hifi-advice.com - Vibex and Fadel Art Line Conditioners

Line Conditioners - Vibex and Fadel Art

Regular readers are probably aware of my aversion of powerline filtering. It's just that they just never did good things for me in the systems I tried them in. Would these two change my opinion?

What we have here are two line conditioners about which little is known. Especially Vibex are very secretive about the ingredients of their filter. I tried opening the case but found that the entire case had been filled with some sort of resin. The same goes for the Fadel Art: you can unscrew the front plate but behind it is merely a big block of resin.

Two very different filters, tested under identical circumstances

hifi-advice.com - info and reviews by Christiaan Punter - February 2009

Made from cast aluminum and painted in a shiny purple, this filter certainly looks the part.

The Fadel Art may not look like much, but it may well be the heaviest component I've had yet in such a small package. The 1000-watt transformer inside is what's causing this. It is about as heavy as the Jeff Rowland Synergy preamp!

Vibex Reference Powerfilter Copper

The Vibex is a relatively lightweight unit. It is much lighter than the Fadel Art for example, and about just as heavy as the Vibex powerblock (reviewed here). From what I can deduct, there is no big transformer inside because that would have made the unit much heavier. It has a very high power rating of 3700 watts. So I can only deduct that it is a parallel filter consisting of some capacitors and a small coil. This would suppress HF noise but in my experience it also slows down the rhythm and softens transients and attack.

Alas, the Vibex is no different. I tested it in combination with a Wadia 27ix GNSC dac and a Mark Levinson no 360S dac. In both cases there was a mellowing of character. Not unpleasant by itself and quite useful if your treble is a bit bright otherwise. The rhythm was largely intact, better than with other parallel filters I have tried and the softening of transients wasn't terrible although I did feel some dynamic constraint. The music was just nog that outgoing anymore. It felt witheld. But there was more going on. Apart from the usual filter-effects, I also heard what I can only call an artificiality added to the sound. A colouration that made the very expensive Wadia sound more like a Sony. Gone was its full, rich colour, replaced by sepia greys.

CONCLUSION

The Vibex wasn't liked in my setup. But I also tested it in another completely different setup in another part of the city. But with the same result. I find that it doesn't add anything good, instead, only takes away. Maybe if my power had been terribly noisy... But then again, maybe it already is and filters like these are just not the answer... I can only guess. Bu so far, still, I don't like powerline filtering.

Fadel Art PC-800

The Fadel Art is an extremely heavy unit. It's as if it is heavier than it could be were it made from solid lead! Screwing the front plate off, it is revealed that inside it is filled with some sort of resin. Again, as with the Vibex, I cannot find any info about what's inside. But the sheer weight of it hints at the presence of a huge power transformer. It is rated at 1000 watts and at the output both phases are hot, indicating that indeed the power is balanced by means of a transformer.

The Fadel Art sounds extremely different from the Vibex. It should of course, when the power goes through a transformer. The sound is very rich and colourful, extremely smooth and fluid and relaxed in the bass. It has full, deep bass, but with softened edges, much like what you hear in a typical tube poweramplifier with transformer outputs. There is something about the sound that makes you lean back and relax. I can see why the previous owner liked it in combination with the Wadia 27ix GNSC dac: the typical Wadia-dryness has completely vanished.

But it is not all praise and glory. Along with the positive smoothing there is just a little bit too much rounding-off going on. Dynamics are restrained, although not more than with the Vibex above but more importantly, the tempo is down. A lot. And that's fine for easy listening but not so hot when listening to more uptempo music. PRAT is not so good here. And I'm only using a fraction of its permitted maximum power-load.

CONCLUSION

Although the Fadel Art provides a luxurious, seducing sound, much like what a typical tube poweramplifier with transformeroutputs does, it is ultimately quite a bit constrained in the PRAT department. Only recommended for easy listening then, or for systems that are very aggressive.