It's fair to ask why this outré product should make any audible difference and what kind of noise it really addresses. As per LessLoss, our planet's magnetic field attracts ionic radiation emitted by the sun's solar winds and flares. The ionic particles created by those events pierce our atmosphere and walls to influence our electronic components' oscillating field-generating circuitry. Blackbody v2 acts like an umbrella to decrease the severity of this phenomenon. Although it doesn't connect directly to audio hardware, it demands a specific setup to operate as intended. Here directivity and latitude are critical. Each Blackbody v2's face is to aim true North whilst sitting on an acrylic cradle angled to a customer location's precise global latitude. I was instructed to array my five loaners such that their surfaces would create a defensive dome for my hardware. With that in mind I positioned three on my rack's upper shelves between components near their backs while two sat atop the center blocks of my twin QRD diffuser so higher. That way each rippled surface faced North.
LessLoss founder Louis Motek explained that a single Blackbody v2 absorbs little radiation so the more we employ, the more pronounced their effect. I was also instructed to daisy-chain them via their side bolts with short included C-MARC leads. The longest of those terminates in an EU power plug with just the ground connected to bind the first Blackbody to safety earth whilst remaining units connect in series to the first. Now any high-intensity radiation absorbed by the pucks drains in a home's ground sink rather than accumulates in LessLoss copper. Louis also sent me several DIY Blackground units and mentioned meaningful benefits from including even just one before grounding the Blackbodies. I'll have more to say about the Blackground; just not today.
Although the Blackbody v2 is a finely finished bit of compact hifi jewelry, five of them strapped together look a bit messy. They simply must be to do their thing. Otherwise it makes no sense to pursue them. I was also informed that when A/Bing without, I should lock them inside their flight case face down and ideally moved to a different room far away from my hifi to cancel the otherwise still active proximity effect. At first I didn't know what to make of this but then realized that if cosmic radiation is ever present and these Lithuanian 'air purifiers' work when their ripples face it, an umbrella folded up no longer shields us from rain. I had to fold up my 'umbrella' to evaluate the before/without state.
I'm conscious that calling Blackbody v2 polarizing is an understatement. Most people won't consider it capable of doing anything to pass on even giving it a go. They'll just see a costly paperweight. I never tried anything like it before either. My job just demands open-minded auditions before I form any opinions. If stepping outside my comfort zone of DACs, amps and speakers is what that takes, so be it. Besides, the track record LessLoss enjoy with customers and press alike is solid to say the least. When they release a new product, my experience has been that it always does something no matter how non-mainstream. Whether that equates good return on investment is another matter. That said, I was curious whether Blackbody v2 could audibly impact my sound and there was but one way to know. As it turns out, it definitely wasn't made for just holding paper in place.
