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Acoustic Revive’s RAS-14 AC Stabilizer:
($1,095/ea)
 The
RAS-14 AC Stabilizer consists at its heart
of a cylinder lined with what I assume is an
assortment of granulated minerals that make
no direct contact with the current passing
into, again in my case, a pair of amps. AR’s
Ken Ishiguro uses mineral mixes in a few of
his never less than intriguing and, more
often than not, effective designs. (The four
elegant-looking room-tuning panels hanging
on the wall behind my system give this old
house’s parlor the look of a Zen sanctuary.)
As with the Ground Controls, one has only to
remove the AC Stabilizers to hear the
difference. In the way of description, they
refine the sound. Everything seems a tad
richer and better-detailed. (Mike Silverton,
Clement Perry)
AudioPrism Reference RCA Ground Control
($149.95):
In
2009 I positioned NuForce’s 9V3SE mono amp
as my year’s best, along with mentioning
that I work for NuForce. I figured that as
long as I’m honest about my involvement, the
reader is free to think what he wants of my
endorsements. Even so, enough is enough. As
much as I hate to – it’s a terrific amp –
I’m disqualifying myself from including
NuForce’s Reference 18 mono and likewise
endearing Magic Cube. If you’re interested,
see my reviews
here.
My temporary leave from the NuForce fold
permits me to declare the AudioPrism
Reference RCA Ground Control / $149.95 each,
and Acoustic Revive’s RAS-14 AC Stabilizer /
$1095 each, as the year’s best. I am SO into
tweaks!
The Ground Control and AC Stabilizer share a
common feature: my incomprehension. The GC,
also reviewed here, has the look of a trifle
that can’t possibly contribute anything of
significant value. One has only to remove
(in my case) one each from an Integris CDP (AurumAcoustics.com)
and Ref 18 amps. The difference, as they
like to say in this dodge, is anything but
subtle. I am unable to use the spade-lugged
Ground Controls at my speakers’ negative
binding posts. They don’t work well with the
abovementioned Magic Cubes, which I’d only
remove on threat of bodily harm. (Mike
Silverton, Clement Perry)
Bybee Purifier AC Conditioner
($5k).
 The
best AC conditioner to have ever graced my
listening room has just gotten better! This
newer version now boasts new and improved
Bybee Bullets and laser soldering process
which surprisingly surpass the original's
performance. Nothing to date has eclipsed
the Bybee Purifiers incredibly dynamic
capabilities not to mention its unbelievable
control of lower-octaves and its overall
naturalness in tonality. Available
exclusively from the Tweekgeek. (Clement
Perry)
Bybee Super Effect Speaker Bullets Mk II:
($4200 set) It's been four
years
since I got my first glimpse of the magical
Bybee Bullets. Well, once again Jack Bybee
has improved on these already incredible
devices: Lasers. Soldering all connections
via laser surgery has resulted in an
all-around better device. Cleaner through
and through with more a resolved
sound-stage. Surprisingly more liquid
sounding is the biggest improvement. In my
review of the original Bybee Bullets I
mentioned that all the tweaks I've used
eventually ran their course in a about two
years and ended up in the closet. Not the
Bybees. They were only replaced by a newer
version! I think they're a real necessity
when attempting to suspend disbelief and
increase the goose-bump factor of any audio
system. Sold exclusively by the Tweekgeek.
(review in the works, Clement Perry)
Exemplar Audio Portals Interconnects
($2500 for 1 meter RCA) and Power Cords.
These charged cables sound excellent and
different than others I have used. When I
get more, I will be reviewing them. (Norm
Luttbeg)
NuForce Magic Cube
($249):
 The
NuForce Magic Cube’s using Smith Cell
technology correct the phase alignment of
the audio signal at the amp-speaker
interface. This, in my view, results in
worthwhile audible improvements and allows
less expensive system wiring to perform more
like the big-buck audio cables. Try ‘em and
see for yourself. (Frank Alles)
 J.
River Media Center 15 software
($49.98 for two computers, downloadable)
Though not as intuitive as Zune and/or
iTunes this software beats all the other
major media playback software in terms of
out of the box file support. For the music
loving audiophile that gets their music from
a multitude of different outlets that often
come with different file formats and want to
enjoy said music while at their computer
this software is the answer. File support
for hi-rez lossless formats like FLAC
(favored by HDTracks) WMA Lossless, Apple
Lossless, and a gob of other uncompressed
and compressed formats abounds here. The
software is speedy and the interface looks
beautiful in the full screen theater view
mode but at times the interface’s learning
curve is a bit steep relative to Zune,
iTunes and Windows Media Player. Tag support
is excellent and the artwork support offers
higher resolutions than the mass market
media players. The software also defaults to
your computer audio card’s most transparent
driver removing a layer of audio detritus
often accompanying the major media players.
In my experience the J. River software
offered noticeably more transparency than
Zune and Windows Media Player on Windows 7
with my THX certified MSI soundcard. (Alvester
Garnett)
Less Loss Blackbody:
($959 ea)  In a sense everything that comes along and
improves sound reproduction can be regarded
as a sort of sign post on the pot-holed,
uphill road to true fidelity: the
presentation of program material exactly as
it was recorded. Most of these items make
intuitive sense because the audio signal is
directly influenced by them; cables, power
cords, conditioners, amplifiers,
loudspeakers, converters, filters, NOS
vacuum tubes, they all fall into this
category.
Stand-alone signal generators form another
category. Some of these are Schumann
generators which, if I understand the data
correctly, influence us, rather than our
components. And these perhaps tie in with
Peter Belt's treatments and devices (behind
which, in turn, lie Rupert Sheldrake's
intriguing theories of consciousness).
And then we have that category which
generates no signal, has no physical
connection with components in the ordinary
sense of the word, and ostensibly doesn't
influence our perception: stones and leaded
glassware and crystals...and the subject of
this recommendation, the Blackbody. These
devices do their deed in proximity to
electronic components. To properly set up a
Blackbody for greatest coverage and
efficiency requires a certain distance
between the chosen component and the
Blackbody itself. What goes on between these
two players goes on in the abstract realm of
quantum mechanics, a topic I talk about in
my earlier review of these devices from
LessLoss.
There really ought to be an agreed-upon
vocabulary for audio reviewers but since
there is not, and since I am naturally
loathe parroting adjectives, either from
other reviews or from my own, being a cook I
will draw a food analogy. My romantically
entitled “Soup No. 3” uses sautéed onions,
crimini and shitake mushrooms, and lots of
butter. It is delicious using sweet butter
from a local organic dairy. Let's say this
is analogous to a stereo without
Blackbodies.
The exact same soup using Irish butter,
famous for its rich, complex flavor since
the middle ages, is another animal
altogether. If the first soup is a 7 on a
ten-scale, this puppy soars to a 9+. Call
this an analog of the same stereo with a few
Blackbodies in place. Once you know better,
be it concerning butter or Blackbodies, you
won't want to go back. Highly recommended.
(Russell Lichter, Clement Perry, Moreno Mitchell)
Read review
here
Neotech
Amazon Series Cables
:
($7,800 pair see review
here)
Purist Audio Design Proteus Provectus
speaker cable and interconnects:
(price varies)
This
suspended-in-a-liquid designed cable is
super thick, and super-quiet with a
laid-back disposition that's to die for.
However, by virtue of its inner-quiet lies
an incredible amount of musical ebb/flow and
dynamics: giving the music a sense of swing
that becomes instantly closer to the real
thing. I've heard these cables in the finest
systems over a decade ago and have wondered
aloud what they would sound like in my own
systems. Well, they're remarkable in that
they don't miss a note due to their
incredibly low-noise floor. Just a tad soft
on bass transients but otherwise fast and
really easy to qualify as among the best
I've heard. (Clement Perry)
 Quantum
Resonance Technology:
Quantum Powerstrip
(QB4: $799.99; QB8: $1,299.99) and Modular
Field Generation Devices (“Qx2” $1,699.99)
(“Qx4” $2,499.99): I hope this year was a
glorious year for everyone to just sit back
and get immersed in one’s favorite
recordings. The icing on the cake for me
this year was exploring how the beneficial
effects of creating a clean AC foundation
can make all the difference in the world
between merely listening to recorded music
verses being totally immersed in the
experience. In 2009, I reported on the
impact of Audience’s power conditioning
solution, their aR6T power conditioner,
($4,600) as a significant achievement. This
year, I took another tactic and explored the
modular solutions produced by Quantum
Resonance Technology and distributed by
Nordost Corporation. The “Q-Base” AC
distribution power strip affords easy
connection to a dedicated system ground that
wrought a startling improvement to the
organization of instruments and voices
appearing in a recording’s sound field.
Placing Quantum’s “Qx2” and “Qx4” field
generation units into my systems was
analogous to rubbing elbows with musicians
performing on my favorite recordings. Human
interplay comes alive; musical conversation
is revealed with much more clarity, inner
texture and emotional heft. One can start
with just one of these modular units and
experiment as one’s resources allow. (Nelson
Brill)
 Skywire
Audio 1200 Cables
(Interconnects:1 meter pair $330.00, Speaker
cables: 3 meter pair $495.00, Digital cable:
1 meter $180.00): At an audio show a few
years back, the head guy at Shun Mook—the
company that makes those little Mpingo wood
‘tuning discs,’ was asked what exactly it
was those little black discs did. “Change
the sound,” he replied, and proceeded to
demonstrate. By most accounts, they did just
that. Cables are a lot like those little
Mpingo discs. They ‘change the sound’-- bend
it closer to or further from the sound you
think you should be hearing. More so than
any prior cable ensemble I have heard, the
Skywire Audio 1200 series cables allowed my
music to approximate my inner ideal—the
radiant color and shimmer of live,
unamplified instruments in real space. In
sum, they ‘change the sound’ the least.
(David Abramson)
Stein Music Harmonizers, Magic Stones:
($1200 ea). See review
here
Wireworld Cable Technology – Platinum
Starlight Digital Cable
($1,499.95 1M XLR or RCA): This latest
addition to the already highly acclaimed
Platinum series cables by Wire World, offers
a similar and subtly stunning level of
accuracy, neutral tonal balance and overall
musicality. Being already familiar with the
other cables in this series, upon receipt of
this cable, I was hoping for more of the
magic and that’s exactly what I got shortly
after putting this cable into my system.
Whatever the designer, David Salz, is doing
in his lab, hoping he will continue with
these winning ways. Substituting this new
cable to feed the digital output signal from
my CD transport to the DAC has enhanced the
overall quality of detail and clarity with
quickly noticeable reduced levels of subtle
smearing. Along with this – images within
the sound field are more open up with
improved dimensionality. Dynamics are first
rate.
As with the other seriously impressive
sounding Platinum series cables by Wire
World, this cable seems to pass along the
signal in a more accurate and musically
authentic manner that is rich, lively and
highly resolving. Definitely not inexpensive
but for this cable provides sonically, the
cost seems appropriate. (Bill Wells)
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