User Reviews
Published LessLoss Reviews Now Number Over 695
DFPC Original (legacy)DFPC Signature (legacy)DFPC Reference (legacy)DFPC Series (legacy) (all)Digital Cable (legacy)Firewall (legacy)Anchorwave (legacy)Homage to Time (legacy)Tunnelbridge (legacy)Laminar Streamer (legacy)Bindbreaker (legacy)
All
Giant Steps
After receiving 25 Giant Steps, i started to listened for half an hour on the existing setup - where I had bindbreakers under my equipment.
– Then I replaced three Bindbreakers with 3 giant Steps under the power supply for my streamer.
The first 5 minutes I heard very airy and a little mysterious sound.. Then suddenly I got a completely new system!
It played with power, dynamics, width, details, depth and an enormous naturalness and musicality I just sat and listened with my mouth open for 3 hours.
I have never heard such a clear improvement in comparison to replacing device feet.
But this was only the first of 8 improvements, because at weekly intervals I placed Giant Steps under my amplifier, then my LessLoss DAC, a LessLoss distributor, a LessLoss Power Base, a LessLoss Speaker Base, under my Ethernet Switch and under a power supply for my Router.
Each time the sound became more organic, natural and magnificent...
I don't understand what Louis has done with this unique combination of materials, magnetism and shape wrapped in such a discreet and beautiful foot!
But even the many and perhaps somewhat magnificent promises I read before the launch were fully achieved.
So now I just ask myself, how many extra feet can I afford to buy? Because I haven't even tried to put 4 feet under each device yet!
Best regards Lars from Denmark
Giant Steps
C-MARC Classic Power Cable
Sans LessLoss, impossible de connaître les vrais performances de son installation HiFi, c'est aussi simple que ça!!
Il y a sûrement d'autres concepteurs/fabricant d'accessoires HiFi performants dans toute la production mondiale, MAIS, à mon sens, aucun, qui comme LessLoss suivent la même ligne, le même principe consistant à améliorer systématiquement le résultat sonore vers LA MUSIQUE en elle même, et avec autant de réussite. C'est tout simplement SUPER d'avoir décider d'utiliser ce FIL ROUGE, comme une recette impeccable de cuisine. Je suis cuisinier à la retraite!!
Patrice
----- English machine translation -----
Without LessLoss, it is impossible to know the true performance of your HiFi installation, it's as simple as that!!
There are surely other designers/manufacturers of high-performance HiFi accessories in the entire world production, BUT, in my opinion, none, who like LessLoss follow the same line, the same principle of systematically improving the sound result towards THE MUSIC itself, and with as much success. It is simply SUPER to have decided to use this COMMON THREAD, like an impeccable cooking recipe. I myself am a retired cook!!
Patrice
Giant Steps
1. Burn in is real and quite substantial. I am almost 4 days in and it does feel, as everything settled. No need to experiment in the first 3 days. Things change anyway.
2. As with all anti whatever things: placement is key. I settled on the place I have already used the Bindbreaker feet.
3. For me they are not replacements for the Bindbreaker. The opposite. They compliment each other very well. And they do work with other feet and platforms as well.
4. Once burned in I find their effect to be immediate. But sound still ripens over the next hours if you move them.
5. Expect a lot of everything you find in LessLoss products. But at a magnitude higher than you are used to. I would compare my 9 giant steps to an upgrade of all power cords to Stellar. But at a fraction of the cost.
6. The effect on my Innuos is insane. The same with my Aqua DAC and my Copland tube amp. It feels like I upgraded each component with a component costing three times as much. I decided to stay home today and thought I would work from my listening couch. I worked maybe 1 hour. The rest of the time I was listening to music and most of the time I was in awe of what i was hearing.
7. There is a stability in the sound I have only heard before from active systems. Everything is pinpoint but at the same time more natural. When I close my eyes soundstage seems to have no limits. Every sound feels like it can be touched. Sounds and reverb tails sometimes seem to linger forever in space. Noise is dramatically reduced. Bass is deeper, has more contours. You hear the strings on an upright bass slap, and at the same time you hear the wood of the bass. Everything is more colorful.
8. It does not change the sound profile or the character of my system. Everything I like about my system is kind of amplified. Oh and it does not add any magic. I found the BlackGround for power to be a magic machine. If I take it out of my system, the magic is gone. Taking three Giant Steps out of the system didn’t kill the magic, it was just not as natural, as big, as bold, as spectacular, as with the Giant Steps.
9. 4 are better than 3. And you might need some paper to adjust height. My Amplifier's bottom seems not be perfectly level. The stock feet have some rubber. So I didn’t realize that. Paper worked just fine.
10. 3 is better than none. If you have nine feet, use them on 3 pieces of gear.
11. This is by far the most potent LessLoss product I have come across.
12. I will buy more
Firewall Module
My system is highly resolving, consisting of the following components (partial listing):
- Loudspeakers: PMC Twenty5 26i
- Amplifiers: Luxman 509Z Integrated; Pass XA 25 power amplifier paired with Icon Pro 4 SE balanced passive preamplifier
- DACs: Lamipizator Baltic 4; Holo May ‘KTE’
- CD transport: Jay’s Audio CDT MKIII
- Streamer : Matrix Element S
- Speaker cables : Audience AU24 SX ; JPS Superconductor V
- Interconnects : Audience AU24 XLR & RCA ; JPS Superconductor V
- Digital : Curious cable (blue) USB ; Tubulus I2S & Aes/Ebu
- Power cables: Lessloss; Isotek; Xindak
- Power conditioner: Audioquest Niagra 1200.
- Decoupling devices: Auva 100s and 50s; Symposium Padz and Roller Blocks
Upon inserting the Stellars into the system I was presented with a vividly clear, bright sound quite unlike the original Lessloss firewalls for speakers that I had been using for a few years. Initially, the sound was somewhat harsh accentuating the high frequences somewhat to the detriment of the mids and lows. However, I was correct to assume that some burn-in was needed: after approximately 20 hrs the Stellars appeared to settle, and I began enjoying a clear, transparent, slightly forward sound across the frequency spectrum. As I prefer a more relaxed sound, less forward, I experimented with speaker positioning: I discovered that by moving the speakers forward, not back, and increasing their separation, I achieved a more neutral, balanced and extended soundscape, any residual brightness or glare being ascribable to the materials/recordings. The noise floor is considerably lowered, graininess is virtually absent (depending on the source material), resolution is greater, listening levels can be moderate with no loss of musical fidelity.
In short: Not only are the Stellar firewalls a considerable improvement over the regular speaker speaker firewalls, they are a major addition to the audio excellence of my system.
Giant Steps
Giant Steps
I have already under every piece of equipment in my system some excellent mechanical vibration killer from a very good polish manufacturer. All my test have been done putting the Giant Steps between my existing feet and the equipment to be fitted with Giant sSteps. I have made the following observations:
- They do not change tonality (balanced top to bottom) at all which already is an excellent result. Most feet I have tried so far change the tonality somewhat. The worst offenders are spikes or cone type feet (in fact they act as a mechanical diode) and I use none of these type. The one I am using are the type using very hard ceramic ball bearing fitted in a metal enclosure. tThere are many variation around that recipe.
- They work everywhere I have tried them in my audio system!
- They act on musicality (more real, more lifelike, more enjoyable).
- Every time you treat one additional equipment, it is like you peel one layer of an onion to go to the heart of the music. What is very frustrating is once I have equipped three piece of my audio system with these giant feet, I get a very nice improvement in musicality, and If I remove only one set on one equipment I do feel the musicality collapse...
I do think that the magic of these feet come from the spiral material in the center which act as an EMI black hole removing unwanted noise from the audio signal. I am sure they also do work if you put them on top of the equipment. I will try that!
These product are unique in the way they work.
As far as the very hard black part around the center spiral material, this acts as a well for micro vibration. This is less original as other products on the market act or try to act like that as well.
I will purchase some more feet.
Congratulations on designing the Giant Steps. I am sure you can and will probably develop other products using this technology (product platforms ? ... )
Best Regards,
Jean-Michel
Giant Steps
Giant Steps
You said in your advices to use it on source components. I tried it on the Reference DAC. I turned the CD drive on silent repeat for six hours or so and waited till the next day to give it a try.
I didn’t expect so much of an improvement, as the DAC is so meticulously well constructed and the Panzerholz case seem to be sort of immune to vibrations coming from the outside. But in one of your news mails you pointed out that the Giant Steps not only avoids vibration coming form the outside through the feet into the gear, it would also eliminate vibration occurring inside the gear before it corrupts the signal. That’s really brilliant, why haven’t any other company addressed this or searched for a solution? Any footer available on the market only avoids the incoming vibrations that goes into the gear through the footers. They have no effect on the vibrations in the room surrounding the gear, or the vibrations produced by the gear itself. If you take a look at some footers or vibraplanes that come with absolutely insane price tags, i.e. Harmonix to name one company. They all should be ashamed to never thought this consequently out.
And the Giant Steps go simply beyond it all, at a fraction of the cost of the competitors.
It seems, that other companies don’t have the insight into these physical processes and theories that could affect or improve the reproduced sound. The best example is certainly the extensive explanation in a newsmail form the past, on how the Blackbodies work and the theories behind it.
Thanks also for the simple, but nice package. No money gone into expensive wood, or metal cases, that are only dust collecting in the closet after unpacking.
So, three Giant Steps placed under the Echo's End Reference DAC and the difference was not small as I expected. The room filling sound has a clearness now, as if the music is broken down into its tiniest particles and transported to your ear. Wow.
Yesterday I placed one of the Giant Steps under my phono preamp, it has a size of only 15 x 19 cm and is powered on all the time. So, today in the afternoon
another 24 hours passes by, I give it a try and will listen to the five records with the same volume as yesterday. The next three Giant Steps will be used with
my tube power amp, so (probably) a lot of ringing and vibration going on here.
I will now order another two Giant Steps, can’t afford to get more, but will surely do so in the future.
Thanks for another outstanding fantastic product that you created.
You made the greatest (!) gift to everyone searching for best sound on a budget.
I had only one Giant Step used on my phono preamp with the small footprint.
The sound has been catapulted into completely new regions. It is simply unbelievable.
So from now on, it is no longer necessary to pay thousands or ten thousands of $ or € for a piece of new gear to have excellent sound that rivals the most expensive gear.
So tiny and such ultimate effect.
This is breathtaking. You have surpassed yourself.
Looking forward to what the Giant Steps will do on my power amp.
Thanks so much for creating this unique tweak.
Best wishes.
Jörg
Giant Steps; C-MARC Stellar Power Cable; BlackGround 8x/10x Speaker Base
Thank you for having sent me the 3 Giant Steps I received this Monday!
My turntable, which was the first target for testing the Giant Steps, is currently under repair.
That is why I chose the main preamplifier which is stacked on top of the PSU (see the attached photo).
The preamplifier has 4 spiked feet which terminate with a tip apparently made of fairly soft plastic.
The PSU is placed on the NAGRA anti-vibration plates (https://www.nagraaudio.com/product/nagra-vfs-classic-vfs/).
NAGRA is a very meticulous constructor and chose the precise points of the chassis where to place the 4 feet.
So I decided to test the Giant Steps under the preamplifier by using only 3 of the 4 original feet, of course knowing that it was a very much imperfect approach.
To note, the tip of the spike of each Nagra foot fits very well into the small indentations on the Giant Steps.
I placed a small black statue on an edge of the top of the preamplifier to move the centre of gravity of the preamplifier to the middle of the triangle made by the 3 Giant Steps.
After having placed the Giant steps and let them “settling” for almost a day, I listened music firstly with the Giant Steps and then without.
I noticed a change that made me realize that your new footers attenuate vibrations that were causing a sort of hardness of the reproduced sound.
The result is, in a way, addictive.
By getting such a good result with my improvised and improvable configuration, I conclude that the Giant Steps will be a very valuable accessory for my stereo.
That’s why I decided to get 12 more Giant Steps.
STELLAR POWER CORDS:
Most of my stereo equipment is already equipped with your Stellar power cords.
Last week I received the last pair of Stellar power cords to replace the last C-MARC Entropic Process power cords that feed my 2 mono power amplifiers.
I am impressed by the improvements of the sound that I would briefly describe as being more “live”: faster response, additional clarity, more and better low-pitch notes.
BLACKGROUND 10x SPEAKER BASES
Last week I installed the two single channel 10x Speaker Bases.
After letting the stereo playing music at low volume for 80 hours, I have already got an overall improvement that is very promising.
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