"LessLoss Echo's End is many things, but surely not a regular DAC. If I had to point my finger at the most minimalist hassle-free machine of this particular sort, today's would be my easy top pick with no afterthoughts."

"Simply put, it was clearly made by people strongly convinced that less is in fact more if done right."

"As a reporter with more than a decade under his black audio belt I've seen and heard dozens of such products, but nothing quite like this publication's purist machine."

"Echo's End doesn't pursue the usual voicing trends but instead it handles music in an unmistakably enchanting way, which well-trained ears will map in a jiffy. It's a very expressive product, with strong and always present character of its own."

"Felt more grounded, rounder and clearly milder."

"Echo's End swiftly redirected my attention from resolution and insight to blackness of its background, general politeness, musical tissue and that particular well-known moist sensation."

"We could narrow this profile down to quite vinyl-like charm or relieving freedom from digital tint and harshness."

"Careful avoidance of excessive fat and warmth, which would undeniably cover details essential in music, is where the Lithuanians truly got the job done right. Echo's End simply didn't sound overly thick, sluggish or bloated, but pleasantly earthy and organic instead. It performed like a vintage top class d/a converter with PCM1704 on-board, albeit with its upper end not trimmed but in perfect check, namely as audible as everything else."

"That's why to my ears the Echo's End introduced no second-grade core flavour in comparison to its far pricier opponent, but something from elsewhere; more substantial and less light-spirited at its core, yet very much appealing on a purely subjective emotional level, enough to provoke the shedding of a proverbial tear or two."

"This review item's sound landed in the zone occupied by quality, chic and maturity, not quantity, exposure and abnormal zeal. All traits listed above effectively turned LessLoss Echo's End into a most pleasing product. Its sound came through undeniably effortlessly and never was piercing. It always felt pleasantly gravitational and coherent yet not even once overdone or extreme in any way."

"I've found this product's sound as focused as it was tactile and euphonic. Its agility and wide dynamic contrasts supported traits which elevated expressiveness and charm."

"Bass [is] internally focused, fabulously elastic, texturally very generous, admirably deep and upon demand capable of hitting like a truck with no apologies involved."

"That's what Echo's End is about, with this machine one's focus will be on qualities related to pleasant undisturbed music flow and not its informational load. Such voicing my ears have found tasteful and yours might as well, should your taste in sound presented in an organic way be a priority."

"Right from the get-go LessLoss Echo's End introduced itself as a great performer for the coin, but in time it flourished into a major overachiever, that's the key takeaway."

"I would not change a single thing in this machine's voicing. Never had I the urge to actually ponder about any potential sonic improvements. Not even once. I've found it simply too vivid, seasoned, coherent and pleasant to bother. Each time the Echo's End was on, I was instantly immersed in its reality and always had a blast, whereas its inherently forgiving approach towards repertoire of lesser quality enabled struggle-free ventures beyond my usual musical diet. If after switching from a product five times as costly - that would be my DAC - all this remained, then that's pretty much all there is to be said."

"Its purposely applied operational minimalism I've found liberating. LEDs, knobs, switches and alike usually all deemed as necessary, today's experience turns into a bunch of distractors. It's a well-made, hassle-free affair, always ready for action. Its simplicity isn't ordinary but elegant."

"All things considered, if a plug & play brilliantly voiced minimalist DAC is on your hit list, then this report's LessLoss DAC fits the profile just perfectly. That's the target right there."

"Surprise."

"Because the LessLoss FireWall units spent a relatively long time with us and we knew we liked them, we used them for daily music listening - with great satisfaction."

"Perhaps for the first time we heard the maximum capabilities of the HD 600."

"The Firewall's performance here became even more tangible and plastic, and even had a positive impact on the stereo image that we had not expected in our headphone experience."

"We heard details like never before, in a space so much more than expected from headphones. The sound became more open, bolder, but it also kept its dynamics and bass. We achieved a practically perfect, impeccable response, naturally within the given headphone category."

"The LessLoss Firewall 64X caused a huge surprise."

"A common problem with power filters is that they greatly change the sound of the system. This is not an issue with Firewall 64X. It has a very good effect on the sound, since it is capable of filtering out the noise generated by the polluted current without modification."

"In addition, it increases the stereo width - and especially the depth of the sound field - and make the stereo image clearer and more accurate."

"Opacity is removed from the sound and dynamics also benefit from its use."

"All in all, it can actually be said that the LessLoss Firewall 64X increases the sound of the system by one category, which is certainly thought-provoking."



[AV-online's Excellent Product Award]

"...audibly lowered the noise floor within my setup"

"...darker backdrop, easier nuance comprehensibility"

"...more orderly image"

"...sound sources became rounder, more tangible and separated finer."

"...led to easier music intake; less choppiness in favour of greater textural complexity, edge replaced via more lively and softer approach, dryness off and increased tunefulness on, plus organic finishing touches."

"...they led to clearly greater musical good. No tonal balance shifts in any particular direction and no cost to essential performance were the key upshots."

"Once connected to any newcomer product, they simply allow it to speak for itself in unaltered honest fashion and quickly map its core voicing, which in effect spells time savings on my end."

"A pristine canvas and the revelatory power of C-MARC products are very useful in my daily work, hence the 'flavourless' word listed above describes their major pro in this specific context, not a con."

"The sensation was quite comparable to having the alike voiced power cable yet of substantially higher tier, which led me to conclude that noise rejection introduced by this cord was further amplified."

"...what happened next was quite unexpected. The difference between direct versus indirect power feed only to the Pacific was anything but small."

"My DAC directly powered via the C-MARC family sounded fleshier, more organic, a bit rounder and fuller, in a way more musical and civilized. The C-MARC loom was easily as agile as the GigaWatt yet put bigger, more present and tangible sound sources on the pedestal instead."

"The very costly DAC of mine [...] gained extra moisture and spatial presence, which led to a substantial increase in pleasure. But most importantly, is this how this machine should sound in the first place? Was this the very first time its original highly organic yet still exceptionally resolving character emerged past being subjected to GigaWatt's own input?"

"...a job well done."

"But most importantly, as a link between my DAC and power cable connected to a wall outlet directly, the LessLoss C-MARC Firewall 64X was profoundly effective, very much unexpected, all in all superb. Used in that way it surely has what it takes to dethrone many full-sized costly power cleaners..."

"smitten with LessLoss"

"this has to be among the finest built bespoke digital converters out there."

"Without a doubt, Echo's End Reference follows the clear sound path set forth by everything I have auditioned from LessLoss"

"organic, authentic, resolved, dynamic."

"Whereas some digital systems favor a more spotlit presentation, cueing the listener into each of the themes, Echo's End presents you with more of a stage view, which is to say you are listening to the entire production rather than drawing your focus to and from each note and phase effect."

"That organic, natural and neutral sonic signature of Echo's End plays fantastically well"

"Echo's End proved once again that no matter the input and source, this DAC's sonic signature stayed the same.

"Echo's End further helped clarify this with its organic character highlighting just how good, nay, great, good old compact disc can sound."

"build quality, internal makeup and parts quality are undoubtedly first rate"

"more musical information, detail retrieval and texture. Editorializing isn't part for the course. What you hear is what you get. Once you bite off the LessLoss tree, you may not look anywhere else."

"Reference quality in every regard."

"to genuine, bona-fide audio and music connoisseurs to whom bling is a dirty word and likely not even in their vocabulary."

"It's all about the music, nothing more, nothing less. Here, Echo's End shines and then some."

"I was immediately surprised at how much more information was spread across my living room. Reverb went on forever and the whole soundstage of the prelude seemed much larger and deeper."

"The LessLoss interconnects certainly revealed more detail than I thought possible from my DAC, and it occurred to me that until then, I hadn't really heard all that the BorderPatrol DAC had to offer."

"Quick attacks." "No sense of blur." "Huge soundstage."

"Increased sense of soundstage width and depth."

"Improved resolution and focus in the upper bass and lower midrange."

"I could more clearly hear the performer's technique, the instrument's character, and the idiosyncrasies of the performance."

"I listened to Andre Previn's After Hour's with Ray Brown and Joe Pass CD [Telarc CD83302], noticing a specific benefit of this improved clarity. In music education, we teach that great jazz bass players will play on the "front side" of the beat, enhancing the excitement of an up-tempo tune without rushing the beat. Alternately, the bass player will need play on the "back side" of the beat for ballads or the blues, for that lazy, but not late, groove. On "There'll Never Be Another You", Ray Brown drives the trio with a percussive right-hand technique, always on the front edge of the beat, to propel the tempo forward. The LessLoss cables conveyed greater insight into Brown's musicianship and his ability to play a melodic bass line while also acting as the percussive drive for this drummerless trio tune. I wish I could have used a similarly revealing system to teach this concept to my students."

"Image definition was definitely improved. The sound was purer, more focused, yet retained good extension."

"The LessLoss speaker cables [on electrostatic loudspeakers] did a fine job, with improved image location and depth. Owners of electrostatic speakers should certainly add them to their audition list. They seem made for use with electrostats."

"The change was equivalent to swapping a good preamp for a really great preamp."

"Every aspect of the sound was improved, but most notable was the treble, which had been too forward before, with the tweeter being much too obvious. The improvements exceeded those in my own system, and the owner texted me many times in the following days in amazement at the effect of inserting just one LessLoss power cord. I doubt I would have believed this story if I hadn't witnessed the outcome myself. This was certainly the best sound I've heard at his house."

"Prior to adding the LessLoss cables, I had auditioned many cables in the same general price range, and one power cord that was three times as expensive. While all were well made and sounded good, none of them made my system sound better in terms of bringing performers and their craft into my listening room. The LessLoss cable loom helped me hear more deeply into recordings, and I spent more of my listening time thinking about the musician's performance rather than the sound of the system. That is a high compliment for any piece of audio gear."

"The [LessLoss] cables' inclusion in my system removed a previously unnoticed level of confusion, or noise, resulting in clearer soundstage cues, cleaner upper bass and vocals, and greater overall musical enjoyment. The results were positive enough that I'm saving my audio money to add a set of interconnects and a power cord for my BorderPatrol DAC SE."

"I've really had a prolonged evaluation time, where I have freely explored the C-MARC power cables in more than a dozen top echelon systems."

"The all-round potent impact of the C-MARC power cord, in the most various of systems, is one of its most impressive highlights."

"The LessLoss C-Marc power cables have proved their established impressive performance."

"Take away the C-Marc from my MSB Select DAC and the all-important time and space information simply collapses. It becomes smeared and the three dimensional musical landscape, once appreciated from the vantage point of an eagle, is suddenly reduced to something an ant on the ground would perceive. Not a small difference by any means..."

"In absence of the C-Marc power cables, there was a paradigm shift not related nor limited to nuances. ...a whale of a difference."

"With LessLoss C-MARC power cables in action they never reduced the intensity of orchestral dynamic impact nor compressing the dynamic scale at which piano can span."

"C-MARCs acted on a grand and noble level of performance, way beyond their given price."

"The modest price point doesn't reflect the level of achievement of performance by any means."

"The performance towers within the elite realm of rarified art, and is an achievement here worthy of extra emphasis."

"Remove the C-Marcs and now what happens? It feels like the density of the vocal's formants are gone, making it sound flat and lifeless. It seems that resonance in the vocal tract is unnaturally altered, thus destroying the very essence."

"C-Marc rivals upper echelon performance at non-expected value given their price."

"This striking price/performance ratio already granted the LessLoss C-MARC cable loom products both Mono and Stereo's Highly Recommended Product and Best Buy awards, and it's no different for the power cable."

"...the very best of their kind..."

"...the ability to extract the very essence of each major device with no drawbacks..."

"...allows a component to fully flourish yet remains unseen while doing so."

"...can be twisted, bent and tangled far more than the usual suspects... Routing in-between components is very easy with this one."

"...smoother, quieter, more organic..."

"...less veiled, more orderly, sported cleaner more lively background and served all nuances in more subtle and delicate fashion."

"...far better on detail retrieval and sounded cleaner yet not artificial at all. Not in the slightest."

"...its own character is no character at all."

"...did far better in showcasing what the AMP-13R is truly capable of and there was a lot to show. Not even one thing the Lithuanian did of lesser quality than the Excellence and the more I switched between these two vastly different cords, the more I acknowledged that the difference between 'em went far deeper than their voicing."

"...delivered more refined and sophisticated outcome."

"...sheer quality and class."

"...utmost graceful..."

"...fabulously black background for music, fine detail retrieval, smoothness, maturity, balance and insight..."

"It's meant for an enthusiast seeking to fully unlock his setup's potential to push it even further, yet with its core flavour intact."

"...top league performance..."

"...LessLoss C-MARC loudspeaker cable gets my vote..."

"These cables startled us to the core! At this high end performance, such perfect dynamics and absolutely tangible sound stage, the LessLoss C-MARC comes, indeed, as if from a much higher price category. Hurry, while such charity continues."

"The biggest advantage is the resolution throughout the audible range. The detailing becomes noticeably better, the vividness of the sound stage is striking, and the dynamic range increases dramatically – at times I had to re-check the price tag, since such effects were previously encountered only with cables in a price category that exceeds the test value tenfold. No kidding."

"Where the LessLoss C-MARC literally smashes competitors is in the total naturalness and fusion of the musical canvas. It becomes simply impossible to break away from the music, the hand cannot be forced to find the shutdown controls (even when necessary), and parting with the system turns into a physical ordeal. Be careful. Such "magical" properties emanate only from (at least they used to) Ultra High End components and cables. Now it is available at a completely different price level - thanks to the LessLoss C-MARC."

Test score: 95/100
Award: Best Buy Award 2018

"...quiet background, increased resolution, neutral timbre and focus, accuracy, dynamics and transients... Everything up above I'll also additionally compliment with yet another important word – potency. LessLoss C-MARC power cable didn't introduce mild or subtle changes in my setup, but surprisingly audible ones and the more I listened to music with two Lithuanian snakes on and off duty, the more obvious this effect became."

"The [LessLoss C-MARC] introduced changes of even higher magnitude, revealed itself to be very well-seasoned and the best one I've had a chance to know to date.

"Put shortly, LessLoss C-MARC painted things as they were with no extra additives and from purely journalistic perspective this virtue was of utmost value."

"After several days of rather lengthy listening sessions and with all available hardware artillery involved, yours truly fully agrees that this product is very silent indeed. In order to be this resolving, grain free and smooth at the same time it simply has to be."

"LessLoss C-MARC also served the upstairs with longer decay, surprisingly also more weight and – when needed – upped delicacy as well. C-MARC power cables proved to be very much capable of organic yet well-differentiated delivery."

"This particular and rarely heard virtue showcased as clearly I've found very impressive. Not a hint of itchiness, excessive spark or metallic tint [...] said feature stretched all the way down throughout all audible range, too."

"LessLoss C-MARC provided very relaxed experience indeed and was mapped as not tense or nervous at all, yet didn't dilute the message."

"The C-MARC team elevated the experience unobtrusively and safely, yet didn't play the prettify game at all and was far from sounding dull as well. In its case clarity, transparency and the so-called black background marched hand in hand with spot on textural richness and saturation, no hints of under- or overload on these counts were heard to net very real and truthful outcome each and every time."

"high quality measures to pull this off were the clear signs of upper tier performance and seasoning."

"C-MARC snakes provided wider and deeper perspective, injected more air and – again – acted subtler; less bluntly and more sensitively."

"But the biggest difference of them all was in how vocals were sculpted. [C-MARC] delivered more precise outlines filled with clearer pigments to net more accurate and understandable effect. Perfectly contoured, superbly isolated shapes covered with humane texturing and suspended on multi-layered, organic and dark space is what I heard and was very much impressed by that."

"The above-mentioned blend of virtues served all at once in very easygoing and utmost relaxed fashion is the ideal LessLoss C-MARC description, yet refinement and finely applied balancing act have to be added to the mix to make it complete."

"The Lithuanian duo revealed itself as neutral, accurate, calm, exceptionally easygoing indeed and free from any overcooked aspects. Music with this team on duty flowed utmost pleasantly."

"The more I investigated Louis Motek's work, the clearer it became that his operation and its latest C-MARC tech are not ordinary at all."

"Past the highly involving Lithuanian experience it's very clear to me now that LessLoss is well-respected in the industry not by mere accident or luck. Louis and his crew arrived there by following their own path, finding a clever and unique way to up their own game and delivering products such as this review's heroes."

"very much refined"

"revealing, balanced and sophisticated character"

"free from any signs of juvenile flashiness"

"sanely priced"

"This finely seasoned, versatile and brilliant Lithuanian effort is the best one of its kind I've heard thus far, hence the award below."

"C-MARC counts as one of the best made and most flexible cable looms I have had in my system. Not even DFPC, C-MARC's rather terrific precursor, was this flexible and malleable, not to mention some other looms of cable I have been using, including Nordost."

"more full, dynamic, resolved; compared to my previous long-time reference of Tyr 2, C-MARC proved no less subtle in its effects even as it was just the power cables I had replaced."

"sounded dramatically more open and rich as well; was it the added sense of depth? The more clearly defined wind chimes, with their superior sparkle and shine? The increased depth of the opening piano riff?"

"increased resolution"

"Whereas the usual cadre of cables from Nordost, yes, even EINSTEIN's own, various Zu models and KS Emotion have a subtler effect on swapping the OTLs to The Poweramp, the change to C-MARC proved far more dramatic."

Information flow through the latest Lessloss generation seems greatly increased; where I wouldn't necessarily have called the previous DFPC generation constricted by any means, this latest cable series offers far greater dynamic range."

"The typical high-end audio [price] multiplier effect of at times dubious origins certainly doesn't seem to apply within the halls of Lessloss."

"C-MARC's own S/PDIF cable trumps Black Cat by a large margin."

"C-MARC immediately revealed an ever-greater realization of this theme."

"Given C-MARC's claims of lowering distortion levels, lowering the noise floor to vanishing points, I'd say Lessloss has indeed lived up to its claims of providing the necessary magic."

"Bass lines in particular take on a vastly superior, vastly more powerful tone and impact."

"C-MARC is quite the upgrade."

"My time with Lessloss C-MARC has proven once again that you don't have to spend gobs of money on cables to get reference level sound."

"Given that Louis has been in business for some time, enjoys very high reputation among genuine industry insiders, read: no BS folks, this makes a recommendation rather easy. I'm willing to bet they'll end up as keepers. Mine did! A+++"