This is a listening test, comparison and measurements of the Chord GroundARAY "noise reduction" devices. Member kindly sent me the Ethernet one which costs US $795:
Here is the picture of the full set:
You are supposed to plug in the unit into the unused ports on your gear. And the more, the better.
NOTE: this is from CHORD Company, NOT Chord Electronics which makes the various DACs I have tested.
Chord GroundArray Listening Tests
My standard workstation where I perform my testing is naturally connected to our home network where a lot of the data files come and go during the testing over a TP Link switch. It has 8 ports with a few unused ones so I plugged the GroundArray into one of them. Inserting the device is easy. Getting it out is not because the tab is then hidden enough that you can't push to unlock it. I had to use a screw driver to push the lock in to remove it.
I played my reference tracks using RME ADI-2 Pro as I inserted and then removed the GroundARAY. There was no difference whatsoever to my ears. To avoid the accusation that I don't want to hear a difference, I then performed a null test using member @pkane's DeltaWave program. Here, RME ADI-Pro is capturing its own output for analysis. I made two captures: one with and one without GroundARAY. Here is the spectrum of null (difference) result:
And here is the file itself if you want to listen: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mkm7zx4lz3zi6xy/Missing Film Chord GroundAray Difference File.wav?dl=0
Even with my sensitive IEMs and pushing the RME headphone output to absolute max, all I hear is silence.
Chord GroundARAY Measurements
I happened to still have the Chord DAVE DAC on hand so I used it for measurements (different companies -- same name). The configuration is the same as listening tests with the TP-Link switch being used to capture and save measurement files (and music I listen to while testing). Here is the CHORD DAVE dashboard measurement as is with output calibrated to 4 volts:
Per my DAC review note, one channel is less stable so I had to take care and graph that screen shot while it was on its best behavior. I then plugged in the GroundARAY to TP-Link switch. Here is the difference or lack thereof:
Nothing is out of placed or changed a hair for the entire audible band and then some (22.4 kHz bandwidth). SINAD is dominated by noise so if noise had gone down, it would improve but it did not. Let's measure dynamic range directly to assure ourselves of that:
Other than tiny run to run variation, there is no difference whatsoever.
For people complaining that we only use a single 1 kHz tone for measurements, here is our 32 tone test running at 192 kHz sampling (so very wide bandwidth):
The two sets of measurements land right on top of each other with no difference at all.
We could run a lot more tests but results will be the same.
Conclusions
Even if the Ethernet GroundAray performed some kind of noise filtering, in which case company should so show that, the concept of it making a difference to a DAC output connected to said computer is incredibly far fetched. The PC is already much noisier than the Ethernet link yet we get superb sound out of it because DACs are designed to be immune to such noise. Furthermore, an Ethernet switch has independent ports. Filtering one is not going to do anything to the port next to it.
Audiophiles though with faulty testing methodology put aside all of that and say, "but I heard it." As I always say, I can put dirt in a box with a wire and you connect it to your audio system and you would report improvements. Indeed, such "grounding" devices exist and I have tested one that costs thousands of dollars! In this review, I have done my own listening tests with negative results. And used computer matching to show that there is no difference in the waveform to beyond the accuracy of the original audio files.
There is no way I can recommend the CHORD company GroundAray.
Edit: video review is also available now:
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Here is the picture of the full set:

You are supposed to plug in the unit into the unused ports on your gear. And the more, the better.
NOTE: this is from CHORD Company, NOT Chord Electronics which makes the various DACs I have tested.
Chord GroundArray Listening Tests
My standard workstation where I perform my testing is naturally connected to our home network where a lot of the data files come and go during the testing over a TP Link switch. It has 8 ports with a few unused ones so I plugged the GroundArray into one of them. Inserting the device is easy. Getting it out is not because the tab is then hidden enough that you can't push to unlock it. I had to use a screw driver to push the lock in to remove it.
I played my reference tracks using RME ADI-2 Pro as I inserted and then removed the GroundARAY. There was no difference whatsoever to my ears. To avoid the accusation that I don't want to hear a difference, I then performed a null test using member @pkane's DeltaWave program. Here, RME ADI-Pro is capturing its own output for analysis. I made two captures: one with and one without GroundARAY. Here is the spectrum of null (difference) result:
And here is the file itself if you want to listen: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mkm7zx4lz3zi6xy/Missing Film Chord GroundAray Difference File.wav?dl=0
Even with my sensitive IEMs and pushing the RME headphone output to absolute max, all I hear is silence.
Chord GroundARAY Measurements
I happened to still have the Chord DAVE DAC on hand so I used it for measurements (different companies -- same name). The configuration is the same as listening tests with the TP-Link switch being used to capture and save measurement files (and music I listen to while testing). Here is the CHORD DAVE dashboard measurement as is with output calibrated to 4 volts:
Per my DAC review note, one channel is less stable so I had to take care and graph that screen shot while it was on its best behavior. I then plugged in the GroundARAY to TP-Link switch. Here is the difference or lack thereof:
Nothing is out of placed or changed a hair for the entire audible band and then some (22.4 kHz bandwidth). SINAD is dominated by noise so if noise had gone down, it would improve but it did not. Let's measure dynamic range directly to assure ourselves of that:
Other than tiny run to run variation, there is no difference whatsoever.
For people complaining that we only use a single 1 kHz tone for measurements, here is our 32 tone test running at 192 kHz sampling (so very wide bandwidth):
The two sets of measurements land right on top of each other with no difference at all.
We could run a lot more tests but results will be the same.
Conclusions
Even if the Ethernet GroundAray performed some kind of noise filtering, in which case company should so show that, the concept of it making a difference to a DAC output connected to said computer is incredibly far fetched. The PC is already much noisier than the Ethernet link yet we get superb sound out of it because DACs are designed to be immune to such noise. Furthermore, an Ethernet switch has independent ports. Filtering one is not going to do anything to the port next to it.
Audiophiles though with faulty testing methodology put aside all of that and say, "but I heard it." As I always say, I can put dirt in a box with a wire and you connect it to your audio system and you would report improvements. Indeed, such "grounding" devices exist and I have tested one that costs thousands of dollars! In this review, I have done my own listening tests with negative results. And used computer matching to show that there is no difference in the waveform to beyond the accuracy of the original audio files.
There is no way I can recommend the CHORD company GroundAray.
Edit: video review is also available now:
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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