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6moons says of Firewall: More organic and fluid, better frequency extremes, layering, impact and weight

September, 2017, author: Srajan Ebaen
"As anticipated, this whodunnit was easily sorted. What I'll call the X amp [with Firewall modules]–internally in parts, sonically in 'more'–distinguished itself on two levels. The first had to do with raw quantity."

"Here [with Firewall modules] the bass was better articulated, front-to-back layering more developed, the treble more suave and vocals were more present."

"Describing why the feel was more organic and fluid leads to lazier lengthier decays and background sounds more connected to the foreground. The plain Jane's [without Firewalls] drier take coincided with sharper separation but lacked the more holistic elasticity of the X [with Firewall modules]. One was pricklier and more staccato, the other rounder, smoother and of a more legato persuasion."

"[With Firewalls:] better visibility at the frequency extremes and of the imaging precision in general."

"The depth layers of X [with Firewall modules] during chorus interludes had superior development. With it the low beats of the Bombay Dub Orchestra had more impact and weight."

"One [without Firewalls] was cooler, sharper, more bare boned and lean. The other [with Firewalls] was richer, mellower, smoother and fuller."

"[With Firewall modules had] this afterglow quality. Here lingered on a stronger flavour of space, ambiance and calm."

"For an alternate take on LessLoss Firewall effects, read Vance Hiner's review of the Echo's End DAC. Between us–and we've not had any exchanges–there's no doubt. These Firewall cards really do the trick."

"What today's experiment showed is that it takes no luxury gear at all to hear differences or create improvements."
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"Easy to use and does the job without a negative impact on dynamics."

May, 2017, author: George Sallit
"With the filter in circuit the background noise is significantly reduced and the decay of notes on the guitar are much easier to hear. The soundstage (as it is) was enhanced. Oddly enough the tonal colours also seemed enhanced. The drum kit was not some amorphous thudding but stretched skins being hit gently. I did not quite believe what I was hearing."

"With the filter in place, the sound was far more musical."

"The 3D soundstage was much bigger and made it easier to differentiate who was doing what."

"I then blinked. My notes for the music without the filter were hifi comments, with the filter I was commenting on the music."

"Well the filter certainly allowed all the individual elements to be easily heard without any frequency response changes."

"All the advantages of mains filters but no loss of dynamics."

"The sound was more 3D and it was easier to hear the individual instruments. Also, the drums had a stronger tonal colour than without the filter."

"It sounded as though the worse the mix the better the effect."

"On the DAC the noise levels were reduced. The tonal colour was much better. The biggest impact was again on the DAC. Was this a weakness in the Audionote DACs? No. I tried the 5x on my Metrum Octave and I heard a similar effect, less noise, more 3D sound, greater tonal colour. Is it possible it only works with NOS DACs? No. Out came my Esoteric DAC with a very similar finding."

"The biggest difference was with bright mixes where the 'truthfulness' of the Class D could make things a bit fierce. The 5x filter tamed that and all that was left was a bright mix. There are many reports on the web of people recommending mains treatments for Class D amplifiers. I had not tried that as I was concerned about the loss of dynamics. With the Lessloss filters there was no real change to the dynamics but the brightness had gone and the tonal colours had increased."

"So, at the end of all this I had to conclude that these filters do work and they do so particularly well with DACs and a Class D amplifier."

"But are they worth it? Given what most of the serious mains conditioning units cost and the fact that some do impact the dynamics (not all of them) then my answer is yes. Is the 5x worth the extra? In a high-resolution system, the answer is positive. A really interesting product that is easy to use and does the job without a negative impact on dynamics."
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