So much for the theory. Even a single Schu, placed between the wall socket and the cable feeding your distribution block will have a significant musical impact. You will hear a quieter background, more focus and dimensionality, wider dynamics with quicker response and a richer tonal palette. Best of all, the sense of musical flow and rhythmic integrity will improve, making music more engaging and communicative. Adding additional Schus between your block and the power cords feeding your equipment simply compounds the effects and the musical benefits. Read the original review, but having actually listened to their sonic and musical impact, you too will find yourself asking, just how many Schus (or Sox) does one man need?
The ZeroPoint Matrix 1
https://gy8.eu/review/zeropoint-matrix-1/
If the Acouplex Plug Schus aim to prevent the mechanical interference that pollutes the AC grid from entering and impacting your system, ZeroPoint’s enigmatic Matrix 1s are firmly targeted on induced noise within your system’s cable loom and ground plane. Compact, 3D printed, cubic boxes, aside from the two 3.5mm jack sockets there’s little to see on the outside. Inside, it’s a different story. The Matrix name derives from the complex, fractal structure of the enclosure walls, its random nature and massive surface area aiding its dissipation of both heat and vibrational energy. The carbon-loaded resin from which it’s manufactured creates a Faraday Cage around the internal network, preventing the ingress of additional, airborne RFI and maximising efficiency. The filter network itself combines carefully selected and hand-built elements, each the result of exhaustive auditioning.
Each Matrix 1 is supplied with a pair of leads, the 3.5 stereo jacks that plug into the box providing a multi-path connection. The other end sports 4mm bananas or spades, that allow parallel connection to your speaker terminals. Hook ‘em up and off you go. It really is that simple – while for something so simple the results are really quite surprising. In the original review I summarised the Matrix 1’s impact thus:
“In the same way that live music is instantly recognisable, no matter the situation, what the Matrix 1s deliver is fundamentally more recognisable, more engaging and more musical. The scale, clarity, focussed energy and resolution, but above all, the clarity they bring to rhythm and timing, make your recordings sound more ‘there’ – more like real people, more like real instruments in a real space.”
That’s a big step up in performance for comparatively little cost and even less bother. What’s more, time has only reinforced that experience. Even with really ambitious speaker systems like the Göbel Divin Monarque, the Matrix 1s deliver a welcome boost in musical clarity and connection. With lesser speakers, their contribution is transformative. From the Wilson DAW or Peak Sinfonia, all the way dow to the Living Voice Auditorium R25 and Vienna Acoustics Haydn, the results are little short of astonishing, especially given the expenditure involved. So much so that, if you want to really hear what a speaker (or your speaker) is capable of, the ZeroPoint Matrix 1s make an essential contribution. In turn, that has made them indispensable in the systems at Gy8 – from the biggest and most ambitious, down to the most budget conscious.
