Country of Origin
Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (4GHz quad-core with Turbo boost, 32GB RAM, 3TB FusionDrive, OSX Yosemite. iTunes 14.4), PureMusic 3.02, Audirvana 3, Qobuz Hifi, Tidal Hifi, COS Engineering D1, Denafrips Terminator, Soundaware D300Ref, AURALiC Vega, Jay's Audio CDT 2 MkII & DAC-2 SE
Preamplifier: Vinnie Rossi L2 Signature with WE 300B/VT52 or Elrog ER300B/50; Nagra Classic, Wyred4Sound STP-SE Stage II, Vinnie Rossi LIO (AVT module); April Music Stello HP100 MkII
Power & integrated amplifiers: Pass Labs XA30.8; LinnenberG Audio Liszt monos; FirstWatt SIT1 monos, SIT-3, F5, F6, F7; Goldmund/Job 225; Aura Note Premier; Wyred4Sound mINT; Nord Acoustics NC500 monos; April Music Stello S100 MkII; Crayon Audio CFA-1.2; SAG AIO; Bakoon AMP-13R
Loudspeakers: Audio Physic Codex; Acelec Model One; Cube Audio Nenuphar; Kroma Audio Mimí; Albedo Audio Aptica; EnigmAcoustics Mythology 1; Boenicke Audio W5se; Zu Audio Druid V & VI & Submission; German Physiks HRS-120; Eversound Essence; Fram Midi 150 & 120
Cables: Complete loom of Allnic Audio ZL3000/5000 and Zu Event; KingRex uArt, Zu and LightHarmonic LightSpeed double-header USB cables; Tombo Trøn S/PDIF; van den Hul AES/EBU; AudioQuest Diamond glass-fibre Toslink; Black Cat Cable redlevel Lupo; Ocellia OCC Silver
Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all source components, Vibex One 11R on amps/sub, Puritan Audio Labs PSM156 & PS106-DC
Equipment rack: Artesania Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc Krion and glass amp stands
Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators
Room: 4 x 6m with high gabled beam ceiling opening into 4 x 8m kitchen and 5 x 8m living room, hence no wall behind the listening chairs
Review component retail: $836/ea. with custom glass stand (-5% for two, -10% for three in a single order), C-MARC grounding cable options here
Ambient field conditioner. Not a movie from Amblin Entertainment, about aliens 'n' stuff. No levitating bicycles. For levity, your hair may still see lift-off from the concept's hot air blowing in from a faraway sun. No longer have hair? Roll up your eyes instead. With their track record, LessLoss products simply resist such antics. Main man Louis Motek is fully cognizant. Lack of a plausible theory tends to scare off science-based shoppers from devices whose mode of operation remains entirely shrouded in mystery or proprietary.
So today's Blackbody v2 comes with a long string of theory. Read it all here.
To reduce Motek's string to its essentials, we type in solar wind/flares ⇒ influence of high-energy cosmic radiation on electronic components ⇒ creation of an absorber to reduce our electronics' exposure to it.
Once we've made a link between the faraway and close at hand, we're prepared to educate ourselves on how ionic radiation enters our planet. That leads to directionality and angular focus. Hence there was an optimal direction and angle at which already the original $959 LessLoss Blackbody worked. Listeners had to experiment by ear to figure out just what that direction and angle were for their specific location. It led to the original's eventual demise and v2's changed shape and support to guarantee top effectiveness.
What is a blackbody? A theoretical material or device which absorbs electromagnetic radiation no matter its frequency. Such a device would reflect nothing back inside our visible bandwidth. It'd look to us blacker than black for its utter absence of light. "Our device is a specially formed array of concentric reflectors whose total emission pattern approaches an ideal blackbody." Getting our feet back on terra firma is learning how the Blackbody v2 can connect to the ground pin of our AC wall outlet; how multiple units can daisy-chain to take up only one AC socket and string out the joy.
Are we really immune/disconnected from and not influenced by this solar activity of electromagnetic and ionic radiation? How about our equipment?
The BBv2 purports to address a—the?—as yet never addressed reason why our sound fluctuates despite effective AC/DC conditioners and zero hardware/setup changes. Among advanced listeners, that constant flux is a shared pain and frustration. Louis has chased probable cause to eventually suspect the sun's always changing surface conditions and how they expose our planet and gear to constantly varying ionic bombardment guided by our earth's magnetic field to generate the auroras at its northern and southern poles. The Blackbody v2 is his attempt at calming the immediate sphere of our most sensitive components by setting up a trap. Solar energy disturbances in our environment enter his discs but never come out again. Hence ambient field conditioner. In simplistic terms, that's the concept.