Cables & Accessories

A mains filter that is fitted with a standard 10A IEC C14 input socket, the EVO3 Gemini has two output sockets also rated at 10A. The unit features star earthing internally and a delta filter topology to ensure filtration of both common mode and differential mode mains noise. Common mode noise is interference that appears on the live and neutral mains connections simultaneously and is often caused by external sources, such as RFI, which affects both mains conductors.

A pre-filter device, the EVO3 Syncro Uni can be used with any power cable, conditioner or mains distribution block. It plugs into the mains wall socket and its 13A output socket takes the mains supply and realigns its waveform prior to any subsequent filtration or conditioning. According to the manufacturer, it synchronises the mains supply to provide a perfectly symmetrical sine wave, designed to deliver significant sonic improvements to hi-fi separates.

Known for its specialist tonearms, Jelco – distributed in the UK by Divine Audio, but supplied here by ISOkinetik – has made its SG-1 digital stylus pressure gauge available as a separate item priced at £79. Previously supplied with its flagship TK-950 tonearm (HFC 438), the SG-1 is a well-made gauge with a non-magnetic stainless-steel bracket fitted to the sensor plate. Pressing the on button illuminates the green backlit LCD display and zeros the balance.

Black cube is no square Richard Black rattles his skull with the help of this analogue/digital input headphone amp; but are both inputs created equal? Lehmann is a company that specialises in phono and headphone amplifiers. This is an unusual proposition in that it manages to be a headphone amplifier, a preamplifier and a DAC all at once. Admittedly, viewed as a preamp, it’s a bit basic, because it features only one analogue input, and the DAC has only one input which is USB (when this is active, that is when it detects it is connected to a valid source, the analogue input is bypassed). So really this is an analogue/digital input headphone amp with a volume-controlled line output! Heady power Lehmann’s idea of what constitutes a headphone amp is generous, with a full push-pull power amplifier output configuration.

The right balance With Magic Racks your hi-fi literally floats on rubber bands and as Richard Black discovers, it provides a unique way to isolate your system. There have been plenty of new designs for equipment supports over the years, the majority of them taking rigidity seriously along with such anti-vibration measures as spikes. A few, though, seek to decouple equipment more thoroughly using sprung or otherwise ‘floppy’ support systems, with or without damping. Newcomer Magic Racks has come up with an ingenious way of implementing the floppy approach, using what are basically rubber bands – long strips of neoprene rubber, placed between supports in such a way that they keep equipment clear of the floor or the level underneath, while allowing it to bounce freely.

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