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Let’s get one thing out of the way: DR Acoustics’ products, which comprise cables and power bars, are not cheap—neither in price, nor fabrication. As usual with such products, questions will arise: do they work, are they worth it, and what’s the science behind them?

To answer my last question first—what is the science behind the technology?—I’d like to preface my answer by suggesting to anyone who hasn’t read the backstory I wrote on DR Acoustics founder and Chief Designer Daniel Robidoux, to do so. When you do, you’ll discover he’s no jumping-on-a-bandwagon sort of guy. He’s the real deal when it comes to smarts: graduated cum laude from one of Canada’s best engineering-based universities, studied at UCLA under electrical engineering legend Bernard Widrow, became a signal-processing expert, and among multiple other achievements, created a new type of modem based entirely on DSP (Digital Signal Processing) that became ubiquitous around the world.

In his early 40s, he semi-retired to manage an investment fund of technology-based companies, each of which he became a consultant for and member of its board of directors. Eventually, he founded DR Acoustics, a manufacturer of state-of-the-art signal cables and power products through which he could combine his expertise in signal transmission and his affinity for high-end audio.

This article looks specifically at a couple of the companies’ power products, namely a Polynice power distributor and grounding system ($5995/4 outlets) and two power cables, the Red Fire Ultra ($3495/1.8m) and the Red Fire Supreme ($8495/1.8m), the latter used solely, for the purposes of this review, as a 20-amp power cable between my Shunyata Research Venom PS8 power conditioner ($1300 when available) and AC receptacle in my wall that’s connected to a dedicated power line.

Power conditioners and power cables have one mission: to feed the most stable voltage and noise-free alternating current (AC) to the components. I often see people in audio groups dismiss the effectiveness of power cables by arguing: “How can a 6ft power cable fix all the cabling and current anomalies that came before it all the way down to the power plant?” I like how Daniel explains it. “A power cable’s function is similar to the sprayer head on a kitchen sink faucet used to change the water pressure.” It means, accurately, that even though the water arriving at your home may originate from a public water supply kilometers away, you can improve its flow and pressure at the point of delivery.

To that end, the Red Fire Ultra power cable uses MTA (Multi Tunneling Architecture) Extreme technology, a multi-conductor architecture that reduces electron collision and friction to keep the cable’s internal temperature and resistance low. The Ultra cable is single copper shielded, while the Supreme is triple shielded with two copper shields and a gold foil one. Compared to its Ultra counterpart, the Supreme uses purer copper for the conductor, as well as metamaterials for vibration control.

The Polynice is a power management and virtual grounding system said to not only mitigate noise but stop it from entering the audio system in the first place. It employs several technologies to do this and to regulate and stabilize voltage and current entering the playback chain. I’ll focus here on two patented technologies.

The first involves noise rejection, of the EMI and ground loop varieties. To address ground loops, which introduce hum and distortion into the system, the Polynice employs a virtual grounding system designed to stop electromagnetic interference from occuring. Every component in the system is grounded directly to the Polynice via a grounding cable, creating a self-contained reference point inside the Polynice that prevents stray currents from entering the sound system.

The second technology revolves around current delivery. While most traditional power conditioners rely on capacitors or inductors that can “choke” the current, the Polynice dispenses with electronic parts entirely. Instead, it harnesses the power of electromagnetism using the polarization of quartz to make the Polynice work more efficiently as demand for current increases. (For more detailed information about the Polynice, click here.)

So, do the DR power cables and Polynice work? To find out, I used two live CDs, Radiohead’s I Might be Wrong, Live Recordings (CD, Capitol 7243 5 36616 2 5) and a live LP of Ahmad Jamal Trio’s At The Pershing (LP, 20th Century Masterworks 350259), and did side-by-side comparisons between a LessLoss DFPC cable (around $600/5ft when available) and a Red Fire Ultra one, as well as between my Shunyata power conditioner and the Polynice.

First, I replaced the power cable going into my Simaudio CD transport, which fed a Weiss DAC204, whose power cord is a detachable 9V power brick cable. Both components were plugged into my Shunyata power conditioner.

Switching from my LessLoss cable to the Ultra one was the first clue to the DR cable’s cleaning properties, by which I mean it sounded as if it had removed a layer of static from the line, not unlike hearing sound over a phone line snap into focus. I heard improved sonic integrity and clarity. I’m not talking about struggling-to-hear improvements. My transport was now offering a more coherent, defined, transparent view into the musical proceedings than it had with the LessLoss cable.

Specifically, my Ultra cable-equipped transport, compared to when it used the LessLoss cable, provided a bigger, more informationally-diverse picture, tighter and deeper bass, more authentic timbre and dynamic force, such as those produced by Waldron’s harder-hit piano keys, and a more fleshed-out, layered soundstage. Thom Yorke’s vocals, as studio-altered as they appear on the Radiohead recording, sounded more focused and natural with the DR cable. Overall, the Ultra bettered the LessLoss in offering a much more stable, focused presentation, along with a frequency range that sounded better balanced tonally.

Using the Ultra with my Sonic Frontiers SFP-1 Signature phono phono stage produced similar results. The signal sounded cleaned up and propped up. The soundstage was less flat and more palpably populated. Just the clapping at the beginning of the Pershing album sounded more distinctly portrayed and flesh-based than with the LessLoss. Double bass also sounded less blobby and more reined in acoustically, with more shape and presence. The whole presentation improved, image-wise and in the sense of sounding more effortless and less electronic.

The most enlightening moment, up to this point, came when I substituted the Red Fire Supreme for my Shunyata Research Black Mamba CX (about $800/5ft when available) that connects my power conditioner to the wall. This made a universal improvement with CD or LP sources—a sort of “lifting of all boats” sort of thing, as if the sound of each element in the chain, even my LessLoss cables, had improved. Across-the-board, the sound was less hazy, better drawn, more bulgingly physical, and easier to listen to. This one cable change served my whole system and brought it to another level of sound reproduction.

After I’d returned my Shunyata cable to the power conditioner, I connected two Ultra cables to my Grandinote Shinai integrated amplifier, which is essentially two mono amps enclosed in a single chassis, with each channel using its own power cable. With no other changes to my system, this setup brought a bit more of the qualities I’d noted with the cables plugged into my sources, but also conspicuously more in the way of transparency and detail, such as in the tonal structure of notes, soundstage integrity, and the quantity and clarity of audience chatter, which, on the Pershing album, gave an introspective view into the crowd, but also showed just how boisterously rude that crowd was. Settle down, folks! There’s a band playing!

Finally, I removed the DR cables and re-installed all my LessLoss ones, which I plugged into the Polynice. I connected one end of each grounding cable included with the Polynice to a banana plug-like ground terminal at the back of the unit, while I affixed the other end to either the component’s ground post, if it had one, or to one of its screws. Once I’d completed that, and with my Shunyata cable connecting the Polynice to the wall—I wanted to review the DR products separately, in isolation—I re-listened to the music I’d played before.

The biggest immediate difference I heard was to the soundstage, which, through the Polynice, had blown up, especially in terms of front-to-back depth. I was swimming in sound, but it wasn’t more diffuse. It was the opposite; there was more clarity and density. Notes were more texturally and materially depicted, such as Waldron’s piano notes—I got the impression of hearing them from all sides through flickering tones and very gradually diminishing intensities. Playing technique was more discernible—finger technique on piano keys and double bass strings were easier to follow, the musicians’ talents more impressive to behold.

The first track on the Radiohead CD, “The National Anthem”, opens with a swirling blend of studio effects and instrumental parts that fills the front wall. Through the Polynice, those sounds were easier to recognize and make sense of, with all the parts simultaneously more distinct and better integrated into the whole. The violins, the studio effects, and the foreign language spoken at the beginning, everything sounded more intelligible and artistically conceived. Objects were cast in a more dimensional space, with images popping in and out, full-bodied, shifting in space.

So, to circle back to the two questions I posed at the beginning of this article and didn’t yet answer—do the DR products work and are they worth it? I’ll say “yes” to the first question, and to the second, “maybe.” The DR products are not cheap. Using a $3500 DR cable on a $5000 preamp which may not even be able to take full advantage of the cable’s transparency may not be the best way to allot resources, though I’m pretty sure if you did do it you’d hear a solid uptick in performance, perhaps to the extent you might think your preamp sounds like it cost double what you paid for it.

Taking myself as an example, as someone who owns a moderately-priced, by audiophile standards, $35,000 system, the first thing I might do if I wanted to upgrade to DR Acoustics products is get a 20-amp Red Fire Supreme cable, or the Ultra model, to connect to my existing power conditioner to the wall. The beauty of this is it would offer a universal performance boost, wherein every component would simultaneously sound better, as if I’d spread my investment across several components. From there, I might consider branching out from the wall, by following up with a Polynice, another potential across-the-board upgrade.

Whatever upgrade strategy one might choose, I can say this without reservation: every DR Acoustics product I installed in my system made an improvement over what I had before that was instantly obvious, no back-and-forth mental-squinting needed to convince myself of it. And what each DR product I inserted into my system made me realize was how much electronic garbage and voltage or current irregularities are corrupting the signal going through my system that is making my system sound worse. I now know how much better my system can sound—more fleshed-out, more natural, more coherent, more balanced, more high-end. If you’re serious about the hobby and have the scratch to afford the DR products, lucky you. For those on tighter budgets, it may be worth it to try out the DR products in steps, perhaps starting with the cable attached to the power conditioner.

For more information, click here.

DR Acoustics will be showcasing their products at the Montreal Audiofest from March 28 to March 30 in the room Montréal 1.