This “component” is something I’ve been planning to buy for some time as the starting point for investing in good foundations for my hi-fi.

I’ve long understood the idea that cables and stands do make a lot of difference to the audio and have had a stand, turntable shelf and half-decent cables for years now.

But so many people were writing about Vertex AQ‘s products and how good they are, that I became more and more interested. They sell three main types of product; equipment supports, mains filters and cables. The suggestion is that these items are as fundamental to the system as your components are.

Seeing as their cables are expensive (expensive for my wallet, anyway), I decided to start down the route of supports and mains filters. And it’s with the company’s very cheapest mains filter at £295, the Vertex AQ Jaya, that I began.

As soon as my wife saw the box and understood that you just plug it into a socket near to your hi-fi (and, therefore, that it doesn’t function in the signal path) she said “you’ve been ripped off!”

I can tell you that the opposite is actually true. Upon plugging the box into the socket and powering up my system I perceived a very subtle change which grew and grew becoming more and more obvious as hours of listening passed.

The first time I listened to it I really did wonder what it was doing and after an hour or so, turned off the Jaya. It was only upon turning it off that I realised it was doing something amazing to the sound.

The effect the Jaya has on cleaning up the mains supply is to give the music space — space to breathe, to deliver its weight and dynamics. When you turn off the Jaya it is rather like the space in front of you collapses, becomes more opaque. It feels like the music becomes rather more two dimensional, like a flat plane spread before you.

So the box creates this wonderful space and transparency in which your music comes to life. For the first time ever with my hi-fi I perceived front-to-back depth as well as a left-to-right soundstage. The effect is truly stunning.

And with the space the Jaya creates, you find every instrument, every voice, is more clear and separated. This clarity is similar to the effect the Origin Live Silver tonearm had, only, of course, adding to the extra clarity the arm brought.

I took it to a friend’s house where the Jaya worked its magic. My friend at first was unconvinced anything was happening until he unplugged it, then heard how flat it sounded, plugged it back in and proceeded to be delighted for the rest of the evening.

If this is what the Jaya does, I just wonder what the Silver version would have done. I cannot wait to hear what effect their Kinabalu supports do!

If you are into audio reproduction and haven’t yet heard the Jaya with your hi-fi, I strongly suggest you do so, with one warning — there’s no going back once you hear it!

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Hi-Fi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.