When I reviewed Ansuz's PowerSwitch D-TC Supreme, I focused solely on the switch but left out the voltage supply, which, however, is only available for proprietary Ethernet cables such as the Digitalz D-TC Supreme. So this report is about those cables, an Ansuz power cable and very special component feet - or, to put it biefly, PowerSwitch all inclusive.

As already mentioned in my article about the PowerSwitch, it's a combination of LAN switch and voltage supply for the cables of the D2, D-TC and D-TC Supreme lines, featuring ten sockets for four-pole 3.5 millimetre jack plugs. As reported, I could measure different alternating voltages of very low frequency at the contact areas of the plugs. These are generated by five so-called "Analog Dither" circuits and affect the dielectric of the LAN cables, as Ansuz-Acoustics lead developer Michael Børresen explained to me. More than 75 years ago it was already known that identical radar systems located on the ground could not "see" as far as those on vessels or in aeroplanes. The reason for this was a less stable power supply from the respective on-board power systems. Slight fluctuations here resulted in a wider reach or higher resolution. That's why the dielectric of the high-quality Ansuz cables is influenced in order to achieve a better signal transmission. But Michael Børresen did not reveal at all why Ansuz uses five "Analog Dither" circuits, why four-pole plugs are needed to connect to the signal cable, what exactly the structure of the Digitalz D-TC Supreme looks like and which of its components are connected to which voltages. Since travelling should be possible again in the near future, I hope to gain further insights from a visit to Aalborg.

Even if these - admittedly rudimentary - explanations about "Analog Dither" arouse my interest in listening to the Digitalz D-TC even more, I still have to be patient for a little while, as other test objects are having priority. For one of them, however, I need the Audioquest Tornado, which currently connects the PowerSwitch to the mains. So first I try the Ansuz Mainz D2 power cable, which Morten Thyrrested recommended for use with the PowerSwitch, but which I left out during the test. The D2 ranges in the upper half of the Ansuz hierarchy, right below D-TC and D-TC Supreme. Nevertheless it retails at 8,000 euros, which gives good reason for a clear enhancement in sound quality compared to the Audioquest Tornado, so one wishes to develop the right appreciation of the D2. Luckily, the Ansuz really treated the PowerSwitch to a little more of everything: an even deeper space, a more tangible, three-dimensional imaging, a little more thrust in the lows and apparently even more motivation for the musicians. With the Mainz connected to the PowerSwitch, music is simply even more fun.

Not that I am very much puzzled: Back then, when testing the SOtM switch in combination with the 10 megahertz clock, Oliver Goebel dropped by out of pure curiosity and brought along one of his Lacorde Statement power cables to connect to the Keces power supply that supplied the clock. We tried this out on the linear power supply, which is just a tenth of the price of the power cable: With it, the SOtM combo even sounded a touch better. For obvious reasons, I haven’t published anything about this experiment so far. But, once you hop on the highest expansion stage of Ansuz' digital signal distribution, you have nothing left to lose. And I might as well confess that even the phasing of Goebel's power cord had been audible. When it comes to such shared experiences, my colleague Roland Dietl uses to say, "The extremely high resolution of a system certainly isn’t a blessing at all." But it’s tremendously helpful if you want to know what is technically or sonically feasible.

Now that the splendid Jeff Rowland combo is on the way back to its distributor, I finally ended up in enjoying a bunch of records again and all the digital components are getting their power from Audioquest’s Niagara 1200, I find that it's time to busy myself with the Digitalz D-TC Supreme Ethernet cables. Since they were designed for use with a PowerSwitch or a PowerBox, I will only listen to them with the respective AC power source connected. To do this, I connect the thin four-pole cable supplied with the D-TC Supreme to one of the sockets on the PowerSwitch, which previously had proven its enormous abilities in conjunction with the Goebel Lacorde Statement Ethernet. The first D-TC Supreme therefore replaces the Goebel counterpart between switch and router: Immediately, I take pleasure in a bit more of thrust in the low frequency range. The tonal balance gets slightly relocated, the sonic image now appears a bit warmer and more rounded. And best of all: The superb spatial imaging and the enormous attention to detail are not prone to suffer from this venture at all.

Before I spend too much time pondering whether the now minimally muted high frequency range within the playback might cause a meticulous loss of freshness, I swap the cable between Melco and PowerSwitch. Subjectively, the set plays two or three beats per minute faster, while the bass hasn’t lost any of its power and the highs delight with a bit more airiness, being neither accompanied by roughness nor dissected by excessive analysis. Now I can enjoy that dram of more pressure in the lows without having the sonic balance shifted. While searching for a test piece to accomplish the last cable swap, namely the one between switch and Auralic Aries G1, I get stuck on Arild Andersen's album If You Look Far Enough and its track "If You Look": incredibly dense percussion, spacey synth sounds and bass. I've never heard the small bells, bigger bells and the rest of the brass as nuanced as now. The low drums in the second half of the track – as played through the Goebel Epoque Aeon Fine – unfold with yet heard impact, while the sound layers extend widely and deeply into the room. Beware, for a meaningful comparison, this impressive well over three minute long sound spectacle is simply too complex. Thanks to the PowerSwitch and the two Ansuz Ethernet cables, and even on the third or fourth listen, I would certainly still discover one or two detail bits here and more intense or even new tonal colours there.

Yet I prefer to use the familiar: "God Bless The Child" in the version of the Keith Jarrett Trio on Standards, Vol. 1. After the first few bars I notice that I chose to set the volume on Einstein's The Preamp, which doesn't have a level meter, somewhat lower than usual. Nevertheless, the song develops an irresistible rhythmic maelstrom, the definition of the image is terrific. And all of that without the third Digitalz D-TC Supreme yet being in play. As soon as it’s there, it gives a little more clarity to the sound and the trio develops an even more intense groove, while the bass drum still builds up its pressure: what an overwhelming enjoyment. I follow up with some of my inevitable test tracks, just to make sure that the extra portion of tonal colours, pressure, space and resolution doesn't tip over into the unpleasant, nervous side of it: And it definitely doesn't. The well-known songs seem fresher and more exciting than ever. Awesome!

Since the PowerSwitch and the matching Ethernet cables really convinced me, I don't back off from using the appropriate Ansuz feet anymore. Furthermore, the PowerSwitch's standard feet didn't leave the most convincing impression on me. But Morten Thyrrested assured me that the undamped aluminum feet, which could be described as rings with an inverted, flat U-shaped profile, are clearly superior to the commonly used rubber feet. However, the best variant to set up the unit would be the Darkz D-TC Supreme, which, according to the price list, retail at 1.200 euros - per piece! They are built out of three discs of very high-quality titanium, which are then coated with layers of zirconium, tungsten, aluminum-titanium-nitrite in a particle accelerator at the Technological Institute in Aarhus. This process currently takes 62 hours, resulting in an extremely hard surface - the simpler, shorter process, however, is still described on the website. The discs themselves find contact to each other via titanium balls. To connect the Darkz D-TC Supreme to the PowerSwitch, also three titanium balls are needed for each of the discs.

Throughout the first article about the PowerSwitch, I had it simply placed on the Melco, as there was no free shelf in the Artesania audio stand available at that time. This turn it shares one of the special shelves available from Artesania with the Synergistic Research Active Ground Block SE. All the positive changes described so far brought about by the Mainz D2 and the Digitalz D-TC Supreme were clearly audible with the standard feet. After listening three times to Shostakovitch's "Polka" from the Ballet Suite, Opus 22, I now install the four Darkz D-TC Supreme, each of them equipped with its three titanium balls, under the respective feet of the PowerSwitch. The achieved result is a little more openness, an increase in spatial depth and slightly more accentuated fine dynamics. But the improvements are genuinely marginal.

That's why I take the next step in trying "Improvisation" from Le Concert Des Parfums again. This piece I hadn't heard so far with the PowerSwitch combined to Mainz, the three Digitalz and the Darkz - and I'm really enthusiastic about it. Then I remove the costly feet again. As so often, the difference becomes clearer when you take a step back from the better version. Doing without the Darkz takes away much of the image's three-dimensionality: While the expansion of the stage in width and depth remains almost the same, the height of the stage shrinks considerably. Thus the loss of a little solidity in the lows and a touch of openness is much easier to be forgiven. The change from the standard feet to the Darkz may not seem immediately mandatory, but once you have gotten used to the Darkz under the PowerSwitch for just three or four tracks, and then remove them, you become almost painfully aware of the extent to which the Darkz have been beneficial to the sound.

In the first article about the PowerSwitch, I mentioned that decades ago, Lars Kristensen, one of the main shareholders of Ansuz Acoustics, impressed me with demonstrations where he used cables that were priced above the total value of the good but affordable audio system in play. I had no intention of emulating him in my occupation with the PowerSwitch, particularly as the total value of the Ansuz equipment used for distributing digital signals described here is a good deal less than the value of the whole system, but nevertheless above the price of converter plus up-sampler. This isn't an ideal foundation, but I just wanted to know what is feasible in terms of digital signal distribution. However, I won't get tempted to do something like that again in the near future. I promise.