May 15, 2004
Bybee Slipstream Power
Charger
A
definition as it might have appeared in Ambrose Bierces The Devils
Dictionary:
audio tweak: an action taken to improve the
performance of a component that its manufacturer neither suggests, recommends, nor urges.
And why on earth would they? The WonderThunder VIIs
designer would surely do himself a disservice in declaring that his component, the best in
the known universe, will perform better yet with a generous sprinkling of Madam
Elviras Vividia Lotion.
Tweaks are further defined as radical and superficial. The
former are invasive. The end-user -- or, more typically, the techno-shaman -- modifies a
components innards, thus voiding its warranty. Tweakwise (wuss that I am), its
all been superficial, the word to be taken in its literal sense: outside the box.
Aftermarket cables and power cords of course qualify. Among audiophiles, theyre de
rigueur. Apart, then, from the obvious, my adventures in tweakery have looked thus far
into products from Quantum Symphony, Silent Running Audio, Harmonix, Walker Audio, and
CryoTweaks.
I mention in my CryoTweaks
Plug and Play report that Jack Bybee markets a competitive device, which is why Mike
Garner calls his product Plug and Play Speaker Purifier with Bybee Inside rather than
Bybee Plug and Play. Id have liked to make a comparison, but my WATT/Puppys
binding posts wont accommodate banana plugs, which is how Jack Bybee terminates his
Slipstream Speaker Charger. I asked a Wilson Audio carnivore about his companys
aversion to fruit. Are you ready? Among other markets, Wilson exports to Europe, where
wall plugs are configured with prongs similar in shape to audio-cable bananas. Someone
with serious eyesight (or reality) problems plugs a Hoover into a speakers binding
posts. How long, I wonder, before he or she discovers that the appliance isnt
sucking? Bureaucracy -- you cant live with it and you cant shoot it.
Bybees Slipstream line also includes RCA Magic
Bullets for connecting to single-ended ICs, XLR Magic Bullets for balanced ICs, and
Bybees own single-ended Slipstream ICs at two price points. Bybee describes his
Slipstream line as a scaled-down improvement of bulkier predecessors. For an overview of
quantum technology and products thereunto pertaining, go to www.BybeeInside.com.
The unit I discuss here, Bybees Slipstream Power
Charger, operates as an add-on to a power cord. At a suggested list price of $550 USD,
Id call the thing a sound investment, but I dont want to get ahead of myself
or further entangled in puns.
I began my listening sessions with the Slipstream Power
Charger where it has since remained: plugged into my Mark Levinson No.390S CD
players power input, with a Harmonix X-DC Studio Master
power cord connected to the Power Charger. Mine is a one-format, three-component
system: two mono power amplifiers and a CD player with its own level control. The player
takes its power from the line conditioner, which is safety-rated for 15A operation. The
captive power cords of my Mark Levinson No.33H amplifiers plug into dedicated 20A outlets.
The line conditioner is also in a dedicated outlet. I have four FIM 880 duplex wall
outlets for the system as a match for the six FIM 880s at the back of the Harmonix Reimyo ALS-777 line conditioner.
A midstream change of horses: Some time after I installed
the Power Charger, I replaced my reference cables with Silversmith Palladium balanced ICs
and speaker cables. I mention in my Silversmith review
that the Palladium speaker cables conductor consists of a strip of palladium-alloy
foil notched at both ends so that it can be installed as one would spade lugs. With
respect to hearing what the Power Charger accomplished, I dont believe that cables
can "disappear" a whole lot more effectively.
The title track of one audiophile disc, Autumn Yearning
Fantasia [First Impression Music FIM XR24 053], features a solo for guzheng, a
Chinese zither. According to Winston Ma, FIMs proprietor and executive producer, the
track served as a demo at an AES convention. Im not surprised. For my purpose, a
first-rate recording of a harmonically complex solo instrument is ideal for detecting
differences among components.
With my other tweaks in place -- Walker UHD Links at my
WATT/Puppy 6es upper binding posts, Harmonix Reimyo ALS-777 line conditioner feeding
my No.390S CD player, both Harmonix Studio Master power cords and four Silent Running
Audio acoustic isolation platforms -- I removed the Power Charger and plugged the Studio
Master power cord directly into the CD player. With the Power Charger removed, the now
somewhat veiled guzheng and its lingering decays coarsened in texture to a slight degree.
The Power Charger seemed to be doing what it was designed to do.
Id been hearing good things about Jack Bybees
work for a few years, but apart from CryoTweaks Plug and Plays, this was my first
experience of Bybee quantum mojo. However, the notion that you can do audibly good things
to your sound systems electricity way down there at its particle level is, however
strange, not entirely foreign to me. I became acquainted with the Quantum Ghost of
Christmas Present in my previous digs, when I first heard Bill Stierhouts
freestanding Quantum Symphony pods affecting the sound of my audio system.
I bring up the Quantum Symphony pods only because the
Harmonix Reimyo line conditioner incorporates Stierhouts Quantum Resonance
Technology (QRT). According to Stierhout, QRT broadcasts its influence, thus affecting
even those electronics not plugged directly into the Reimyo. And so, as the next step,
playing the same track on the same disc, I turned off the Reimyo with its extramural QRT.
I determined that, yes, the Reimyo, now going from the wall outlet directly to the
Slipstream Power Charger, continued to make a difference. (Phew!)
But thats not what this report is about. My first
direct comparison had told me that the solo Power Charger had something to say. And this
is but one Bybee Slipstream tweak of a possible three: ICs, speakers, and the piece here
reviewed, for as many detachable power cords as you have in your system.
I played a variety of discs -- orchestral, chamber
instrumental, chamber vocal, solo instrumental, acoustic jazz ensemble -- with the Power
Charger in and out. The Power Chargers influence was more obvious with recordings of
small rather than large forces. I strained to hear the Power Chargers influence on
productions of instrumental music in which midrange warmth predominates. This warmth is
most obvious to me at the sound spectrums upper end and in moments rich in
microdynamic nuance. Cant repeat this too often: Im describing what I hear one
tweak among several accomplishing.
With respect to the FIM recording of the Chinese zither, my
characterization of the difference I heard with the Power Charger removed -- that hint of
granular fog -- applied as well to those instances where, with other recordings, I
detected differences. I suspect that an array of Slipstream tweaks would make a more
emphatic impression, an assumption I arrive at circuitously. I have three of Bill
Stierhouts standalone QRT pods on hand: one Quantum Symphony Pro, two Quantum
Symphonys. Id not been using them for the sound system, since, as mentioned, the
Reimyo line conditioner incorporates what I understand to be a yet more powerful version
of QRT. I positioned the three pods at the sound system. Finally, reverting to the Chinese
guzheng track, Power Charger in and out, I could not detect a difference. Who knows?
Perhaps if Id recruited a healthy 12-year-old to listen with me, the kid might have
picked up on something. Im wearing a pair of old guys ears and lay no claim to
atypical aural acuity.
This sedentary odyssey has led me to an understanding that
a practical application of quantum whatevers plays a significant role. To repeat that in
the Voice of the Billfold, the Reimyo and its two Harmonix Studio Master power cords sum
to about $8000 retail. If you purchase however many Slipstream devices from Bybee Inside,
youre permitted a 30-day trial period. I understand that Bybee dealers will honor
that as well. If you order by Internet and decide on a return, youre obliged to pay
only for shipping -- no restocking fee. A well-heeled audiophile looking to take a quantum
leap might want to try as many Power Chargers as he has removable power cords. Id go
for the Speaker Chargers too (binding posts permitting), and Bybees own ICs. The
Slipstream add-ons to ones present interconnects give me pause. Call it conventional
wisdom: Four more terminations to a cable transmitting a fragile signal dont
recommend themselves. Im sure a lot of happy Magic Bullet users will tell me
Im wrong. Id certainly like to be.
Im returning the Power Charger only because I was
able to mimic its effectiveness by way of other quantum devices. The audiophile at Quantum
Square One is well advised to check out these Bybee Slipstream tweaks.
Mike Silverton
mikes@ultraaudio.com
Bybee Slipstream Power
Charger
Price: $550 USD.
Warranty: Five years parts and labor.
Bybee Inside
14 Greenbrier Court
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
Phone: (650) 712 1317
Fax: (650) 897 9099
E-mail: info@bybeeinside.com
Website: www.bybeeinside.com

All contents copyright Schneider Publishing Inc., all rights
reserved.
Any reproduction, without permission, is prohibited.
Ultra Audio is part of the SoundStage! Network.
A world of websites and publications for audio, video, music, and movie enthusiasts. |