Country of Origin
Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Sonoma 14), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Sonnet Pasithea, Laiv Audio Harmony; Active filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Power amplifiers: Vinshine Audio x Kinki Studio Dazzle & Gold Note PA-10 Evo in mono on subwoofer; Headamp: Enleum AMP-23R; Phones: Raal 1995 Immanis; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan] Cables: Exact Express Flame, Furutech; Power delivery: 2 x Kinki/Vinshine Tai Hang on amps and source stack, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, AudioQuest FogLifters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
2nd system: Source: FiiO R7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Preamp/filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Cobra [on loan]; Subwoofer: Zu Method; Cable loom: Exact Express Earth; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra, Akiko Audio Corelli Corundum & Castello Solo; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Furutech cable lifts, Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
2nd headfi system: DAC: Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Headphones: Raal 1995 Magna, HifiMan Susvara
Desktop system: Source: HP Z2 work station Win11/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; DAC/preamp: COS Engineering D1; Headphone amp: Kinki Studio THR-1; Speaker amps: Topping B200 monos; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Viper; Headphones: Final D-8000, aune SR7000, FiiO FT7
Upstairs headfi system: FiiO R7; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3
2nd upstairs speaker system: Source: FiiO R7; Integrated amplifier: Simon Audio Lab i5; Loudspeakers: ModalAkustik Musikboxx with Dynaudio S18 subwoofer
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: varies
A prior contributor loved to review cables and footers. Most readers would raise two bushy eyebrows against a mouthy frown. In their imagination, such items should factor at sub zero. They should parcel out to the team's lowliest scribe in Siberia. Volunteering for them? Tisk tisk. But imagination is a poor substitute for experience. Once our system sounds exactly as we like it, any change in the sexy categories—bigger speakers, heavier amps, DACs with shinier specs—could steer our tuning in ways we might be most impatient to undo again. Then accepting such items for review paves the road to unpleasant deviations we want to correct like, soonest. And that's neither fun for the writer nor fair to the loaners. In general, cables exert a lesser influence; and if not voiced for deliberate colouration, could concentrate on raw resolution from a lowered noise floor. That doesn't change our own tuning. It just magnifies its intelligibility whilst needing ever lower SPL to matter. Broadband resonance attenuation verified against shaker-table measurements, advanced software modelling and more is generally still more respectful of a system's established tuning. Where effective, we'll hear more of our sound which we so carefully groomed over endless years of mixing 'n' matching, buying 'n' selling whilst honing our listening skills to more clearly define our own tastes in audio.
This scenario becomes ever truer the longer we've been at it. Time invested equals experience gained, experiments compounded. That should lead to an ever more particular if purely personal sense of sonic rightness. It should mean keenly honed observational powers which notice even minor shifts by way of intimate familiarity. Think archetypal spook flick whose hero returns to his lair. She notices one tiny item not exactly in its place to indicate a prior intruder. Our spy has been rumbled. The sound has changed even if nobody else would notice or care.
A beginner's system with zero attention lavished on the room's arbitrary impact on the frequency and time domains is still too messy and unresolved to chase little things. Primary matters need sorting first. Subcutaneous imperfections won't show until surface crud is gone. Now geeking out over advanced resonance control is mostly premature except for isolating speakers and/or subs to undermine structural resonances particularly on suspended floors. Those effects can be quite coarse. They are readily spotted even where a system's noise floor remains quite high. As you look at my systems, you see plenty of resonance-attenuating items. A dweeb's den. Long-time readers know how I launched this site in mid 2002. Since then I've done weekly reviews on a very consistent basis. Much experience has accumulated. Even more so, I developed a firmly defined sense of subjective sonic rightness. I know what I want.
Perhaps now you appreciate why resonance isolators from Carbide, sound|kaos and Stack Audio factored quite prominently this year; why there are AudioQuest FogLifters or Furutech risers beneath many cables; why electronics sit on purpose-engineered racks and stands. Sooner or later, this category of accessory or tweak becomes the easiest way to make sonic progress without the nearly inevitable nip 'n' tug which playing in other categories would incur to necessitate subsequent counter steering. If we're happy with our sound as is but have extra funds and desire to refine it further, I find properly engineered resonance attenuation a most worthwhile focus. There seems to be virtually no end to shaving off percentile points on effective resolution which are all gain, zero loss or sideways moves.
That said, this category is about accessories which I define as sound continuing when we take them out. Anything we remove to cause no sound is primary. We might be able to bypass a power conditioner with a direct wall connection if that gives us enough outlets. If so, the AC filter is no longer primary. Obviously, fighting bad vibes comes well after making good vibes. And wherever we find those good playback vibes good enough, we're already done. Today's page is for those who want to go deeper but perhaps not yet fully see where best to get busy. Now you have my suggestion. Other veterans might propose systemic grounding solutions. Those too sound promising. I've simply insufficient experience to share. On resonance control meanwhile, I'm quite an old hand. And if I may say so, it's a rather good hand to play…
