Bybee Slipstream
Quantum Purifiers

I have been an audiophile since 1958 and have been involved with the pursuit of that elusive demon called "absolute sound" . I have always been near the top of the food chain with my systems and I can tell you that high price is no indication of how the component will perform.

High end audio is magic when all is compatible but put the wrong two units together and you get disharmony. A good sound system is NOT the sum of its parts rather a symphony of compatible components. My present system is listed at the “Audio Asylum Inmate System” under Gene L. There may be some things you won’t like about my system but if it’s anything , it’s neutral.

The listening test was conducted at my home with state of the art interconnects from the companies that make Valhallas, Palladium, Clairvoyant and Black Pearl in a effort to find the winner in this stellar list. I used my CD system as the reference source so that only two of each interconnects would be needed. All these cables are fantastic and it is no small task to hear the differences. When you get to this level it seems to become very clear that they all have something in common, they are transparent and natural with nothing either emphasized or held back.

After many hours of listening, I was able to reduce the list to a clear winner as "best". The Valhallas seem to be the most transparent and natural in my system. I lived with Valhallas for 2 months before I decided to try the SlipStream Silver 8’s. Why did I decide to try the SlipStream Silver 8’s ? Well that old demon got back into my head and asked the question, "Is this as good as it gets ?"
Answer: "Who knows, lets explore."

I have used Bybee Devices in my system and they are still there. When I perused the tech stuff on the SlipStream at [www.bybeeinside.com] I was struck by the fact that this was not just wire but a system of components in consort to meet a desired end result. With all that tech and a money back guarantee I couldn’t help myself , so I ordered up two sets of 1m interconnects to audition. {$2K per set}

The SlipStream Silver 8’s are made from 6 nines pure silver ribbon conductors encased in PTFE Teflon with minimal contact, creating an effective air dielectric. There are silver Eichmann Bullet RCA connectors and a new type of Quantum Purifiers at both ends {signal & ground} on each cable. Then the whole thing is cryo treated to relieve stress at the molecular level. I have done this treatment to silver before and I can tell you that everything I did not like about the sound of silver went away. If you want to know more about these units, just go to their web site and have a good read. When my SlipStream Silver 8's arrived ,a voice in the back of my head said "Nothing can beat my Valhallas". Well I proceeded to slip the Silver 8’s into my system and left the room while the system got warmed up and ready to go.

Well my friends, as good as the Valhallas are, the Silver 8’s proceeded to kick them out of the box! The stage became even more open than before, much more air around each musician, increased depth, more definition without spotlighting, velvet black background, improved pace, more contrast with effortless dynamics and openness to die for. Tumbrel textures and harmonic contrasts were much improved and lifelike. To say the least, I was stunned.

If Valhallas are like Windex on the window to the performance then the SlipStream Silver 8’s are an open window, so you don’t need Windex anymore. Don’t take my word for it, get some Slipstream Silver 8’s for yourself and just listen.

I finally summoned the will and energy to remove the cord and install it into my audio system-mainly because a friend of mine is going through a round of power cord buying and testing and has asked me to help him out. The first stop for your cord was on my phono stage (Tom Evans "The Groove"). There it replaced an Omega Mikro active cord (I lent it to my friend for him to try), which has simply killed all comers for the last 18 months or so in this spot, but which I will have to retest again after using your cord. The results were startling - the imaging and soundstaging seemed to lay back just a little bit from before, but the soundstage also seemed to expand quite dramatically both in width and depth and even height (which is hard in my room, because the ceilings are only a pretty much regular 8'3" in height), while the specific images within the soundstage were stable, proportionate and almost holographic. Dynamics seemed more explosive, especially on the macro side. As I indicated, the Omega Mikro is no slouch, and I don't think it gives anything away to your cord in detail, delicacy and tone quality. In fact, to the extent that the Omega Mikro may be less "robust" than your cord, it may appear to have an edge in finesse. I'll just have to do a head to head to clarify my impressions. Suffice it to say, my first impression of this Slipstream LC prototype on my phono stage was very strong and very favorable.

I then put the cord on the separate power supply to my digital player, an Ayre DVD-1, which I use (and really like) as my regular digital audio source. The power supply is linked to the main player by a fixed (captive) umbilical with a special connector, so it cannot be changed. Nevertheless, power cords have made a surprising difference on this player.

No power cord has ever come anywhere near to your [Bybee Slipstream LC] cord in permitting my digital player to capture the whole space of recordings and sort out the images within the sound field so correctly and with such apparent realism. To use more common terms, your [prototype Bybee Slipstream LC cord causes my player to produce far, far more depth and dimensionality than ever before. The "completeness" of the soundfield and the layering of images within it are unprecedented in my system. The effect is so startling, at least to me, that I almost do not care about anything else. The "realism" of the soundstage and imaging is absolutely captivating.

When using either the LC or HD cord, the picture just looks cleaner and clearer - not sharper with exaggerated outlining of images - but truly clearer in the sense that you are seeing more of what is there (or more than you ever saw before). The picture is extraordinarily detailed, yet very natural looking and easy on the eyes. Picture and motion artifacts that normally accompany enhanced sharpness and detail are simply not there, at least with High Definition sources, but even regular broadcast TV pictures appear significantly cleaner, smoother and less noisy.

Colors are noticeably better as well. Overall black level is enhanced to some degree, although there is not that much difference in this area between the Bybee cords and other high quality power cords. The more significant differences between these cords and other high quality cords seems to me to be in the area of gray scale reproduction, or fine dynamics, if you will. Compared to other cords, the Bybee cords enhance the projector’s overall color palette and ability to blend and flow colors in very fine gradations so that the rendition of all colors always looks natural and unforced and hardly ever looks artificial or compromised. Once again, because of superior color rendition, the picture just looks more real with one of the Bybee cords in line.

How do the LC and HD cords compare? If you did not evaluate these cords back to back on the same material and very close in time, you would need a well-educated eye and/or have to have a pretty long video memory to compare these two cords in a meaningful way. I could not really see any difference between the two until I saw a back-to-back comparison at my dealer friend’s shop. In that short time frame comparison, I could see that the HD cord enables a slightly higher degree of resolution than the LC cord. While still being extraordinarily detailed, the picture with the LC cord in line is ever so slightly softer and more silky-looking than with the HD cord powering the projector. Indeed, some might find the picture with the LC cord to be a little more film-like and in that sense a bit more pleasing to the eye. With the HD cord, you see the truth and nothing but the truth, or so it seems, although the real truth of the matter is there is not much difference between the two cords, except to the purist - like my dealer friend. Likewise, with colors, a close comparison of the two cords shows that colors with the LC cord are ever so slightly darker and richer than with the HD cord. Conversely, the HD cord is a bit more neutral in its rendition of colors with the overall effect being that colors look a little more realistic, if sometimes less attractive. Again, however, the difference between these cords is not dramatic - certainly not as dramatic as the difference between either one of the Bybee cords and the next best other cord. My dealer friend sums up his feelings on the video performance of the two Bybee cords as follows: The LC cord is really fantastic. The HD cord is unbelievable.

On Audio:
Very much akin to what it does on my projection video system, the LC cord allows my source components to reproduce music with an incredible amount of detail and fine dynamic shading. As a result, imaging and recreation of the sound stage is unlike anything I have ever heard in my current system or any system I have ever put together. For the first time, on well recorded CDs or LPs, my system goes beyond producing a sound field with good lateral imaging and good depth and layering. It produces an uncanny sense of the actual recording venue and the placement of the performers within that venue. Instead of transporting the performers into my listening room, the sound field is reproduced in such a way that the listener (me) is transported to the actual recording environment - or so it seems. In other words, with the LC cord powering the source, instead of creating a “they are here” effect, my system is for the first time capable of creating a “you are there” effect. For a number of years from different writers I've read about certain high end audio components and systems that supposedly produce this "you are there" effect but have never really felt that I had heard it and had become skeptical that it really existed. I've heard it now.

On source components, I believe this Slipstream LC power cord is the best cord I have ever used by a wide margin.

I then tried one small purifier on each leg of the balanced outputs. This actually made more difference than the AC input, and I heard a lot deeper into the recordings. This step gave me a huge degree of improvement in soundstaging.

Next, I put a digital purifier (the one with the special silver leads) in the digital signal path -- and heard the biggest improvement yet. It's incredible how this machine is sounding right now. I had noted a slight high frequency forwardness right after I installed the purifiers, but after just a day in "repeat" mode that forwardness disappeared, and now the sound is very natural and grain-free. I really should be in the shop working on gear, but I can't pull myself away from the sound room.

I'm going to try the purifiers in line with the transformer secondaries and see what that does. At the moment i'm not sure how much better it can get.... I haven't been this excited about a component I can use for mod work in a long time.

(Follow-Up Comments)

Jack, I did put purifiers on the transformer secondaries and they do seem to be even more effective than at the AC input. It all seems additive, though -- I haven't reached the point where more purifiers don't make a difference.

I also put a number of them in a GNSC-modified Resolution Audio CD-55 player and it really sounds fantastic.

I'll certainly be trying them in other locations as well.

Nice job Jack ! These REALLY work.

Sonically, here's what I noticed: after the first hour or so he sound changed rather dramatically. All I could do was laugh at this mongo-sized soundstage and real-life image palpability, clarity like I have never experienced from any system yet. The increase in dynamics and bass definition, the beauty of the sound on female vocals is just awesome. MANY newly uncovered microscopic hidden details emerged over the next several hours. I'm serious, there was an enormous gain in smoothness and musicality. By now it was 4:00am & I did not want to stop listening.

Just as a note: Here is my current system so far. My own 50 kva transformer, cryo'ed copper service entrance cable and in-wall wire, cryo-treated wall outlet, 14ft. King Cobra V2 into a Hydra, (1)King Cobra V2 into the modified Wadia 861, another King Cobra V2 into an Art Audio Diavolo(soon to be hot-rodded). Cabling by Silversmith. Speakers are Avantgarde Uno are 2.0... Dedicated room/tubetraps galore and many tweaks. I am a big fan of cryo-treating most things.

Incidentally, I've used your interconnect and speaker filters in the past and they DID NOT afford anywhere near the same improvements that these 2 little raw devices did in this location. Using the former Bybee products, I felt as though they gave more detail and deeper soundstage definition at the expense of a sense of liveness. Something was just missing. I wasn't able to connect with the music the same way. But never mind that, I'm now in love with these things. The soundstage goes way back and is wider than hell. But here's the weird part. It seems as though the soundstage comes out to envelop me with a tremendous sense of projection. I played this one CD and I swear when sitting in the listening position, 11 feet from the speakers, which are 9ft apart, there are sounds and the sound of air that are both quite high in respective level. These appear to be located 10 feet directly to the left of my head. I can still hear those sounds of air stay put even if I turn my head to the left and look over there!! I've read of others reporting on things like this occurring every once in a while, but what I found on this recording is really bizarre.

Although the Bybee products did well for a few months after my review came out, I heard later from Jack Bybee that business had fallen off dramatically. I was not all that surprised; audiophiles are a notoriously fickle bunch, and as virtually a cottage industry, Bybee Technologies had never really developed strong retail distribution. A bit later though, I discovered that Jack Bybee was now interested in selling the key components, which he called Quantum Purifiers, in raw form, installable in any component or speaker. This was exciting news, as Jack told me that the internal installations were even more sonically effective than the outboard devices. I could not wait to try them for myself.

My first experiment was to add the Quantum Purifiers to my Eggleston Andra loudspeakers. This required ten purifiers, one at the positive lead of each driver. After the installation, the initial listening session was not very impressive. If anything, there seemed to be more veiling of the speakers' characteristic very open mid- and high-frequency performance; the bass seemed slightly dull and less powerful. So I left the system playing and went off to lunch. Returning after about an hour, I could already hear significant changes, and very encouraging ones. Most of the veiling was now gone, and the bass was sounding far more robust. Through the rest of that day, as I continued to listen, the sound became better and better. The most obvious improvements were in bass and dynamics, but I was also beginning to hear more inner detail in well-known recordings, and I perceived a broader and deeper soundstage, with very precise placement of voices and instruments, both laterally and in depth. All of these improvements continued to develop over about the next month, as the Bybee purifiers broke in fully.

This was very exciting stuff -- like getting a new pair of speakers. After this success, I was determined to see what the purifiers could do with my other components, especially in comparison to the effect of the outboard interconnect filters I was already using. I began with my VTL 750 Reference amplifiers, treating the secondary B+, B- and filament. The effect of this change was to make the amplifiers sound quicker, more agile. I then went on to my reference Thor line stage, phono preamp and DAC, in that order. On the preamps, I treated power (after the transformer), inputs and outputs, as well as other key places within their circuits. On the DAC, I took the same approach, but included the digital input as well. I will not bore you and myself with the play-by-play of each little improvement I heard. To cut to the chase, each time an updated component was re-inserted into the system, clear sonic improvements could be heard. It seemed that the beneficial effect of quantum filtration was cumulative far beyond any level I had expected. The improvements were also greater than I had been able to achieve using the outboard products -- although I later discovered that continuing to use the outboard products made for even greater improvements.

The Bybee Quantum Purifiers are the only circuit tweak -- if you can call it just a tweak -- that I have ever found to have no downside. The cumulative effect of using more of them in the system is to move the sound of the system away from electronic and toward pure music. It is almost impossible now to imagine going back to how my system sounded a few months ago -- and I was proud of it then. These little devices have effected more than an improvement -- they have truly transformed my system, giving it a relaxed musicality that I had no way to expect. Most of us who have very good audio systems learn that you sometimes don't know you have a particular shortcoming until you get rid of it. Prior to the Bybee experience, I would have been irritated to hear from anyone that my system sounded “electronic.” If on the one hand my experiences here made me question my perceptiveness, they also rekindled my fervor -- the core audiophile fervor really -- for continuing on to see just how good the system can get.

One criticism of the Bybee purifier effect that I have heard here and there is that they detract from the system's air. Now, as a reviewer, I have been guilty of talking about air when describing the sound of components. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder what air really is. One thing I know is that you don't get air in a concert hall; in fact, you don't usually get much imaging and soundstaging either. These are really phenomena that relate to the audio experience, not to live music. My opinion is that the air that disappears after the application of Bybee purifiers is really just a kind of quantum noise, a subtle electronic haze that has nothing to do with music. And its absence in my system causes me no distress; I would rather have my system sound more like the real thing. I know, that's what everyone wants, at least theoretically, but I can't help wondering how many audiophiles listen to enough live music to really make the judgment. (Well, that should be enough to generate a few angry potshots.) But for the open-minded and open-eared, the Bybee Quantum Purifiers offer a window into a new level of listening pleasure.

Late last year, this same helpful, ever enthusiastic friend volunteered to install the in-board Bybee filters I had been anxious to try since I first heard about them. After a long afternoon's labor, he had put those devices (now called Quantum Purifiers, he said -- the term filter suggested a trade-off, giving up something in order to gain something) in my CD processor, pre-amp and amp, and also my speakers. Even my happy experience with the original products did not prepare me for what I was to hear once the inboard Purifiers had gone through a few hours of break-in. For one thing, the speakers disappeared, and all at once I was hearing the orchestra from the first row of the first balcony of the concert hall my listening room had now become. Even in the thickest orchestral passages, I could distinguish between first and second violins, violas and cellos, cellos and basses, basses and double-basses. I could place exactly where the winds were sitting in relation to each other, could clearly register the particular timbre and color of each of the brass choirs, even at full cry. At quiet moments, I could hear chairs creaking as musicians shifted their weight, the conductor swaying on the podium, the clicking of a solo clarinet as it was being played. The Bybee inboard Purifiers have restored not only the lustre and immediacy of the sound, but also the sheer physical, heart-thumping excitement I experienced when I first heard this system all those years ago. God bless you, Jack Bybee.

Shortly, Jack Bybee will no longer make his outboard plug-ins components available to the consumer. Instead, he will have a small number of types of devices intended for use within speakers and amplifiers, where still better results obtain, to say nothing of the improvement in neatness. Depending on the component and function, a manufacturer could use from two to ten of them in various places - e.g. in speakers at the drivers; or in preamps, converters, and amplifiers in both the signal path and the power supply.

A while back, I auditioned two otherwise identical 300B-SE amplifiers. The stock unit was priced at $6,000. The amplifier modified with Bybee stabilizers (ten of them) would have retailed for about $8,000-8,500. The level of improvement was nearly as impressive as substituting silver wound transformers for the standard copper. Such improvement would have cost ten times more in the case of an Audio Note amplifier.

Until then, I had satisfied myself in my own system with Bybee devices only on the AC, but have since experimented with their use at the speaker driver (Audio Note Model 2/SE) and at the input of the amplifier (Audio Note Ankoru) and preamplifier (Aesthetix). Each time, there was a similar clarification of the signal, an integration of harmonic and dynamic presentation, and a pushing back of the noise.

In the case of the speaker, there was a most unexpected result: the drivers began to cohere as if they were one driver! The astonishing evidence of the value of Bybee stabilizers is that if you place them in series, things get better, not worse - even in the signal path! This flies in the face of everything we believe we know and understand about audio, but such is the case, I kid you not.

Bybee Experiment
It is important to understand that the devices are a new type - unlike all other approaches so far. Without going into a long technical description, suffice to say that these really do "purify" the signal (the only device to truly qualify for this metaphor - all others simply filter, which is inherently frequency dependant).

When electrons pass through conductors they "hit" the structure of the conductor, which causes noise (quantum noise). Minimizing this structure is one big reason "single crystal" wire works.

It turns out there are two types of electrons in the world, one type which tends to "hit" less. The Bybee filter tends to trap the ones that hit and eliminate the noise. Thus the devices really do filter out the "noise" that builds up WHENEVER THE SIGNAL PASSES THRU A CONDUCTOR. This means the devices are best used at major impededance changes, and after longer "runs" of conductor, e.g. at the speaker drivers. Other good places are at the preamp & amp in and the power entry to same.

At each point they remove the "built up" noise. They also have the effect of reducing the reactivity of the load (a good thing).

Knowing all this, I installed 8 devices in the Duos. Jack B indicated that break in was lengthy; however the benefits were apparent immediately. The overall effect was like moving up to the next more expensive speakers in a line. More definition, more "hear into," more detail. The background was blacker/quieter. Bass seemed to have a bit more definition. The magnitude of this effect was substantial (as these things go) - perhaps in the same areas as putting in a good power conditioner, or going to a MUCH more expensive tone arm.

An across the board "cleaning up" rather than a frequency-dependant effect. Very little on the minus side.

One friend with a good ear, but a tendency to like "hi fi" sound thought the soundstage was a bit diminished, and that the "bite" of Violas was a bit reduced. Really so or was this bite an effect of the added noise? Don't know. But for myself, the Bybees are one of the few virtually unqualified improvements I have made to the system.

In so many other cases things are "different" but not necessarily better - or alternatively improve one thing but hurt another. The Bybees are an across the board improvement . Speaker mfgrs are you listening? A bybee upgrade is at least as valid as options on internal wiring. I have experimented with various tweaks a lot, but only with stuff that I understand, and hence know WHY it should improve the sound.