GMG POWER X-Blocker Exclusive Edition
Power conditioners
The original X-Blocker is six years old, so GMG, whose knowledge on power filtering is six years younger, decided to modernize it. The new version has aluminium front panel that doubles its thickness to 22mm, a restylized logo, and a badge that marks the Exclusive Edition. Another change is around the back where a patented IEC lock from Oudaudio was installed. It is an amazing feature as it grabs the IEC connector tight and dampens its resonances, as well as it alleviates the lever of heavy cables. However, the most important changes took place inside.
Funkce a forma
Maybe it is just me, but I want an audio device to be pleasing to both my ears and eyes, should I pay a lot of money for it. The X-Blocker Exclusive – as well as any other power product from GMG Power – are exactly that. The craftmanship is impeccable outside and inside, the finish is flawless. There are no moving meters or blinking numbers, the softly glowing ‘X’ is the only element that lets you know that the unit is alive. And even this ‘X’ has its own dedicated function as you’ll learn. The chassis is of a standard size (450 x 120 x 320mm, 21kg) and there is no heavy transformer inside, so the X-Blocker can be placed on its feet as well as on its side panel. The latter came handy when I replaced my Shunyata Research Denali with it, as the Denali is a vertically conceived device.
The IEC inlet of the X-Blocker is 20-amps, the outlets (all Furutech NCF) provide 3,700W/16A of continuous power each, with dynamic power handling of 10,000 watts. The whole filter handles continuous load of 4,600W. In a typical audio set up with two A-Class power amplifiers, the X-Blocker will not limit power delivery and has ample reserve. All connecting posts of the device are rhodium-plated.
The filtering happens in multiple stages and provides 15-106dB attenuation in 100 kHz –3GHz range, and includes a DC filter and surge voltage protection up to 100,000A. Individual filtering stages reside in their own compartments that are shielded by thick partitions. Interestingly, there are no hook up wires inside the X-Blocker Exclusive – all parts including sockets are soldered directly to multilayered PCB boards with gold-plated paths. The boards are attached via anti-resonant interfaces to the chassis.
For the Exclusive Edition, GMG reviewed all critical parts and had many of them made to their own specifications. The filtering circuits were expanded by 36 new parts for greater efficiency in high frequencies. It is an audible improvement.
Nízké frekvence
The GMG Power X-Blocker Exclusive got a truly exclusive opportunity: to be compared one on one with five very good power conditioning devices: Stromtank S-1000, Shunyata Research Denali 6000T, RD Acoustics EMI Neutralizer, Synergistic Research Galileo PowerCell SX, and AAI power distributor. Technically speaking, out of those five, only the X-Blocker and the EMI Neutralizer were filtering devices. The Stromtank generates its own clean power from batteries and the others are power distribution units with no sophisticated filtering circuitry.
A lot of audiophiles are skipping power filters in front of amplifiers, and that’s not surprising. Although isolation transformers or batteries easily provide necessary voltage, they often cannot deliver instant peak current, and they cannot deliver it quickly enough. Blunt transients, softening and smearing, especially in the bass part of spectrum, are the result. The muddy bass then masks harmonics in mids and highs, and music suffers. The same holds true about many distributors, as often they are just a nice chassis with local electro-mart-grade internals. In fact, it is quite hard to find power conditioning devices that at least can provide unrestricted power to source components and preamps. From what I have tried over years, I would recommend only a few that are capable to feed hungry power amplifiers: Shunyata Research’s Denali and Everest (optionally completed with the Shunyata’s Typhoon T2/T30), fridge-sized Stromtank models, passive Ansuz Mainz units, and Nordost’s Qb4 and Qb8 extension cords. I am happy to report that the X-Blocker Exclusive Edition is another device that can be used to filter power for both source components and amplifiers, including Class A monoblocks that were used in the review.
Čistota rozlišení
When GMG brought in a pre-production sample, it was clear that this X-Blocker was something special. I'm aware that I'm shuffling corporate product hierarchies, but while one would expect the new X-Blocker Exclusive derives its sound from GMG's (for now) flagship Harmonic Hammer Exclusive filter, this is not the case. The X-Blocker Exclusive Edition is a generation younger, and you can hear it. The X-Blocker Exclusive allows the music to come through with more power, better dynamics and timbre, as well as it can resolve low-level detail superbly (a natural consequence of the further reduced noise levels). GMG Power has, without exaggeration, grown up in past years and can easily compete with the world's best, as I heard during the comparisons with the units mentioned above - if the X-Blocker Exclusive wasn't outright better in these duels, it was at least at the same level of performance.
The comparison with my Stromtank S-1000 was of a particular interest for me, as the X-Blocker has almost caught up with the Stromtank’s price. Brian Bromberg's bass (Freedom Jazz Dance, DSD) was more crushing and more solid at the very bottom of its frequency range through the GMG Power unit, when I used it in front of my SACD player. As a result, the bass seemed to be faster and tighter without losing any of its weight or its kinetic energy. To be clear, it wasn't a day and night difference; if I left the room for ten minutes, came back and didn't know which filter was in action, I would have to listen hard to provide an answer.
Tonální věrnost
Intuitively (and in the technical sense too) we know that power plugs should be connected to any filtering device or a distributor with correct phase. That means that the phase pin of the plug should go into the phase hole of the socket, both on the input of the filter and on the output of the filter. The common convention puts the phase pin typically on the right-hand side when looking at the socket from the front. This is also how the X-Blocker Exclusive has it. If your wall socket is reversed (or if your power cable reverses the phase along its length), you will be alarmed by the big white ‘X’ on the front panel of the X-Blocker turning orange. Nice.
Like it or not, both the cable that connects the X-Blocker to the wall and the cable that connects the powered device to the X-Blocker makes its fingerprint on what you’ll hear. So, little experimentation is needed. GMG recommends AAI power cables, and I tend to agree - there is a very good synergy between the brands. The X-Blocker Exclusive unit was tested with AAI Maestoso and AAI Estremo, as well as with Ansuz Mainz C2, Synergistic Research SRX XL, and Silent Laboratories SW power cable prototypes. As the X-Blocker uses rhodium plated Furutech NCF, the compatibility between rhodium and the material that is used for plug pins will also be important. There is no other way to know than trying it out in your own system.
Prostorovost
Let’s go back to the X-Blocker Exclusive vs the Stromtank comparison. I don’t want to make an impression that the two are indistinguishable from each other. Especially with acoustic music, like Paganini’s La Campanella (Yoshihiro Kondo), the Stromtank provided more nuanced harmonics and better delineated faint reverbs, thus creating a tad more three-dimensional soundstage, especially front-to-back. With non-acoustic music, the X-Blocker delivered more scale, however.
I love the latest Saxon’s Hell, Fire And Damnation album. It starts with The Prophecy that features an intro that is full of sound effects before the guitars kick in. The X-Blocker Exclusive as if moved a bigger sonic mass to me through the speakers, and rendered the track more powerful, without lacking anything in resolution. Similarly, the dreamlike Sweetest Smile from the eponymous Wonderful Life album (Black) had beautifully full and round bass guitarwork, soothing arrangements and very well articulated vocals through the X-Blocker. The music acquired a sort of peace and calmness that was not there without the filter.
Could I live with the X-Blocker Exclusive Edition in my own reference system? You bet I could. If it had more sockets. In Europe, we are handicapped as there are only 4 sockets around the back, while the US version has 8. Also, I would like to see a grounding post on the X-Blocker, like its more expensive sibling, the GMG Power Harmonic Hammer, has. Who experimented with grounding schemes knows what I am talking about. I had the chance to extend the X-Blocker Exclusive’s capabilities further on by adding the GMG’s in-line microUNIT filter; with carefully selected power cables, adding the microUNIT transforms the sound remarkably and the sound gets even purer and more resolved.
The launch of the X-Blocker Exclusive Edition is a typical example of product cannibalization, when the new generation of the 2nd-in-line product outperforms the flagship product. If you own the GMG Harmonic Hammer, you may or may not consider the upgrade. Or wait for a new GMG’s flagship. You, who do not own any filter or use a simple power distributor, pick up the phone and arrange a demo with the X-Blocker Exclusive – it is that really good.
Doporučení prodejci
GMG Power, Nedakonice, tel. +420 739 626 436
Web výrobce: http://www.gmgpower.cz/
Připojené komponenty
- Sources: Accuphase DP-720, Ayon CD-35 HF Edition
- Amplifiers: TAD M-2500, Audia Flight Strumento No.8
- Interconnects and speaker cables: AudioQuest Dragon Bass | Zero, Krautwire Numeric Digital, Ansuz Signalz C2, Synergistic Research SRX, Nordost Odin 2, AAI Estremo
- Loudspeakers: TAD Revolution One, Sonus Faber Gravis I, Silent Laboratories Equilibrium, Silent Laboratories Melodee, Fyne Audio SuperTrax supertweeter
- Power conditioning: Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2, Synergistic Research SRX, AAI Maestoso, AAI Estremo, Silent Laboratories S.W. I, II & III, Shunyata Research Denali 6000T, Synergistic Research Galileo SX Ground Block, RD Acoustics EMI Neutralizer, GMG Power microUNIT, IsoTek V5 Syncro Uni DC Blocker, Stromtank S-1000, Nordost QPoint, Qv2, QWave and QSine
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