Have you ever sat down to listen to a favorite album or video, and somewhere in the house someone turns on a blender, hairdryer, vacuum, even simple power supplies? While you may not hear the appliance, but depending on the item, you definitely notice a difference. Noise in the audio and video signal acts as a haze that limits our ability to enjoy the full experience of the artists. Much like smog restricts the natural saturation of a blue sky.
Audiophiles at the top of the chain have long invested in power conditioners, usually at the cost of multiple thousands of dollars. This is pretty much an untapped market for the rest of us….until now. I want to be clear, for almost everyone the improvement to your output will be small, but if you have done the Harman training, or have deep awareness for certain songs you will catch incremental improvements. So, when I discuss my observations keep this point in mind.
Upon arrival, like previous noise cleaning units, I plugged the Snubway into the wall socket, and the Main Stream into the surge protector that powers my Sony flat screen, satellite/DVR box, and WiiM amp. I’ve always been a fanatic about TV image quality, as it was instilled by my father. As soon as the color was just off, our neighbor who owned the Denver institution CW Electronics shop, was summoned and the failing tube was replaced. That gentleman, John Capone, passively educated me what to look for in image quality.
Taking that knowledge, I started up a DVR recording of “Blue Bloods” as the color saturation is exceptional, including many scenes in dark, moody lighting. Normally, when the refrigerator or freezer compressor kicks on, the color saturation dims slightly. But the real change is black level. In this scene, Tom Selleck is in a dark, three-piece suit, and is talking to Stacy Keach, in a black priest’s daily wear. Easily noticed by my eyes were that different pieces of clothing, including folds and seams can be more distinguished with the Snubway and Main Stream in the chain.
Snubway
How are the Snubway and Main Stream accomplishing this? Let’s start with the Snubway. All homes are full of switching power supplies, basically anything that uses an external brick. Due to their budget constrained design, noise leaks back into the power line. As noise comes into the Snubway, four LCR filters collect noise from items mentioned prior are aligned in a parallel mode. Acting much like a colander traps the pasta, but lets the water thru.
Main Stream
The Main Stream goes on your surge protectector in the socket after the last piece of equipment. I asked Mark Schifter, the visionary behind Vera-Fi, if my assumption was correct, or, if it should go after the amplifier but before the source equipment. Mark said he had tried both and felt it was a personal choice. I found that last was a better option due to the Main Stream’s size compared to a plug. It’s important to note, both the Snubway and Main Stream use a very high quality Viborg copper prongs and housing.
The Main Stream works to remove noise created by electrical motors from home appliances. For example, anytime the vacuum is running the image quality on the TV degrades, even when on a different circuit. The same can be said for the washer and dryer, and they are both on dedicated circuits. I highly suggest if you wish to learn more to visit the Vera-Fi Audio webpages for the Snubway and Main Stream, then follow up with emails to the manufacturer.
In the Audio Chain
Since experiencing three large wildfires in my county this past summer, the noise level has increased in my system (It’s only fair to note that line was replaced during the review). A local retired electrician confirmed my assumption as he enjoys tinkering with vintage electrical items and refurbishing electrical motors, and has a habit of regularly measuring noise (his wife calls it a weekly obsession).
During the review process, I used three amplifiers, a class D Emerald Physics 600.2SE, the vacuum tube Vista Audio i34, and a vintage Adcom GFA-555ii that has just a two-way plug. Each amp received roughly an equal amount of time with the Snubway/Main Stream, and playing the same music.
With the Adcom, I definitely noticed less grainy sound. Billy Joel’s “The Nylon Curtain” album which suffers from the CBS crunch as my mentor Jeff Dorgay of ToneAudio called their recordings lessened. That in turn gave my ears a sense of greater space between instruments. But even a bigger improvement came in the form of less hiss coming from the speakers when no music was being played. To confirm, I got out my trusty decibel meter and compared with and without the Snubway/Main Stream in the chain. From my visual observation a 2db difference was detected.
The Emerald Physics 600.2SE had the next best level of clarity. It was in the acoustic guitars, string and reed instruments that sounded fuller, less edgy, To go back to the color saturation explanation, think of how a grass lawn looks after a rain. The green tones have that extra measure of vibrancy.
Finally, with the Vista Audio i35 integrated amplifier with its EL34 vacuum tubes, the difference was the most subtle. Now maybe that is due to the massive transformers that come with tube amplifiers. Whatever the case may be the hiss was slightly lower, thought the flute and top piano chords did give off a bit more sparkle when listening to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”.
Final Thoughts
The main point with the Snubway and Main Stream Power Conditioners at $295 each, is that they both are actually improving the electrical signal by removing the unwanted noise that is created by other electrical items in the home. No, they shouldn’t be your first purchase when building an audio or home theater system. But, as a potential missing link when everything is set up and you’re looking for the last ingredient in reaching your goal, no doubt. Do I think they are worth the price? Absolutely, I noticed a difference, especially with other household items were running that create known electrical noises. When you consider the cost of true power conditioners at several thousand dollars, why not give the Snubway and Main Stream a 30 day money back trial?
Both of these devices get my highest recognition, as I will be purchasing them outright. They do what they say, and my system benefits.
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