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Blackbody; Echo's End

Date Added: 09/07/2020 by Joerg Meinhardt
This is a review about my upgrade from 5 to 10 Blackbodies v.2 (“BB”).
Please check my previous review from August 16 about my first set of 5 BBs.

Of course, I had my doubts about this upgrade, but Louis knows me pretty well by now and offered ample insurance. And, yes, it is worth every penny. I received them almost 2 weeks ago and feel ready now to offer my descriptions.

BBs do need some time to come to full performance. This might partially be caused by the ground cables burning in, but most of it must be the full adaption of the EMF in the room, which seems to take quite some time (sorry, just a guess after playing with many former radiation tweaks). The first hour was not yet enjoyable, incoherent, no solid groundwork for the sounds, although generally bass was there. By the end of the day, a clear improvement was there, especially with the timbres of instruments and voices. Richer and fuller. But the 3-D space was quite flat, which changed strongly during day 2 and 3. And then a huge punch suddenly was available from my system. Lots more air moving. And even this morning, I was shocked how well it sounded compared to my last sessions.

Most of the last improvements were more stable stage objects. And yes, most sounds seem to become objects with bodies. Very palpable with “grounding”. It feels very natural and believable. Out of nothing, there is suddenly an entire human body and sings. Better close your eyes.

And for the first time, I can really claim that the loudspeakers and the entire system disappeared... again close the eyes, and crank it up. It doesn't happen at lower volumes. But as Louis described his sessions with the BB, you simply catch yourself at way higher volumes, just because everything sounds undistorted at these volume levels, which was not possible before. I can confirm this!!! And this factor lets you discover details that you would not at lower volumes. And about confirmation: I actually checked whether the purported orientation was just a hoax… (sorry, Louis) …but after a night of pointing the BBs into other directions than those specified, it all fell apart. Harsher voices, though rich, and very flat 3-D.

Back to the review… all these extra details come with no stress at all. Cannot find any disturbance of my body, just the opposite. Can hardly leave my sweet spot… totally addicted to what I hear and feel. And this was not nearly as much with “only” the first 5 BBs.

So, bottom line, more “oomph” and more meat on the bone, more believable and stress free, and addictive. And as budget allows, I will order more of these wonders. Btw: THC will not give you a cheap alternative, even if legal where you live :)

In my previous review of BBs, I mentioned another product which costs about double that of a set of 5 BBs. So now with 10 units I am at the same price, and I fully stand by my decision. This is so much more believable and natural. This other product's manufacturer claims not to put more radiation into the room, but they alter it in such a way that my body was aching. And with the BBs, I feel even better with more :)

So my final recommendation: get more, if you can!

And talking about addiction… My most played (daily) records that easily reveal all these differences:

Nine Horses (David Sylvian): “Snow Borne Sorrow” and “Money For All”. Not for everyone's taste, a mixture of Pop, Indie, Experimental, Ambient, and Jazz (mostly a little melancholic), with rich instrumentation from acoustic to electric and electronic, and the mesmerising voice of David Sylvian.

Only CD resolution, downloaded from Qobuz. CD is great with the LessLoss Echo's End DAC !!!

Thanks again to Louis and his team. This is an enormous jump!!!
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Echo's End

Date Added: 06/16/2020 by Frédéric Chaplain
For many years I have been a fan of the Aqua R2R DAC. I admit to being skeptical about the seemingly unending plethora of new DACs that keep coming out, and they all seem to sound pretty much the same, often with unnatural sounds and a kind of synthetic depiction of the midrange of voices. This, despite the artillery of ultra modern technologies constantly being developed, such as upsampling algorithms, the latest chips, etc.

Is this related to our modern era's performance, focussed on robotics? Emotions put on ice, everything preserved in appearance while serving true music can only be done with respect to a beating heart (ah! Poetry in this world of brutes!).

The Echo's End arrives and replaces an Aqua La Voce S3. Upon first listen, I hear silence like I've never heard. The object is surprising in its compact wooden format: technology mates with natural materials beautiful to the eye. I start with an album of Olafur Arnalds - Islands Songs. It begins with the voice of an Icelandic who comes to look for us deep in our roots.

It is intimate, close, as if the DAC was an exhaler of emotion. We feel that the voice speaks directly to our heart.

The low-medium / low register is full, coherent, and the mids are slightly accentuated, just where it gives one goosebumps, and the highs are silky and deliciously sweet. One appreciates the quintessence of timbres, superb spatialization and layering of layers. We feel that the Firewall filtering is there to serve music. It serves naturalness and not artificial performance. Listening to music, I am captivated by this sound that grips me entirely, that permeates me. It's organic, robust, but not overly opulent like an overtly obvious sound signature. The tonal balance is sublime. It is really a DAC for music lovers, for those who are gourmets of beautiful music.

It's been a long time since I heard such an original DAC in its cosmetic and sonic presentation. Louis Motek, the designer, was able to create a unique rendering, personal in the service of music, an enchanting DAC in the middle of this boring litany of new DACs. Of course, no DAC is perfect, no DAC can claim to please everyone. This DAC is special. It is for the music lover captivated by the adventures of listening, those who need the equipment to serve only the musical communicative dimension instead of the technical novelties of the day...

For me it is a happy discovery. I feel the benevolence, the know-how and the creativity of an inspired designer. Original but not extravagant, just a concentrate of talent and beauty. Magic d'or 2020!


Frédéric Chaplain
Magic Mastering
Clisson, France

https://www.magic-mastering.com/shop/fr/lessloss/2026-lessloss-echos-end-dac.html
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Echo's End

Date Added: 03/09/2020 by Joerg Meinhardt
Inspired by the review from Hifi Knights with comparison of the Echo’s End Original DAC (EE) to highest level Lampizator “Pacific” DAC, with all the previous experiences with LessLoss products, I quickly decided, that I had to have an EE. Well maybe being bored or nervous about the delay of the new C-MARC Entropic power cables :)

My DAC was a Lampizator “Baltic” at just 20% of the price of the Pacific, that Hifi Knights used. So almost identical price as the EE. So the EE should shine even more against the “small” Baltic (well, the body is rather large). Please consider, that this Baltic already had a great and pretty natural performance!!

The EE came in a sturdy flight case, so no worries about shipment damage. It looks nice and smelled very nice too.

Plugged it in, listened for a few minutes. Unplugged the Lampizator right away and never plugged it in again .. except for when the buyer wanted to see it … via WhatsApp, what a smart move :)

After now 400 hrs playing time (most of it at volume 0, of course) the rollercoaster burn-in seems to have come to a stable performance. Louis proposed to wait with final judgement at least 2 weeks, because it would still open up … and it surely did!!

The stage now goes way beyond the front and side walls with great separation of individual sound sources. So much more ambient information can be heard against the quiet background. Overall the space seems to leave my room, which brings up a more “I am there” feeling, than “They are here”. The big benefit … you do not have to kick the musicians out after their performance … just leave the event :)

Shape of space and environment change with the recordings, so I am not so stuck in my always same hifi corner.

Every sound now seems to have sort of a floating body. So many more details I never discovered before and all sounds belonging there. Such lowered distortion and clear voices without sounding anything flat or plasticky, but rather sweet and natural and separate very nicely from the rest … wonderful!! Sibilance, my enemy, better controlled and natural, than ever before.

Instruments timbres and textures are very natural … strongly improved. This fact, and the felt higher resolution reveal a lot of previously unnoticed instruments in complex arrangements.

Transients are not as distorted and give more room for enjoying the colours of the materials’ sounds until the decay. It gives me an overall happier and less fatiguing feeling without distorted slaps into the face.

As a normal change with LessLoss products, the bass is stronger but controlled with rich textures, the best I ever had.

And beyond official specs it plays up to DXD = 24 bit / 352.8 khz. Try it, you’ll like it!!

Highly recommended!!!

And thanks so much to Louis, Vil and the rest of the LessLoss team for making my listening happier than ever before!!
…. can’t wait for the C-MARC entropic power cables …
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Echo's End; Bindbreaker; C-MARC XLR balanced signal cable, stereo pair; C-MARC Classic Power Cable

Date Added: 01/06/2020 by Arthur Ross
I would like to tell all of your potential future owners and/or current owners of any and all LessLoss products, past or current, that because I have a coterie of close friends and former associates who are always anxious to buy (for the past several years, only LessLoss offerings) from one owner (me) of LessLoss products, I have been in the process of upgrading. Because of that fortunate position I have been an owner of virtually every power cable, USB cable, USB keys, interconnect, Firewall 1x through 64x, analog hardware from the Echo's End Original to the Reference and now to the Reference Supreme twin-chassis unit.

These statements are not driven by an ego trip or braggadocio. It is jut a statement of fact based upon my personal experience as an audio hobbyist which began decades ago by building much of my original equipment. Over those many years my systems grew enormously with much legendary equipment to my current system which is solely sourced from audio streaming to digital output DAC, and amp listening via headphones only.

As one might expect over my many years of experience in this hobby, at every upgrade, I experienced the hope for improvement. Something I did not anticipate nor expect since beginning to incorporate LessLoss products into my system was the extent, the level of the immediate and future improvement that resulted. Such was beyond any prior experience with non LessLoss equipment.

In my communications over recent years with other owners of LessLoss products I have come to find that my experience was not unique. We have all noted that the improvement actually realized, frequently "out of the box," far exceeded the results experienced with products from other manufacturers.

In every case when an upgrade was suggested, the resulting revelatory experience was always immediate, and improved even more over time... And always exceeded what was expected. Candidly, LessLoss is a breath of fresh air in this industry of "grandiose promises resulting in nano-delivery."
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LessLoss History From the Very Beginnings

LessLoss started its business on Audiogon in late 2007. Within the first couple of month, word about LessLoss spread like wildfire among Audiogon members. Here is the feedback received from our clients during our first year of operation. This is from even before we had our own website.

Louis is one of the best in the business, truly professional and very fast production and delivery. I am very satisfied by your superb service. Many thanks.

Positive by Buyer Sebastian (135) on 07-29-2008

Excellent transaction with Lessloss on dynamic filtering power cord. Good communications & fast shipping. A+++++

Positive by Buyer Sennett (45) on 07-03-08

Bought 3 pc's from Liudas in Jan/08. Outstanding product as advertised. Performance is everything and more than I expected. Kudos to Lessloss cable for a great product. Very highly recommended...A+++

Positive by Buyer Phillykid (33) on 06-19-08

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