With All the Trimmings

The player arrived accompanied by an optional Isoclean gold-tipped audiophile fuse, a Cardas Golden Ratio power cord, and three Golden Sound Super Cones. Very golden indeed. The power cords are custom made for Aurum Acoustics by Cardas, with different versions for the CDP and the power amp ($900 Canadian, $810 U.S. for a 2 meter cord).

After discussion with Derrick, I decided to stick with my reference Nordost Valhalla power cables, which I'm accustomed to using to power all my components. That way, I was changing only one variable: the source. I did, however, agree to compare the Isoclean fuse to another audiophile-grade ceramic fuse from HiFi Tuning, and to compare the Golden Sound Super Cones to my reference Ganymede ball bearing supports.

I realize that some frequent posters to various forums are already shaking their heads and preparing their retorts. Another review from Serinus, the same guy who uses Shakti Stones and the Bedini UltraClarifier and the Marigo Signature 3-D mat and swears by after market power cables. Oh well. Derrick Moss hears differences between power cables and equipment supports and audiophile grade fuses, and so do I.

Changes to My Review System

My reference system has gone through several significant upgrades since I penned my last review for Secrets. These changes greatly affect my ability to review equipment.

After Jim Weil of Sound Applications gave me a visit and evaluated my power situation, I shifted to the ExactPower EP15A as my source of power regeneration. I also changed outlets in the ExactPower and on my dedicated line to the special high conductivity outlets that Jim supplies. Of utmost importance, I made the switch from a fuse box to a circuit breaker.

Why all these changes? Jim insists that most outlets and plug terminations contain metals with very low conductivity, and that fuse boxes limit dynamics. Even though I have a 10 amp dedicated line for my system, it was connected to an ancient fuse box. As I pondered the reality that I have spent 17 years listening to music through wires that ran to fuse boxes, I was especially eager to hear what the combined changes would bring.

At the same time I was making the above changes to my electrical system, HiFi-Tuning audiophile-grade fuses arrived for the Jadis amp, Theta DAC/preamp, and ExactPower. Furthermore, all this occurred just as I was concluding the requisite 250 hours of break-in for the Bybee Quantum Noise Purifiers I had installed on the positive and negative of every driver in my Talon Khorus X Mk. II speakers (complete with the 2005 revision that includes a major crossover change and replacement of the super-tweeter).

I am well aware that making all these changes at roughly the same time violates the cardinal rule of upgrades: make one change at a time, so that you can fully evaluate its effects before you change something else. But we are living in the real world. When the electrician says now or never, Jim says I'm free this weekend and I don't know when I'll next be free, and Kara is only available to help install the Bybees in the Talons "now," it's time to get on with the show.

While I can't pinpoint with certainty what's responsible for what, I am reveling in the changes. The presentation is noticeably more dynamic, vibrant and transparent, with more air around instruments and voices. That ever-illusive "sound of the hall" that everyone talks about – the reflections off walls of the recording venue, and the amount of resonance in the space -- is far more realistically conveyed. Where before, sonic images hung in space in a somewhat detached albeit arresting manner, they now sound far more coherent and connected, as though generated by real instruments played in an acoustic environment with a sound all its own.

I am far more able to hear differences in recordings, phase anomalies, micro-dynamics and microtonal shading. I also hear LOTS more lower midrange and bass. There's more heft to the midrange, which in turn translates into more substantial and realistic images, combined with a seemingly limitless extension on top. In short, there's far more there there. Not only am I enjoying listening to music more, but I'm better equipped to accurately evaluate equipment that arrives for review.

Cones and Fuses

Derrick expressed concern that because equipment can shift on ball bearing supports, my reference Ganymede ball bearing supports might not provide as coherent an image as the Golden Sound Super Cones. Au contraire. I found the Ganymede ball bearing supports superior at vibration isolation, resulting in tighter bass. They also provided more air around images.

As for the audiophile grade fuses, Derrick had originally told me to try replacing the stock fuse in the Integris CDP with an optional Isoclean fuse that came with the unit. He thought the fuse change made a major difference. Since I had just encountered the HiFi-Tuning fuses at CES 2006, and was considering trying them, the fact that Derrick heard a difference in sound between fuses prompted me to act.

Derrick asked me to obtain a HiFi-Tuning fuse for the player, and to compare it with the Isoclean fuse he had supplied. I promptly ordered enough HiFi-Tuning fuses for both the player and the other components in my reference system.

I decided to try the HiFi-Tuning fuses first. Changing four little fuses right after switching power regenerators, installing multiple outlets and a big circuit breaker, and upgrading my speakers, I found it difficult to isolate the changes the fuses made. So I did add the fuses one by one, doing my best to observe any differences in sound. I thought I heard a bit more clarity– a bit more life on top – but not much else. Wondering if audiophile grade fuses were worth the investment, albeit small, I decided to hold off on making a final judgment, and to instead focus on the player itself. Once I finished evaluating the Integris CDP, I planned to go back and compare the stock fuses to those from HiFi-Tuning and Isoclean.

A few weeks later, Derrick e-mailed to ask if I had yet performed the fuse comparison. When I confessed that I hadn't, he told me that he had obtained a HiFi-Tuning fuse on his own, and had found its sound markedly inferior to the Isoclean's.

Derrick's preference for the Isoclean fuse was so great that I decided then and there to perform a comparison. Sure enough, the Isoclean fuse produced more air around images. It created the illusion of greater three-dimensionality by freeing the treble to resound more in space, far and above the plane of the speakers. The Isoclean's effect was far more noticeable than the HiFi-Tuning's.

Before I was willing to conclude that Isoclean fuses are superior, I felt it necessary to obtain three more for the ExactPower, main fuse of the Jadis, and Theta Gen. VIII. (If my transport has a fuse, it is not accessible from outside the unit). I needed to be sure that the Isoclean had the same positive effect on other components as it did on the Integris CDP.

The answer: it does. I am marveling at how images leap out at me in a new way, very much in the same way that the sound of a piccolo leaps ahead of the sound of a timpani in a live orchestral setting. Though I never felt that sound was trapped in the same plane as my speakers, or that it seemed to come from them save in isolated cases of extremely poor microphone placement, the Isoclean fuses enable my speakers to disappear that much more. In addition to greater three-dimensionality, detail, and life to sounds, there's even more air around images.

Just before writing this paragraph, I spent 20 jaw-dropping minute listening to Sangam, the new ECM New Series recording of Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussain, and Eric Harland performing live in Santa Barbara in 2004. With Isoclean fuses in the system, the drumming sounded so stupendous and alive that it virtually sent me into another dimension. The drums were literally popping all over the room, with the multi-miking creating exciting stereo effects. Fabulous. You can be sure that I'm going back to listen to the rest of Sangam as soon as I finish writing this review.

I intend to use Isoclean fuses in my system from now on. I suggest you give them a try. (I know that the majority of Secrets readers are hard core types who have great disdain for these kinds of tweaks. There is no need to go to the forum and make your scorn known. We have been through this many times before. I respect your right to enjoy audio in your own way, believing and disbelieving in what you will. Please respect my right to do the same.)

Click Here to Go to Part V.