When, in March of this year, I met up with Louis Motek, proprietor of LessLoss, an offer was made I simply couldn't resist: "Care to evaluate the latest series of DFPC Signature power cables?". "Sure", I replied, with seemingly zero hesitation. 5 PCs were promptly dispatched to casa Kaey and soon after the listening fun began. No matter the source, a calmness and certain sense of ease was leveled at the system, each track appearing that much more tuneful, nay, tasteful. Powered via Nordost's otherwise exquisite power conditioning line consisting of the QB-8, QV-4 and QV-2, these LessLoss cables appeared to do precisely what they said they would: lower the noise floor and reduce apparent HF transmissions to/from the system. For more detailed impressions read the review at Positive-Feedback Online, where, you guessed it, I highly recommend these puppies. Well done team LessLoss, highly recommended. A+++. Bonus: hit the space link to read a conversation with Louis Motek...
]]> Danny Kaey: I've been using the DFPC Signature power cables for about a week now, and there's definitely increased clarity of the audio. But the part that's perhaps most intriguing is that wonderful calmness of the stereo image. There's a certain sense of ease that I just don't get with other power cables on the market, and believe me, I've tried so many of them (can't possibly list them all). I'm talking a huge spectrum of the market, ranging from some of the most affordable to some of the most exotic. And very few (costing multiples of the DFPC!) seem to provide what this LessLoss DFPC Signature cable is presenting me with—this ease of listening and calmness of the image. What is it about your cables, Louis? How did you achieve this undoubtedly special performance at such an attractive price point?Louis Motek: The secret to our performance lies in the Skin-filtering technology we developed at LessLoss. Because, through the physics of signal conduction, we know for sure exactly where the noise is located (which is exactly on the so-called Skin of the conductor and nowhere else), we can go in very meticulously and treat the conductor at the very place we need. We want the cable NOT to conduct those invasive noise signals. Because the world is penetrated by these noise signals, it is no easy task. We developed a unique method of utilizing pigments in a specialized in-house prepreg process. After curing and special post-processing (it takes a week), this achieves more attenuation of wide-bandwidth HF noise and results in an even cleaner sound than is possible when one uses conductors of the typical sort. The true nature of the signal is better revealed above an even lower noise floor when spurious noise cannot even enter the wire in the first place.
Danny Kaey: But every piece of gear on the market these days has power filtering built in. If it is already built in, and there's no secret about how to filter out noise, why should it matter how much noise is in the power cable? You'd think the engineers of the components themselves would have known how to deal with this noise to enable the use of a $2.95 power cable from Home Depot.
Louis Motek: The problem with typical industry standard noise filtering design is that the designers allow noise to travel along the wire, and then try to handle it in a so-called "filter element". This is typically an off-the-shelf filter network made of caps and coils. All of these filter elements color the sound because they are based on theories of resonance, and are not immediate in their method of functionality. Filters which use caps and coils always filter only a limited bandwidth of noise and let other frequencies through. They are not effective across the board at all frequencies because they are not designed to be so.
Danny Kaey: So your solution takes care of things not taken care of in the gear?
Louis Motek: With our power cable's Skin-filtering solution, since we don't introduce the problem into your gear, your gear doesn't have to fix it. Indeed, the higher the frequency of noise, the less chance it has at getting into and through our power cables, and never winds up entering your gear in the first place. So this noise never affect s your audio signals, and the result is sort of like listening to music in the 50's and 60's when there was a LOT less radio noise in the atmosphere than today. This is a solution whose time has come, because today, the need is there. If you connected our power cables to your gear in the early 60's, you probably would not have heard any difference at all.
Danny Kaey: I live in a populous environment. Surely, your solution has no effect in a rural environment?
Louis Motek: To date, we have sent out well over three thousand DFPCs to customers all over the world. We have a large pool of statistics based on user feedback. Many of these customers live in rural areas, and they all report the immediate impact the lowering of the noise floor has on the sound quality. They also all own mobile phones and email me using the internet, regardless of where they are from. Noise is here to stay. Because audio is a real-time event, it is not error checking that is our handy partner here, it is real-time noise evasion. Real-time means we have no time to wait until a filter resonance successfully diverts some noise from the power. We need instantaneous delivery of the power and at the same time we need the power to be noise-free. All this is valid in the smallest village just as well as on Park Avenue in New York City, and has the same effect on the sound quality.
Danny Kaey: Amazing stuff, Louis. Anything new waiting on the horizon?
Louis Motek: We never rest on our laurels.
Danny Kaey: Come on, Louis. What's pending?
Louis Motek: We continue to strive to make better and better sound quality available to more and more people.
Danny Kaey: Ok... And when can we expect it?
Louis Motek: Always.
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