ISOTEK EVO3 Aquarius Power Conditioner Review

[restorer-john]

Its not that the device needs these harmonics to work. It needs a sufficient low impedance at these harmonics. A filter that would already kick in at 120Hz would give a lower impedance at these frequencies. I think this is the essence of what tries audio2design tries to explain.

you mean higher impedance.

 

[Hayabusa]

you mean higher impedance.

indeed! edited, thanks!

 

[Grotti]

I used to sell those things in my "former life". Don't feel comfortable about that now and I have to admit, i did not hear any differences back then.... But IIRC no customer had to be persuaded: they were all already brainwashed by the hifi magazines.

 

[milosz]

The filters in this thing look awfully simple. Looks like it's all transverse mode filtering. Doesn't look like any common mode considerations at all, at least from eyeballing the photos posted.

This thing probably offers good surge protection, maybe even as good as a $25 Belkin BE112234-08.

The cheesy design and cheap build quality of this unit, coupled with the $1,999 price. is a clear indication that I am in the wrong business.

 

[Nango]

Why do people attribute better fidelity to these devices? Simple: lay intuition says "filtering" removes noise. So they pay more attention to what is playing and "hear more into the music" with the AC conditioner in the path.

This thinking applies to so many other situation like "I have paid tons, it has to be good...", "it is the revised version, newer model, it has to sound better". Thanks to objectivism related sites like this this way of thinking may diminish.

Without good friends with "The Absolute Sound", "Hifi Choice" and other magazines you are nothing in this business. My only friend is the AP555x.

 

[ezra_s]

When I read the marketing for these devices it is infuriating and those reviews glorifying them even more so.

 

[Robbo99999]

I voted this as "Great", but only for identifying audiophools!

 

[milosz]

I have some "power components" in my setup.

One is a Tripp Lite unit that allows infrared remote control of some of it's outlets. This is useful because I don't want to turn on my center or surround amplifiers when I am listening to stereo. Got it used off eBay for about $100 I think.

The other is a Pyle unit that turns on it's multiple AC outlets in sequence with a 2 second delay between each one- click.....click....click...etc I modified this to work off the 12 volt trigger that turns things on in my system. This prevents a huge turn-on inrush power line sag which happens if I turn on ALL the large power amps at the same time in my tri-amped system, which has on occasion tripped the 15 amp breaker in my apartment. hese sell new for less than $100.

These things have surge protection too, which is useful.

They also have garden variety filtering, which I don't care about; it probably doesn't help anything, but it doesn't hurt either.

They also have "master AC power" switches which is useful for killing power to everything, even the components that stay partway on all the time for remote control- sometimes I want to power it all completely down without having to go around to the AC line switches on the backs of such components that stay partly on for reasons of remote control. Like when I go on vacation, I like to power it all down.

So these contraptions that I have help with "system integration" and not with sound quality.

 

[Spkrdctr]

Did anyone really expect something serious from this?

So I would guess $300 in parts including the case. So add a shipping box and other markups. You are probably at $1500 retail. $2000 for the snake oil price. I think it earns the rarely given but often needed Amir rating of JUNK! Total waste of money. Does nothing.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Good grief. A handful of parts and they charge $2,000? Even allowing for generous dealer margin, that is way overpriced.

Compare that to the chock-full-of-parts Belkin PureAV PF60, which when produced around 2010 had an MSRP of $750 but was frequently discounted down to $250.

 

[Aperiodic]

The hardest problems to solve are the ones that don't exist.

 

[Ralf Stocker]

All the snake oil manufacturers could pool their millions and install a filter directly in the nuclear power plant. Then everyone has a hi-fi mains power.

 

[audio2design]

you mean higher impedance.

No, low impedance or your DC voltage droops. The diode bridge and capacitor effectively forms an envelope demodulation function (AM). If all you pass is 60Hz, then the output of the full wave bridge into a capacitor under load will just be the average value of the rectified voltage not the peak. I.e. a 30V RMS AC transformer will yield (1.414*30-0.7)*0.637 volts under heavy load as opposed to close to 1.414*30-0.7

 

[DACs_Lover]

Audiofool magazines lose credibility again and again.

 

[ralph]

It must be all about not having been burnt it appropriately Thanks @amirm for the review. While the outcome is not a surprise to most in this forum it is still much needed given what is on sale as hifi equipment.
One of my favorites is a cable holder ("fog lifter") - now we need a test: does it remove the fog, do we get airy or even stilted sound?

 

[peniku8]

Just a brain fart: if I plug an amp into my mains, put it on a 60Hz sine generator and adjust the gain to output 120V (has to be a big boy amp), I'd be left with a well filtered and very clean mains voltage. This should be able to power other mains devices. Would it work if I stay within the amp's capabilities (power wise)?
You could even drive 240V devices differentially and change mains frequency if needed. Sounds convenient to me.

 

[audio2design]

The filters in this thing look awfully simple. Looks like it's all transverse mode filtering. Doesn't look like any common mode considerations at all, at least from eyeballing the photos posted.

The only obvious filtering is common mode, i.e. all the common mode inductors.

 

[Rottmannash]

Did anyone really expect something serious from this?

At least they didn't use the same gauge wire as the Carver amp...there's the value they're providing

 

[solderdude]

Just a brain fart: if I plug an amp into my mains, put it on a 60Hz sine generator and adjust the gain to output 120V (has to be a big boy amp), I'd be left with a well filtered and very clean mains voltage. This should be able to power other mains devices. Would it work if I stay within the amp's capabilities (power wise)?
You could even drive 240V devices differentially and change mains frequency if needed. Sounds convenient to me.

They call these devices regenerative UPS. The 60Hz (or 50Hz) sine-wave coming from these devices usually isn't a clean sine though. On top of that, the moment you load such a device with something containing a rectifier that sine-wave also will flatten and thus have harmonics.

All the audible frequency crap on the mains (the differential stuff) is removed by the power supply anyway. It simply cannot pass smoothing caps.

 

[peniku8]

They call these devices regenerative UPS. The 60Hz (or 50Hz) sine-wave coming from these devices usually isn't a clean sine though. On top of that, the moment you load such a device with something containing a rectifier that sine-wave also will flatten and thus have harmonics.

All the audible frequency crap on the mains (the differential stuff) is removed by the power supply anyway. It simply cannot pass smoothing caps.

So an UPS is functionally similar to an audio amplifier? I mean, it makes sense, since an UPS uses batteries for backup power, so the AC-DC-AC conversion happens in both devices. But I'd still like to see an actual amp power a HiFi system, just for the fun