ISOTEK Evo3 Solus
Power conditioners
The positive effect of the IsoTek unit on source components is clearly audible. If you are looking for a surge protector than it is better to look elsewhere - with high current amplifiers the Evo3 Solus degraded sound a bit, while similarly priced Monster Power HTS2600 had no issue. But this is something that needs to be tested in a concerete audio line-up.
Function and form
The Evo3 Solus is a very standard piece of audio equipment from outside. Its simple aluminum chassis has a tiny blue LED on its front panel - IsoTek offers an option to have the LED in red or blue on order. The rear panel hosts six Schuko standard outlets and a grounding terminal. The outlets are not marked so I assumed the IsoTek makes no difference where you plug what. and all the outlets are filtered the same way. The employed filter is of a parallel delta design and claims to be efficient in surpression of radio-frequency noise that IsoTek sees as one of the main sound polluters.
Bass management
What I heard in the Yamaha set-up:
Without the filtration the violin parts in Prokofiev's Romeo a Juliet had slightly synthetic textures, cellos were hollow and an oboe not completely natural. I also noticed that image specifity was worse and focus less precise in comparison to what I heard with IsoTek.
With the Evo3 Solus powering the player the system was a different system. The biggest effect was in how the Yamahas soundstaged. The instruments were much easily discernible within the soundstage, they gained certain depth (comparing to the previous flatness) and became more natural in their timbres. The oboist threw the original plastic oboe look-alike away and took the real instrument instead. A flute got more air to it and a triangl exhibited with better defined tranzients.
When connected the amplifier to the Solus too the things changed. At first listen it was not bad - the sound became more expanding and the orchestra started to play with more pomp. After few minutes it was clear what was the trade off: the tranzients got blurred, imaging was less precise and a punchy thud on a big drum was transformed into a sound like someone hitted the drum's skin with a racoon's tail. After the amp was disconnected from the filter the music started to breath again.
Clarity & delicacy
What I heard in the Marantz set-up:
With the Marantz it was like "no Isotek, no music". The Marantz set-up was flavourless and when I look at my notes they read like 'a synthetic triangle, poor dynamics, flat and uninvolving sound…´
When the CD player was connected via the Solus the sonic picture improved, the synthetic haze and the dynamic compression were not eliminated, however. With also the amp connected to the Solus the sound was transformedd similarly to what I already described with the Yamaha.
Tonal accuracy
Spatial resolution
What I heard in the Harman-Kardon set-up:
By connecting the HD970 to the fliter the sound became better in all parameters. Again, the biggest effect I could hear in the more precise imaging, but with the HK I also noticed much improved bass that got a bit tighter and more dynamic. Orchestral fortissimos came more allive, a bass guitar went deeper and the sound acquired a sort of juiceness. When I connected the HK amp to the Solus too it was not that big difference like with the Yamaha or the Marantz, still the music became a bit congested and dynamically flatter as if the filter did not let the system breath. Adding 3-4dB on the volume control made up for the loss of attributes a bit but I preferred the amp not connected to the filter.
Recommended resellers
High-End Audio Studio, Praha, tel. +420 224 256 844
Manufacturer's website: http://www.isoteksystems.com
Associated components
- Sources: Yamaha CD-S1000, Marantz CD-5003, Harman Kardon HD-970
- Amplifiers: Yamaha A-S1000, Marantz PM-5003, Harman Kardon HK-970
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Supra Ply 3.4, Supra Trico a Gronenberg Quattro Reference
- Loudspeakers: Xavian Altea
Gallery
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