EquiTech 1.5RQ Balanced Power Review

[Doogie Howser]

I hate to break this to you: a lot of people are ignorant and gullible. That's illustrated by the profusion of expensive snake oil products. Professionals are maybe a bit less so, but that's hit or miss. Not all of them have engineering or technical backgrounds.

But they really aren't though. The vast majority of people here will definitely understand the nuance between a product that gets dismissed as purely snake oil, and a product that has absolutely ridiculous marketing claims yet still some very practical applications. My experience with dealing with a wide variety of professionals is that they need to act... professionally. They usually includes giving others the benefit of the doubt that they are trying their best, and that they are also on a long journey of pursuit of knowledge.

Passion is a valuable commodity when it comes to knowledge. Bludgeoning people with data like has been done in this thread doesn't capitalise on that passion. It just reinforces a sad cycle of cynicism.

Scepticism and Cynicism are two quite different things.

 

[Geert]

But again, you're assuming people are incapable of doing their own research.

Theoretically most people are capable of doing some research. However, in practice:

• Because of their character a very large group doesn't feel the motivation to do research. They tend to follow the advice of people they like, only believe their own observations, just assume or might even apply failed logic
• People don't have the time to research everything they get in touch with
• People don't have deep knowledge of everything they get in touch with
• For different reasons people often misinterpret research

 

[Doogie Howser]

Theoretically most people are capable of doing some research. However, in practice:

• Because of their character a very large group doesn't feel the motivation to do research. They tend to follow the advice of people they like, only believe their own observations, just assume or might even apply failed logic
• People don't have the time to research everything they get in touch with
• People don't have deep knowledge of everything they get in touch with
• For different reasons people often misinterpret research

You are confounding two totally different things though. If you give people the knowledge and understanding, they will absolutely be able to research their own purchases rather than needing product suggestions rammed down their throat. That is precisely what my post was about. The speaker measurements work because they give people a lot of information in quite a wide context that allows them to make their own informed decisions.

Threads like this don't work because they don't do that. They deliberately leave half the science completely out. If people are truly incapable of doing their research as you suggest, then it can never be safely assumed that they will ever be able to fill in that missing half. The inevitable result isn't rigorous scientific method at all because dispelling a marketing blurb and dispelling useful applications of an specific device in audio are often two totally different things. Threads like this seem to very intentionally try and confuse the two... and that really just replaces one gatekeeper with another, both of whom are a bit fast and loose with the truth.

 

[fpitas]

But they really aren't though. The vast majority of people here will definitely understand the nuance between a product that gets dismissed as purely snake oil, and a product that has absolutely ridiculous marketing claims yet still some very practical applications. My experience with dealing with a wide variety of professionals is that they need to act... professionally. They usually includes giving others the benefit of the doubt that they are trying their best, and that they are also on a long journey of pursuit of knowledge.

Passion is a valuable commodity when it comes to knowledge. Bludgeoning people with data like has been done in this thread doesn't capitalise on that passion. It just reinforces a sad cycle of cynicism.

Scepticism and Cynicism are two quite different things.

You and I have very different takes on data. I'm always happy to be "bludgeoned" with actual data, vs pervasive marketing hype.

 

[Geert]

If people are truly incapable of doing their research as you suggest

It's you confounding different things because what I suggested is exactly the opposite; I explained why people might not be informed well although they are capable. And that's not only because threads like this "deliberately leave half the science completely out". First of all, you can't expect the reviews on this forum to be a full training on electronic engineering. (And why should it, that knowledge is already available elsewhere). Secondly, you'll notice even certified engineers in this thread do not agree on different aspects, so good luck trying to explains things to layman.

Threads like this seem to very intentionally try and confuse the two... and that really just replaces one gatekeeper with another, both of whom are a bit fast and loose with the truth.

As I already mentioned in another thread, I would like to see someone who experienced the benefits of devices like this to do better and document his use case according to a "rigorous scientific method". It just doesn't happen, not even with the quality of the reviews we see on this forum. As long as that doesn't happen you can't expect a constructive discussion which improves insights.

 

[babadono]

I know a number of audiophiles who have bought their products including the in-wall permanent ones. Not one of them has done so because they had ground loop problems. They buy them precisely for the claims the company makes: lower noise, veil removed, more analog sound, etc., etc. As I quoted, the company caters to this market just as well as the next guy selling classic power filtering products. And that is the claim I tested. Indeed the owner had purchased this unit for these reasons.

As to them doing some good in professional market, there are plenty there that follow the crowd and buy such things. If there is grounding problem, I would go and find the sources of those and fix them than resorting to such boxes.

Amen...in a personal residence, fix your grounding problem.

 

[egellings]

Amen...in a personal residence, fix your grounding problem.

I've been fortunate with my AC power. All my equipment plugs into the same outlet, using a power strip, and I essentially have a single point ground with that setup. The outlet has more than enough ampacity to handle my relatively low powered equipment so there's no fire hazard. Sound comes out of a silent background.

 

[soundtankstudios]

-Performance degrades at max power draw
-Improved power factor

So... this thing adds a series inductance. Not unexpected tho, it is a transformer.

Hold on... this means the measurement result of the AC waveform is not matching the measurement result of the Purifi's performance, because in the latter there is a difference. I'm expecting some reduction in the output AC voltage to explain the reduced performance.

Is the measurement of the AC signal done without load? What happens if we add an amp drawing 200W?

-As we see, the power factor by itself is quite poor at 0.38. There are switching power supplies with power factor correction. The hypex one that Purifi is using is not one of them. EquiTech 1.5 improves this to 58%.

To expand upon this point... active PFC brings power factor up to 0.99 nowadays, virtually a resistive load. *But* that is based on what the power supply sees on its input. Adding an inductor in series improves the power factor of a capacitive load. (Good old passive PFC method.) But when you add that inductor in series with a resistor you will actually reduce the power factor of the whole thing.

I believe that when the two 60v +/- phases are rectified with a full bridge rectifier, the common mode noise doesn't mask the output DC voltage, resulting in better dynamics in a power amp. Also it creates a ground potential between the two phases that doesn't change regardless of how equipment is hooked up, eliminating ground loops and getting a lower noise floor on unbalanced gear. Also, all the power interconnects on the output won't induce 60 cycle hum on your nearby unbalanced audio lines, as the two phases cancel eachother out.