iFi iDSD Pro Signature DAC.

With this food for thought, we're ready to use Akiko's new discs and see what gives. According to Sanders, their sphere of influence is about a half meter. So whilst actual physical contact isn't required, close proximity to 'trouble zones' is important to reap benefits. I just had to figure out what those trouble zones were. A good starting point seemed to be my office desktop. Here hifi gear, computing kit and peripherals, a large monitor display and LAN router on switching power all share close quarters. If getting hifi mixed up with IT involves sonic compromises, shouldn't Akiko's discs here have a field day strutting their stuff? Delivery was how you'd wish designer pizza arrives: in custom round aluminium tins with clear plastic window, one per disc, each inside an extra protective plastic sleeve and with a business card thanking one for the purchase.

Here is my first Akiko showing in close-up. Speakers were EnigmAcoustic's deluxe M1 monitors. My music player of choice is Audirvana Studio for local files and Qobuz Sublime. Displayed on my screen are albums stored on Qobuz's 'purchased' pane which also live as downloads on the external SSD of my main system across the hallway. Incidentally, given the obvious care behind Akiko's postal delivery, you won't be surprised to learn that each disc was covered by black felt to protect the surface of whatever we place it on.