First my lay of the LAN. Windows 10/64 workstation receiving hardwired CAT8a cloud signal off the fibre-optic router. Audirvana Studio with Qobuz Sublime subscription embedded, extreme hog mode enabled, SoX upsampler set for 176.4/192kHz targets. USB 3.0 out into Singxer SU-2 USB bridge. AES/EBU out into iFi iDSD Pro Signature DAC set to fixed output and 705.6/768kHz upsampling on their Gibbs Transient Optimized filter. Enleum AMP-23R. EnigmAcoustics Mythology M1 monitors. LHY Audio OCK-2 clock syncing Singxer and iFi. The former offered up an open HDMI input, the latter a USB host and RJ45 port. Once again the G force powered off its own Puritan Audio strip so I could defeat/activate the lot with one wall-socket switch. Listening in the studio-monitor-type nearfield, speakers toed in face on, equates to minimal room involvement and no distance losses. That plus an ace front end nets maximized resolution close to a first-rate headfi rig which on the desktop factors as either Final D8000 planars driven off the Enleum; or Raal-Requisite SR1a true ribbons driven off a Schiit Jotunheim R.

Switching the Gs in/out became fait accompli. This close up and intimate, the treble improvement again was most obvious and included greater sweetness. The origins of this honey were obvious. Once we hear subtler reverb trails, they inject moisture. They also hug sounds in decay gossamer which without that embrace presents drier and starker so less contextually embedded in recorded ambiance. On very well-recorded material by Mayte Martín, there was even the odd sense that without the Gs, a curtain came down in the soundstage's far reaches. This was another aspect of reduced airiness. It seems to make recorded space less deep.

A related effect was the aural equivalent of a film noir director who hoses down a street so that street lights and store windows reflect better during a night shoot. With Team Telos on the job, well-recorded tunes showed off more gloss and wetness, no tubes required. This liberation of previously concealed upper harmonics influenced the quality of tone. It meant zero fattening for a change. This was about more shine or inner radiance. My wallet on the keyboard drawer creaked. I had just added $4'800 worth of stuff. I was far removed from the game of first things first, second things second. How far down that line I was now playing I couldn't say. I'll simply put it to you that pre G, this was a very matured carefully curated system already for which my ears call out no lack. That there was enough hay to still make surprised. Returning this flicker faction to Taiwan won't collapse my sound. I'll readjust very quickly. Just so I'll remember this stuff. I'll call it proof of concept that ground noise is a real thing; that Telos have a cure to a disease I didn't know I suffer. How about the Mini GNR v5.1? After identifying chassis screws not set in too deep to be too short, I leashed up both DAC and amp to the grounding-noise reducer then plugged in the latter's power cord. Thankfully that only caused two green LED beneath the dark acrylic cover to fire, albeit once again flashing madly.

This had a very different effect. I'll call it degritter. Some micro rust had vanished between the notes. Nothing stepped into its place. My A/B was of more inside-out silence. It made more room which the music could take up though this was about no soundstage expansion. No images moved apart or got bigger. This before/after is hard to explain other than call out a different kind of clarity. Perhaps think of enhanced negative space as though looking at a tree's dense foliage, we suddenly notice all patches of nothingness defined by whatever isn't trunk, branch or leaf. This wasn't the blacker black cliché which to me always suggests more damping and softness. Without any bleaching or rounding over at all, the Telos tactic felt more like whiter whites instead. From my diary of comparable product dates, this made it more similar to the Akiko action than the alternate Furutech/LessLoss aesthetic.

I still had the main system to try. Would my descriptive powers come up with better explanations? At this juncture I had a clear preference. Out of the two actions I'd take the virtual super-tweeter effect despite involving a far more elaborate cable salad. What goes on behind the rack—cough!—stays behind the rack? I could just about tolerate the cable mess but for me the constant ambulance lights are beyond the pale.