Noise sounds heavier, silence lighter. This observation requires no doctoral degree though allowing it to blossom to fullness reveals layers of meaning. It has a rowdy cousin which says that distortion is louder. It explains why we can enjoy systems of extremely low distortion at higher loudness. Whatever sensory mechanism in us eventually says 'enough', that notice comes later with low-distortion systems. Unlike an SPL meter, perceived loudness thus has a subjective component. Two systems pegging the SPL needle at the same decibel figure needn't subjectively register equally loud. When we experiment with improving our in-room bass quality to lower time-domain smear and boomy/bloomy resonance, a routine observation is that whilst intelligibility, articulation and textural linearity all improve, the bass now feels lesser on the counts of density, heaviness and weight. That's easily compensated with active bass by slightly goosing the LF balance. With passive bass, we must opt between less distortion feeling lighter; and more sounding heavier and darker. Many choose the latter because despite being more distorted, they prefer the fatter 'bigger' version.
New $2'700 Laiv Audio Harmony DAC highlighted.
A recent DAC discovery which became my new downstairs source demonstrated how a strategic shift in low-level THD, from 2nd/4th even order or triode mode to 3rd/5th odd order or pentode mode, can have a similar effect. The latter will sound more quick, energetic, lithe and springy. Inserting this DAC into my system made a very noticeable change. The sound became brighter and lighter as a whole-bandwidth effect not specific to the treble. I call it lit up all over to not be mistaken for an aberration of treble hotness which would be an undesirable isolated response elevation not a linear light infusion. When I swapped my usual high-girth cords on the 250-watt Kinki monos for the slinkier braided LessLoss, this sound quality dove still deeper into greater immediacy. Here lighter means both less weight and more luminosity. The combined upshot of those two lighter aspects—L²—caused higher charge, energy, enunciation and separation. Allnic's designer Kang-Su Park is a tube specialist favouring direct-heated glass. So all of his cold-welded cables inject deliberate body and weight. We might call them bassier and capture most of their effect. That voicing is perfectly sensible when SET amps tend to be weak at woofer control. The Stellar cords now shifted my textural needle a few degrees deeper into speed and illumination so the same direction my DAC change had initiated. I was rather surprised that I noticed anything. Past core competence, I tend not to hear any big differences between AC cables already stepped up sufficiently beyond generics unless they were deliberately voiced for a special effect like a €10K Furutech was during an earlier review. Now I had two realizations. One, my usual thick black cords were more voiced than I'd appreciated until then. Two, the direct-coupled Kinki monos must have been ideal microscopes for Louis' skin-filtering approach to UHF noise cancellation. These class AB circuits of 2.5MHz bandwidth must be far more responsive to out-of-band noise than for example valve amps are whose output transformers begin to roll off at 25kHz to act as low-pass filters.
Whatever the actual electron-level reality was which underlaid the effect, I certainly heard it to call Stellar's course correction more in line with rather than counter-steering my deliberate sonic profile for this system. Whilst its overall flavour now is more piquant pentode than treacly triode, the light-squared aspect of greater twitch and overall aeration actually reminds me of my favourite if useless direct-heated triode. That has a very particular lit-up directness. At no more than 2wpc when pushed, a 45 SET like Shigeki Yamamoto's simply relies on ultra high-efficiency speaker systems of preferably active bass systems to cruise rather than congeal and choke. For most intents and purposes, it calls the 45 a useless tube for modern music. But if you've heard a premium specimen on a copasetic speaker, you'll know its allure. My current system voicing now has some of that aroma but with a bluesy pentode injection and zero power limitations. Though I'm not in the market for two new power cords where just one prices within a few hundred squid of my new DAC, I must admit that if money were no issue, these leashes wouldn't return to Kaunas à la, we're not in Kansas anymore. But going down that rabbit hole would be a rather different story no longer on this reviewer's salary.
Noise is heavier, silence lighter. In a high-resolution context, even small reductions in residual system noise can manifest as sonic advances. This particular noise isn't audible per se like a minor ground loop, transformer hum or power-supply surf emitting through a tweeter. Rather it's bat-sphere stuff which intermodulates or 'echoes down' into the audible band. Wherever capable noise killers manage to clear away some of that bat crap, we hear just a bit more micro detail. Nearly invariably that's about recorded space being better illuminated by very low-level reflections between and behind the images. It also moves more subliminal upper harmonics out of the noise floor. That overtone illumination generates more timbral diversity. Individual instruments and singers sound more not less different from each other. Finally there's a sense of flow or breath. That creates continuity or cohesion at the same time that greater resolution sets up more separation. When music rides more obviously on the real breath of singers and woodwinds or the microdynamic bel canto of other instrumentalists emoting with nuance—cellists can be ace at that—we invariably gain persuasiveness. Playback feels more human, less mechanical. Compared to my darker heavier thicker residents of less nuance, these were the shades of pastels the visiting Stellar cords played with in my hardware context. I assume this had to do with their more effective noise attenuation. An obvious side benefit of silence being lighter is hearing more sooner. Coming on song earlier to get satisfaction at lower playback levels is a very meaningful real-world benefit. I call kit which enables that hifi whisperers. It gives more insight for less volume. Put differently, there's no need to fight with any obliqueness of darkness and its many manifestations. Just turn on more lights.
Not bad for a pair of 'just' power cords, innit? And yes, they're pricey but a skinnier LessLoss Prime comes in at 1/5th based on the same design concept. For most source and line-level kit that should be perfectly sufficient. Aside from big power amps drawing high on-demand current, the Stellar range-topper would seem perfect for that first link between wall and power distributor. Now it will benefit all kit which hangs off the outlet expander to multiply the cost/performance ratio and spread around the luv of lower noise which always means more signal so higher resolution. That's exactly how I use two Stella precursors in my upstairs system. Fitted with massive Furutech UK plugs, they bridge the gap between 230V wall duplex and Furutech and Puritan power distributors.
LessLoss respond: Yes, indeed! Copious amounts of new detail, various colours, musical coherency, pinpoint accuracy and super low noise floor – all these are on our radar with the C-MARC Stellar power cord and we are pleased you found them as effective as we set out to make them. Thank you kindly for your review and impressions! Louis Motek
