rlabarre Submits His Thoughts on the Audience aR2p Power Conditioner

rlabarre writes:

I recently completed a painstaking listen to my system, both with and without the Audience aR2p Adept Response power conditioner. This may be a little soon to be delivering listening impressions. I have less than 25 hours of use so far, and Audience recommends a good 75 more for adequate burn-in. In addition, I am using the battery-powered Red Wine Audio Liliana monoblocks that sound best when switched-off from their AC-charging units. Thus only my front end, the PS Audio PerfectWave Player with PerfectWave MarkII DAC, was tested with the aR2p.

Historically, I have been a Luddite regarding many of the accessories embraced by other audiophiles. I wasn’t expecting much at all from the aR2p. Not only is it small and simple in appearance, but I have never been able to pin any sonic benefit to the two power conditioners that I have used until now.

What I hear from my system now far belies its size and unremarkable appearance. An older friend once described a common acquaintance as a guy “with sand”. That was a completely new expression to me, but from his context, it was easy to guess. A person with sand is never one to be trifled with. They are exactly who they are, without apology or compromise. In short, they always play true.

This week I put the aR2p Adept Response on a similar plane. Good recordings played from my front-end plugged into the aR2p became noticeably more real, more alive, more exciting to listen to. Yes, “veils parted”. And that doesn’t happen for me because some dancing Salome is being artful and revealing some-but-not-all of her charms through her notorious seven. Rather, I require the Full Monty.

I hear a new dimensionality to my music now, along with increased refinement and definition of sound. This is particularly evident with textures, more colorful and complex, and more distinct in relief to other instruments. A similar nuance extends to transients at the beginnings of notes, as well as to the subtleties of extended decays. Hearing such a teasing-out and un-muddying of music on temporal and tonal planes has allowed me to transport myself deeper and more raptly into the thick of performances.

What’s not to love here?! Bottom line, if anyone one month ago tried to tell me that my system sounded a little congealed for the make and quality of components that comprise it, I would have laughed at them. This single tweak proved all of that and more.

Kudos to Audience for their stunning achievement with the aR2p! And thanks, ever, to Stereophile for this sweepstakes prize and for facilitating a sea change in what I believed yet remained for me to improve on this sound system of mine!