New Heights. New Pleasures

Ever wonder why I am such a big fan of Jack Bybee’s products? The reason is simple: his creations, especially his latest efforts, deliver sound quality on par with the most awe-inspiring and sophisticated systems. Audio Note and Audio Consulting of Switzerland, two prime examples, possess a sound that haunts and eludes, particularly in the authenticity of the human voice and naturalness of high frequencies. If you’ve ever looked inside any of their products, you will have seen that they’re built to a very high standard, which partly explains their exorbitant cost. And they sound more realistic than perhaps anything I’ve heard, including my own system. But there’s one other factor, besides price, that precludes my owning them—they have low output power. 

This is a problem because I like to listen to music at realistic levels. I have very large loudspeakers with 18″ woofers, and to control their excursion requires a powerful, solid-state amplifier with a high damping factor. Thus far, the only amplifier that has been able to do so while remaining true to the source has been my beloved Behold BPA768 (and I’m using a pair!). There are a few other reasons I love the design of these German-made amps (I wrote about that here). Unfortunately, the Behold amps lack the heart and soul of a low-power, single-ended, minimally designed tube amplifier.

So, what is one to do?

Tweak, that’s what. Tweak the system till it sounds like a single-ended triode on steroids! After living with Bybee products for years (as well as other notables like Stein Music, Novum Resonators, and these little Audio Vaccine plugs called the Music Serum), I find my system moving in the direction of those rare, splendid, ultra-expensive systems I’ve long admired and desired.

 The latest Bybee product, the Holographic AC Adapter, has taken my system to a place I would never have thought possible.

Mike Garner, owner of Tweek Geek, sells many of the aforementioned products and has no problem guiding potential customers in the right direction. Asked what he would choose for himself, I’d bet one of his top choices would be the latest version of the Bybee Stealth AC conditioner.

Jack Bybee is a retired physicist who specializes in the mysterious world of quantum electrodynamics. It’s well known that many types of noise run rampant in our electrical supply and can make their way into our equipment, causing various distortions. Hence, the proliferation of AC lines and ground conditioners. Bybee takes a different approach, addressing a specific type of noise called 1/f, where f is frequency. “This, says Bybee, qualifies it as a low-frequency type noise, and every single AC conditioner on the market is designed to address high-frequency noise. Except mine.”

Bybee, who just turned 85, simply could not keep up with the manufacturing demands for his products (which are largely hand-made), and as a result, Mike Garner was licensed to do so. Garner has been steadily and quietly building Bybee products for more than five years.

The latest iteration of the Stealth conditioner, along with other products, employs what Bybee calls “Crystal” technology. The newest Stealth AC conditioner is quite pricey at $6,700, but Garner is offering a $5,000 holiday price reduction.

If $5,000 is still beyond your budget, Garner has been busy building the Bybee Holographic AC Adapter, the subject of this review, which has a retail price of $2,795 (on sale for $2,000). Based on its sonic performance in my system, it is a no-brainer to purchase. Bybee’s previous products have been pretty amazing, but his new Crystal technology is something else! If you’re wondering what this Crystal business is all about—shucks, so am I. The best description I’ve found is from Russell Lichter’s recent review of Bybee’s Crystal AC power cord:

The “stuff” developed by Bybee contains “crystal-like” materials that are activated by electromagnetism and have the uncanny ability to affect the alignment of protons in specific proximal atoms. Based on this ‘old fashioned’ model of the atom, such an alignment results in the nucleus having the properties of a bar magnet. This, in turn, results in an “easier” (more stable) path for EMF and therefore a reduction in the deleterious effects of capacitive and inductive reactance, as well as molecular noise. If the components of an unaligned nucleus, protons and neutrons, churn about producing continuously fluctuating magnetic poles, it is easy to conceive that an array of fixed-pole nuclei will provide a consistent and predictable path for the passage of charged particles, as well as exerting a profound influence on the behavior of electrons in the “orbit” of the nucleus. Or something like that. Jack Bybee was careful to point out that his description, on which this speculation is based, was only a hypothesis; what I’ve written is several times removed from that.

The Bybee Crystal AC cord employs none of the special metals used in the Bybee Holographic AC Adapter, hence it is nearly $1200 less ($1,500). The Bybee Holographic AC Adapter is in many ways the same product as the $5,500 Mk II Speaker Bullets I wrote about last spring (here). Bear in mind that Russell compared his longtime reference, the LessLoss DFPC Signature AC cord ($1,150), against the Bybee Crystal Cord, and the Bybee Crystal Cord outperformed the LessLoss in ways that surprised even Russell (read his review here). Now, just try to imagine how much better the Crystal AC cord sounded when equipped with the Holographic Adapter!

Physically, the Bybee Holographic AC Adapter is attractively made: it is cylindrical, 6 1/2″ long and slightly more than 2″ wide. Each high-quality Gaofei IEC plug (male and female) is made of high-grade 

Rhodium-plated copper. The 8″ long tail (as well as internal) is made of high-current, 10 awg, finely stranded annealed copper. Garner boasts, “This AC Adapter can handle any amount of current thrown at it.”  

Placing the Bybee Holographic AC Adapters at the amplifiers was the logical place to start since Garner sent me only one pair. Everything was plugged into the newly released Bybee/Curl Holographic AC conditioner(which, by the way, also uses Crystal technology).

Okay, with all the Bybees already in the system, adding more might be overkill. I can understand this, in light of high costs and diminishing returns. This question has arisen before: just how much Bybee in one system is too much? I can report that I clearly haven’t reached the saturation point, as adding the two Holographic Adapters brought my system much closer to my ideal.

Turn up the quiet

Serious evaluations didn’t begin until the 200-hour burn-in mark was reached. Overall, the soundstage became more “relaxed,” with increased focus and image specificity. Bass quality and solidity improved, while the noise floor seemed to drop even further. High frequencies had an authenticity and a three-dimensionality that appeared almost halo-like around the Sunny Majestic’s huge physical presence. These behemoths did a better disappearing act than Chris Angel!

Bybee devices have proven their bona fides in practice time and time again. The SES Bullets and Bybee/Curl AC conditioner are markedly superior to the older models. Of course, a potential purchaser hearing this sort of talk usually suspects advertising hoopla. So I asked Moreno Mitchell and Russell Lichter, respectively, to write on the Bybee/Curl AC conditioner (read it here) and the Crystal AC cord because I thought I might come across as too biased in Jack Bybee’s favor. I was sure these products were so good that others—whose ears I respect—would find them extraordinary as well. Their reviews confirmed my experience.

After many months of listening to these Bybee products, I have come to the conclusion that essentially, it’s all about removing unwanted noise. Simple. What’s not so simple is understanding how it’s done. That’s for all Bybee’s competitors to try and figure out. I couldn’t care less. What matters most to me is whether these products work as advertised; if so, my only job is to help spread the word about my personal experiences through this review. 

With the Bybee Holographic AC Adapters in my system, I have come closer to what I call the perfect storm: a sonic presentation of such convincing authenticity that I unhesitatingly regard it as a reference against which I can compare any and all comers. There is a hypnotic liquidity throughout the entire frequency range. I have encountered a few systems that rival the sheer realism I am now experiencing. What’s also interesting is how different it sounds from the ideal systems I’ve heard: not as liquid on top or as revealing in its purity quotient, but it’s so big, weighty, and (very natural) alive-sounding.

I am getting closer (not all the way there yet) to what these mega-priced systems offer, with no apologies needed, in terms of power output. Two Behold 600-watt solid-state amps behaving, even remotely, with the authenticity and finesse of Audio Note or Audio Consulting is a feat few will believe until they hear it for themselves.

Consider this: the Bybee Crystal AC Cord retails for $1,500, which would seem somewhat expensive if it were merely another good AC cord. But this particular AC cord will outperform cords costing ten times as much. Adding the Bybee Holographic AC Adapter brings the total to $3,500, but moves the combo to a rarified stratum where only the most outrageously beautiful (and expensive) products currently dwell. To be able to achieve that goal, to be able to arrive at that sonic place, at this price, I would have considered it impossible had I not heard it for myself.

Need I say more? 

Specifications:

Bybee Holographic AC Adapter

Price: $2795.00 each [discounted to $1999.00]

Tweek Geek, Denver Colorado

303-653-6341

Website: www.tweekgeek.com

Email: Sales@tweekgeek.com

Bybee Stealth Power Conditioner

Bybee Crystal Power Cord