Post by MartinT on Jan 6, 2020 13:45:49 GMT
Black Ravioli Eflos Grounding Box
The Black Ravioli Eflos are small black grounding boxes with a flying lead, clearly designed as distributed single-component grounding boxes. I have two samples, an 'RCA' with a phono plug and a 'USB' with a USB type A connector. They are black monoliths with no defining features except for the short flying cable with designated plug on the end. The insides are unknown and I can only assume that BR have used their know-how from their excellent footers to fill their grounding boxes with what feels like a solid interior rather than the more typical mixed granular material. To my surprise, they don't even come with Black Ravioli Pad footers yet the dimensions seem perfectly sized for two each.
Eflos shown here is an RCA type, grounding my Mutec reclocker.
I already have two SGS grounding boxes, a standard one on my internet router and a Signature connected to my DAC and buffer. I didn't want to interfere with these since there are too many variables and they also take an age to settle down. I therefore tried grounding my Asus streamer, to start with, using the USB version. I plugged it into the 4th vacant USB port (one is used for output and two have ifi iSilencers for noise reduction). This gave quite a different result from the SGS boxes. Where the latter are all about depth, soundstage and air, the Eflos gave me an instant hit of impact and even greater dynamics. They immediately brought out the strengths of the Asus streamer (and Volumio Primo) over the Pi - details, dynamics and slam. Music instantly became more vivid with a sense of excitement that was less obvious before.
I listened for quite some time to confirm my findings over a wide spread of music. They seemed to take about 40 minutes to settle into their performance. I then decided to go with the phono version connected to a spare output on my Mutec reclocker. Bam! Again, more impact - most obvious in the upper bass but really across the frequency range. There was a sense of pace and snap (I detest those overused words) - verve - to the performance that is hard to describe but not hard to hear. When I heard both boxes in my system I joked that it had so much impact now that I needed to listen from another room! This is great for me as my two different brands of grounding box do different things! Giving just one example of the incredible effect that these boxes bring is Kiss in Blue by Yello. The opening salvo surrounds you in pumping bass with whipcrack electric guitar and other effects, quite mesmerising when played at some volume. Heidi Happy's voice penetrates through it all, focussed and rock-steady. The detail is extraordinary and just makes you want to play more Yello. I find that quite often!
I recall, too, that the SGS didn't do much for my streamer when I tried it earlier last year but the Eflos certainly does. Another area where my grounding boxes differ is in co-existence; the SGS did not like sharing with another on the same system, the BRs are fine being used in multiple locations.
These are great devices and offer an alternative approach to the single central grounding box idea. You could experiment with a single optimally placed one and experiment with other positions (the RCA version may be the best for this). In time, you could expand to other positions that work best for you. They certainly work well in my system but the usual caveat applies that grounding arrangements are very personal to each system.
The Black Ravioli Eflos are small black grounding boxes with a flying lead, clearly designed as distributed single-component grounding boxes. I have two samples, an 'RCA' with a phono plug and a 'USB' with a USB type A connector. They are black monoliths with no defining features except for the short flying cable with designated plug on the end. The insides are unknown and I can only assume that BR have used their know-how from their excellent footers to fill their grounding boxes with what feels like a solid interior rather than the more typical mixed granular material. To my surprise, they don't even come with Black Ravioli Pad footers yet the dimensions seem perfectly sized for two each.
Eflos shown here is an RCA type, grounding my Mutec reclocker.
I already have two SGS grounding boxes, a standard one on my internet router and a Signature connected to my DAC and buffer. I didn't want to interfere with these since there are too many variables and they also take an age to settle down. I therefore tried grounding my Asus streamer, to start with, using the USB version. I plugged it into the 4th vacant USB port (one is used for output and two have ifi iSilencers for noise reduction). This gave quite a different result from the SGS boxes. Where the latter are all about depth, soundstage and air, the Eflos gave me an instant hit of impact and even greater dynamics. They immediately brought out the strengths of the Asus streamer (and Volumio Primo) over the Pi - details, dynamics and slam. Music instantly became more vivid with a sense of excitement that was less obvious before.
I listened for quite some time to confirm my findings over a wide spread of music. They seemed to take about 40 minutes to settle into their performance. I then decided to go with the phono version connected to a spare output on my Mutec reclocker. Bam! Again, more impact - most obvious in the upper bass but really across the frequency range. There was a sense of pace and snap (I detest those overused words) - verve - to the performance that is hard to describe but not hard to hear. When I heard both boxes in my system I joked that it had so much impact now that I needed to listen from another room! This is great for me as my two different brands of grounding box do different things! Giving just one example of the incredible effect that these boxes bring is Kiss in Blue by Yello. The opening salvo surrounds you in pumping bass with whipcrack electric guitar and other effects, quite mesmerising when played at some volume. Heidi Happy's voice penetrates through it all, focussed and rock-steady. The detail is extraordinary and just makes you want to play more Yello. I find that quite often!
I recall, too, that the SGS didn't do much for my streamer when I tried it earlier last year but the Eflos certainly does. Another area where my grounding boxes differ is in co-existence; the SGS did not like sharing with another on the same system, the BRs are fine being used in multiple locations.
These are great devices and offer an alternative approach to the single central grounding box idea. You could experiment with a single optimally placed one and experiment with other positions (the RCA version may be the best for this). In time, you could expand to other positions that work best for you. They certainly work well in my system but the usual caveat applies that grounding arrangements are very personal to each system.
