SHAKTI STONE AIR & ONLINE AIR STABILIZERS - REVIEW
SHAKTI STONE AIR & ONLINE AIR STABILIZERS
Well, what do you do when your system is at reference level—exceptionally transparent and resolving, detailed, and eminently musical? Perhaps you push the boundaries to see if there is yet more. Though not in the sense of spending goo-goobs more money to take it further, as that would no doubt change the actual system itself, and from a reviewer’s perspective that would be less efficient. No, the art here, while stabilizing the continuity of your system, is to push it ever closer to “high fidelity” nirvana, but for a fraction of what your reference system cost via, well, tweaks.
What are tweaks? First, tweaks are things that can ostensibly improve the fidelity—the overall sound—of your audio system for relatively little money. Tweaks can be wires or cables or risers that keep cables above the floor. Tweaks can be isolation platforms or stands or isolation feet or pucks or cones. Tweaks can also be spiked feet (surface-mounted or screwed-in) or certain inert materials—particular kinds of wood or carbon fibre or stones or a composite material. Tweaks can also be devices purposed with diminishing Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) or Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), etc. Or perhaps tweaks can be the combination of an inert, composite material embedded with, say, electronic innards—internal trap circuits—that defeat EMI and/or RFI.
This last tweak combination—an inert, composite material embedded with electronic circuits for battling EMI and RFI—brings us to the subjects of this review, the Shakti Stone Air ($199) and the Shakti On-Line Air ($99) Electromagnetic Stabilizers. These two patented inventions were born from the research and development of Ben Piazza, the founder and owner of Shakti Innovations.
I must say that I have been aware for a very long time of Ben’s Shakti Hallograph Soundfield Optimizers (review coming), which in truth brought jaw-dropping results when heard at shows or at friends’ homes. But as the review of the Shakti Hallograph Soundfield is scheduled, I won’t get ahead of myself in this review.
Well, as always, the question remains: do the Shakti Stone Air and the Shakti On-Line Air Electromagnetic Stabilizers actually work, or are they ultimately destined to go on the “return to manufacturer” list?
REFRAIN: Unlike most reviews, this review will be non-sequential, as it will start, below, with how the equipment actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/or laying out its various parts, specifications, etc. Think of this review then, as a non-linear movie—Memento, Kill Bill, Arrival, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Terminator, In the Shadow of the Moon, The Queen’s Gambit, etc.—that likewise starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.
The SETUP
For this review, I used my most transparent and resolving electrostatic headphone system to more easily determine whether or not there would be any noticeable or dramatic benefits when placing the Shakti Stone Air and/or the Shakti On-Line Air Stabilizers on the various components.
The Shaktis, when placed upon a component or a speaker, are purposed with reducing electromagnetic, radio frequency, and microwave interference. The “how” of this patented invention is no doubt buried with the composite “stone” body and betwixt the various enclosed circuits—Microwave, RF, and Electric Field. I will leave the technical discussion for my interview with Ben Piazza.
The electrostatic review system comprises the Mola Mola Tambaqui as both DAC and Streamer, the Silent Angel Bonn N8 Pro Network Switch, powered by the Silent Angel F2 Power Supply, the Blue Hawaii Special Edition (BHSE) Electrostatic Headphone Amplifier, and the Dan Clark CORINA and the STAX SR-009S Electrostatic Headphones. Cabling is via Audience Front Row Cables and Wires and AntiCable Power Cords. Power conditioning is handled by the TORUS POWER RM20 Conditioner.
PURPOSE: The Shakti Stone Air Stabilizer is meant to go atop (or below) your componentry—CD player, DAC, Pre-Amp, Amplifier, etc.; whereas the Shakti On-Line Air Stabilizers, two per pack, are meant to go at the midpoint of a pair of wires or at the endpoints of a power cord via velcro attachment.
The (RESULTING) Sound
After I had listened to several short tracks— Joan Shelly’s “Wild Indifference” (Joan Shelly, No Quarter), Elina Duni’s “Moneu amour” (Partir, ECM), Olafur Arnalds’ “Árbakkinn” (Island Songs, Mercury (Universal France)), Anouar Brahem’s “The Astounding Eyes of Rita” (The Astounding Eyes of Rita, ECM)—that I was very familiar with, I placed the Shakti Stone Air on the top midpoint of the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC/Streamer. I listened again.
Immediately, the background was quieter—black quiet—some would say that the “noise floor” had dropped. This resulted in greater transparency and resolution and thus more overall detail—more information. Improved air and ambiance provided the sense of greater volume/dimensionality to the recordings of the various tracks.
But the improvements didn’t stop there. Vocals were less sibilant—no sscchhss; there was better articulation, which revealed every word/lyric as more clearly and more easily discernible. Vocalization, as a direct result, was smoother, more natural, and every track became, well, more listenable and immersive. Additional improvements came in tighter bass across bass drums and standup bass, etc.; more distinct guitar, cello, and violin plucks/strums; and more definitive, air-infused percussions. Given the reference system’s starting abilities, the level of improvement was not at all anticipated, but there it was.
Further, tonal/timbral accuracy was much improved, which certainly lent itself to the naturalness of the music, and yes, digital became more “analog-like” via the rendering of the various tracks. The Shakti Stone Air was performing as one of the best, most cost-effective tweaks I’ve used in a very long time. This was not guesswork and was easily repeatable across myriad music streams and as well as other components across the two-channel reference system (see “Systems” below).
Given the incredible success with one Shakti Stone Air, I was curious to place the Shakti On-Line Airs in the system, on the interconnect cables feeding the DAC. For immediate memory, I replayed the tracks with the Shakti Stone Air on the Mola Mola DAC/Streamer. I then placed the Shakti On-Line Airs at the midpoint of the Audience Front Row XLR interconnects. I listened.
What the Shakti Stone Air had improved, the Shakti On-Line Airs further improved, and in every respect. The sound stage had blossomed in volume as air and ambiance expanded and tone and timbre were more natural and immersive, and there was greater “quiet.”
Here’s an interesting bit of information regarding the Shakti Stone Air: whenever it was placed upon a component, it was necessary to actually turn down the volume. This was, of course, completely unexpected. The rationale certainly had to be that less noise in the system, which the Shaktis definitely alleviated, called for less volume to hear the music. Or so my logic goes.
NOTE: For those who may be less able to parse differences in a given tweak’s abilities on-the-fly—short-term—I’d suggest the Long Term Trade Out (LTTO). That is, live with the Shaktis for a while—several days, a week, month, etc.—then remove them. You should have a pretty good idea after this what’s what in terms of the sound. The LTTO will, for me, represent a follow-up review for the Shaktis.
Design & FUNCTIONALITY
Easy as eating a piece of apple or cherry pie that’s been set right before you along with a nice fork, napkin, and a good cup of coffee.
Remove the Shakti Stone Air from its packaging and place it atop a given component—DAC, Preamp, Amp, Streamer, Speaker, etc.
You’ll want to listen to music that you are very familiar with and adjust for optimal technical/musical improvement by moving it across the component. This should not take very long at all.
THE SPECIFICATIONS
Shakti Stone Air—Electromagnetic Stabilizer
The Shakti Stone Air Stabilizer has three internal trap circuits—Microwave Filter Circuit, RFI Filter Circuit, and Electric and Magnetic Field Circuit.
Dimensions: 6.5″ L x 5.25″ W x 1.5″ H
CONCLUSION
I could not have anticipated the level of improvement with regard to the Shakti Electromagnet Optimizers, though given my experience with Ben’s Hallograph Soundfield Optimizers, I assumed that there would be improvement. How much would be determined by analysis and review.
Well, the short and sweet of it is that the Shakti Stone Air and On-Line Air work immediately and beautifully together. They took our electrostatic reference system to even greater high-fidelity heights than we could have imagined. The improvements can be summed up in a few words—more transparent and resolving, more natural, more musical. Once they’ve been placed in your system, I don’t believe you’ll want them to leave. I certainly don’t. In summary, the Shaktis have served as one of the most cost-effective and capable tweaks I have used to date.
Pros: Inexpensive tweaks that bring component-level improvement to even your reference system for very little money, hands down.
Cons:…
THE SYSTEMS
REFERENCE SYSTEM
Baetis Audio Revolution 4 Streamer (review coming)
Silent Angel Rhein Z1 Streamer
Silent Angel Forester F2 LPS
Silent Angel Bonn N8 Pro
Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC
Mojo Audio Mystique X DAC
HeadAmp Blue Hawaii Special Edition (BHSE)
Audience Front Row Cables/Wires
Kubala Sosna Power Cables (review coming)
TORUS POWER RM20 power conditioner
COMPANY
SHAKTI INNOVATIONS
https://www.shakti-innovations.com/
Stone Air—Electromagnetic Stabilizer $199
Oline-Air—Electromagnetic Stabilizer $99
info@shakti-innovations.com