Prometheus' quite unusual interior houses a fully discrete linear circuit so no switching power or IC-based voltage regs. It features two nearly same-sized power toroids. One of these is actually a choke-input power supply for continuous sinusoidal current flow to the storage caps. That results in lower noise and more constant energy flux. Four Schottky diodes fixed to the enclosure's right panel are bridge rectifiers. Three bulk filtering caps of 68'000µF each are made to Trilogy's specs and so branded. The main regulation board affixes to the inside bonnet. Output devices are biased deep in class A for continual current flow and instantaneous delivery. This PCB also includes an opto-isolator and several op-amps for monitoring and error amplifiers as part of the regulation stage. Nic himself assembles each Prometheus in the UK.
For this review, an Innuos Statement handled storage/transport duties, then a LampizatOr Pacific DAC passed the signal to a Trilogy 915R/995R pre/power set connected via Boenicke Audio S3 speaker cable to either sound|kaos Vox 3afw monitors or Boenicke W11 SE+ floorstanders. Interconnects were Boenicke Audio IC3 CG and DIY XLR. All key hardware powered from Boenicke Audio's Power Gate distributor with its three captive M2 cords plus two LessLoss C-MARC. The USB chain included the full iFi audio stack of micro iUSB3.0, nano iGalvanic3.0, three Mercury3.0 USB cables plus one 9V iPower. A set of external LessLoss Firewall for Loudspeakers modules complemented both speaker sets while a Fidelizer EtherStream sat between my Linksys WRT160N router and Innuos Statement server. A GigaWatt PC-3 SE EVO+ power conditioner fronted by its own LC-3 EVO cable fed PSU for the router, USB reclocker and network switch.
Prometheus was a breeze to use. Its outputs accommodated two of my three DC-powered residents which luckily all want 9V. Past the JCAT experience I didn't have to think about what to connect. I already knew that iFi's reclocker was a dead ringer and Fidelizer's switch second to reap linear benefits. So the Linksys router was left with iFi's switching iPower instead. Prometheus connected to the Gigawatt PC-3 SE EVO+ power conditioner and sat on the bottom shelf of my rack. Naturally the micro iUSB3.0 and EtherStream either powered from two iPowers or Prometheus so two quick DC plug swaps mapped the latter. To also use the iGalvanic3.0 and micro iUSB3.0, I ran the Innuos' standard digital output, not its pre-conditioned USB DAC out.
Prometheus wasn't the first linear case under my roof. Prior to any first sign of life, I already had firm expectations. Clean(er) power results in increased backdrop blackness and removal of excess grain. The key question is how thoroughly these two bases are covered. Although my setup at its current stage is already well sorted on this count, JCAT's linear PSU and Innuos' PhoenixUSB reclocker had shown much untapped performance reserves. Applied at their respective junctures, both went substantially past basic touch-ups. They effectively presented each track noticeably improved across the board. This wasn't a complete metamorphosis. Everything on my playlist sounded as I remembered it – just better. Both JCAT and Innuos increased my rig's performance at no sonic penalty. Their price tags too reflected this jump. Now Prometheus performed much the same.