encountered the ACOUSTIC DREAM power conditioner for the first time during Audio Video Show 2016. Unlike many other new products of this type, displayed in dark rooms, placed somewhere in a corner, the Ag-1 conditioner was an equal partner component in a very expensive system based on components of the German company T+A. Although its High Voltage Series devices are perfectly made and finished, the Polish conditioner not only did not look worse than German devices but at least as well as them.

Acoustic Dream is the "child" of Arnold Marek Piątek, a respected manufacturer, owner of the Marsyl-elektrotechnika, whose regular business are electrical and tele-technical installations, and they specialize "in the field of high and low voltage electrical installations". The company is located in Machowino, 6 km from Ustka.

Acoustic Dream is the fulfillment of the ambition and needs of Mr. Piątka and it's based on the experiences gathered via his main business. Acoustic Dream offers power cables, filters and conditioners. As one can read in company materials, their task is to filter out all the noise from mains, to protect the components connected to these elements from "nasty surprises", and as a result also to improve the performance of audio system which results from providing sensitive audio electronics with clean power of appropriate parameters.

ARNOLD MAREK PIĄTEK
Owner, designer

At the heart of our conditioners works a 220-240 V Power Acoustic Dream (PAD) mains filter. Depending on the version, we use the "max" or "standard" variant. The Ag-1 Premium Conditioner is equipped with a PAD3 filter. It is divided into several sections, each of which is isolated in a separate chamber. Magnetic isolation of individual filter elements has a strong influence on its quality and prevents the influence of external sources. The first section is responsible for DC filtering. The second section is a directional rail made of silver. The next stage is the induction-capacitive filter.

Section 1 contains a capacitive filter (40000 μF / IR / 100 Hz - 6 A), which filters the unwanted DC component and stabilizes the voltage. Section 2 contains large silver current rails. Carrier's conductivity has a significant influence on the quality of the power. The next step is to get rid of unwanted harmonics and any frequency interference in the range of <100 kHz to 400 MHz.

Power from the Furutech's NCF 15/20A IEC connector is directed to Panasonic's dual relays - separately for the N and L sections. The current traces are made of Cu 0.997 and plated with 24 carat gold. The bridges are made of pure directional copper. The endings are made of pressed silver. Track currents are several times larger than required. In the Ag-1 Premium the copper has a cross section of 8 mm2. The gauge of the silver conductors is 10x5mm. The final element is a 20 mm thick cover featuring Furutech NCF rhodium-plated receptacles and/or ones with gold-plated contacts. There are to receptacles configuration for customer to choose from. One includes two Rh NCF sockets and six Au ones, the other all 8 NCF sockets. The 2/6 configuration is aimed at those who like spatial and rather neutral type of presentation. The two NCF receptacles may have a bit sharper character and are dedicated to devices with high-current requirement.

The Ag-1 Premium conditioner is equipped with a filter covering frequency range from 100 MHz to 6 GHz. Surge protection reaches 40 kA at 970 VDC / 750 Vrms. The varistors used there are housed in special housings that protect the rest of the system in case the maximum value is exceeded, which may lead to their “explosion”, which could have a destructive effect the whole device. The conditioner is protected even when the main switch is set to off. Secondary surge protection is located at the 230 V socket outlets. This protects other devices in the event of a shock current coming from a device connected to the conditioner. The 230V socket section is isolated from the PAD filter 3.

Ag-1 PREMIUM

The Ag-1 Premium is a top conditioner in company's lineup – it is a passive mains filter. Manufacturer plans to release the Ag-2 in the future that will become a new flagship, equipped with a touch screen, better filters, etc. It is one of the heavier conditioners I've ever had at home – it weighs staggering 42 kg. Its housing is made using precise CNC machines from a solid aluminum slab. Its thick walls (up to 30 mm) are internally connected to the vibration damping material. The weight of the device and its rigidity are designed to suppress vibration. Although this may seem unbelievable, power cables carry vibrations, while generating them themselves too. It has to be prevented, because a conductor vibrating in the electromagnetic field generates parasitic currents in it. Let me remind you of the that Vertex AQ that provided their power cables with anti-vibration stands.

The conditioner's housing has a distinctive shape - a flat base with a higher cube on top of it. These form a large front wall featuring a big blue liquid crystal display. It allows user to read out the output voltage (V), input power (VA), current (A) and current consumption (kWh). The basic version's display provides information only about output voltage - alphanumerically and on the bar-graph. Next to it there is a button that allows user to dim the display.

On the top cover there are eight receptacles – probably the best one available on the market today - Furutech FI-E30, two from the NFC-series with rhodium-plated contacts and six classic ones with gold-plated contacts. The sockets were divided into two sections and named respectively "Power Rhodium Out" and "Power Gold Out" respectively. At the back there is an IEC mains socket, also a Furutech NFC, and a mechanical ON/OFF switch.

The individual sections are filtered using a proprietary PAD3 (Power Acoustic Dream v3) filter, which uses Mundorf capacitors with a total capacity of 40,000 μF of class X2 and Y (the basic version of conditioner features a less advanced PAD2 filter instead). Interference suppression in the filter is performed in two stages. Inductors connected in series increase the impedance of the line, which in turn increases the performance of the bypass capacitors. The capacitors short-circuit interference to the ground. This is a bidirectional filter (from source to receiver and vice versa). Inductive components are based on cores made using nanocrystalline technology. PCBs are made of high quality copper gold-plated with 24 carat gold in a multi-layered insulation. To even further improve vibration damping there are several fix points between PCBs and the main housing.

As it reads on the manufacturer's website, "current is transferred in cascades" that are formed by separate chambers in the housing, down to the outlet - Furutech NFC sockets. As the name of the conditioner already indicates, internal conductors are made of silver. The maximum power output is 1500 W and the maximum current is 30 A. The conditioner is a hand-made device that is "made slowly and very carefully". Furthermore, all assembly steps are subject to verification. The device features Audio Physic VCF V Magnetic Sound Optimizer feet, that this German company uses for their speakers. The conditioner is supplied in a rigid "case".

A test of any power distributor or conditioner is fraught with several errors with which we must live. The first is that we use them in a specific power system, ie, location, installation, time etc. When moved to another location it will affect the sound slightly differently. Secondly, the product was designed and tested by manufacturer using specific power cables and if one wants to know everything there is to know about it, one should perform test using exactly the same cable (see: The magic of a system: Verictum http://highfidelity.pl/@main-3038&lang= < / a>).

Time limitation and logistics issues mean that one tests them in a specific place and with the cables one's system performs best. Differences will occur, but based on several years of experience, I dare to say that they do not change the basic characteristics of a given product. They might, at most, slightly emphasize or hide some features, but always within a margin, that is, at least for me, acceptable.

The Acoustic Dream Conditioner was compared to the Acoustic Revive RTP-4eu Ultimate power distributor, and I was able to draw some additional conclusions based on a test of a complete Verictum system. The conditioner under review was powered using Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9500 power cable (2,5 m, riveted contacts), plugged into a Furutech FT-SWS power outlet ( R) with current delivered to it via a separate power line (Oyaide Tunami Nigo, 6 m) with Hi-Fi Tuning fuse.

The amplifier and the preamplifier were powered using the same Acrolink cables, while the Chord DAVE DAC with the Acoustic Revive Power Reference Triple-C with RAS-14 Triple-C, and the Chord Blu MkII CD transport with Harmonix X-DC350M2R Improved-Version. The amplifier was plugged into the rhodium-plated outlet, the rest of the system to gold-plated ones.

The test consisted of comparison between system's performance while plugged into Acoustic Revive and Acoustic Dream. I listened selected track for 2 minutes then switched the entire system to the other power source and then back. And I did it dozens of times during session. So it was not an immediate comparison – it took me about 1-2 minutes each time I switched from AG-1 to Acoustic Revive or back.

The performance of filters and power conditioners can be compared to the performance of wheels in a car, with particular regard to the tires (power distributors understood as passive filters). They do not change the basic parameters of the vehicle, such as engine power, fuel consumption, equipment, etc., but still constitute a base that the whole performance builds on. Same with conditioners. To conclude, let me say that conditioners are the equivalent of low-profile tires on large-diameter wheels with high quality disc brakes. They allow you to achieve high speeds, optimize the driving (grip, steering), but using them exclude driving in uneven terrain and one shouldn't even try to “climb” high curbs with them.

Perhaps because the conditioners do not change the sound in such a spectacular and direct way as loudspeakers or electronic components, it is harder to tell how they actually do modify system performance. The fact that they do is clear from the start, but in order to describe them and evaluate them a good knowledge of the system in which they are used and proper experience in the art of listening to recordings is a must. Without it, it will be much harder for us to understand what is going on.

Sometimes the differences are so clear and unambiguous that even a non-audiophile will be able to point them out. That's how most active conditioners I know are perceived, such as the reviewed almost at the same time to Ag-1 Premium, Accuphase PS-530. The Acoustic Dream product is not as distinct in what it does, but it's effect on the sound is closer to that of Accuphase than to the one delivered by Acoustic Research Ultimate I use, and less similar to what Verictum Cogitari has to offer. The changes that occur after the system is plugged into this Polish conditioner include three aspects: tone, dynamics and so called density (tangibility) of the sound. In almost every respect, it bettered the AR distributor while going in exactly the opposite direction than the Verictum that I listened to some time ago.

What improves primarily is resolution. It is much better than with the two quoted distributors, which translates into stunning differentiation. Listening to one recording after the other I felt as if I was closer to the recording studio, closer to the genesis of the sound. And this was achieved both through the improvement of the clarity of the sound as well as its deepening (maybe it was the same thing). The sound with Ag-1 Premium is disciplined and punctual. In this respect, it even surpasses Acoustic Revive, which in turn is better than Verictum. Bass is well-defined here and is more coherent with the midrange.

I had similar impression when listening to Accuphase's conditioner, but there the tonal balance was slightly shifted up, and the sound was more open than the AR distributor. The Acoustic Dream slightly opens up an upper treble, but at the same midrange seems bit darker. If I understand correctly the tendency in high-end audio, this is the right direction - high-end is "dark”. In the real world it does not matter, because the sound is as an instrument and musician play it. However, the sound played at home is only an interpretation of the "live" event and it is a double one for that matter - it is interpreted once during the recording and then again during playback.

In the perfect world, all these three elements would actually be one and the same, in reality they differ from each other. That is why during playback at home it is crucial to interpret what was recorded and released in a specific way and not any other one. The conditioner from Pomerania allows system to present an incredibly energetic yet smooth and - I repeat - a dark midrange. It was perfectly clear with a two-box Chord CD Player with both elements connected using a double BNC link, with a signal upsampled to 705,4 kHz. These elements are incredibly resolving on one hand and dark sounding on the other. Connected to the Ag-1 Premium, they presented this feature even more accurately, more clearly than with the Acoustic Revive.

Because in general, the sound with this conditioner is clearer, better defined and deeper at the same time. At first, it seems that the treble is stronger, for example, sibilants in Suzanne Vega's voice were stronger, but after a short accommodation it turns out that it is an illusion, that it is the midrange that is more powerful, and the clearer treble comes from more information, more energy, and not from emphasizing this band's extreme. The Verictum that tends to offer a warmer performance, made sound sweeter, denser, making performance more liquid, more coherent, rather inclined towards beauty than absolute truth, if at the former is understood as a psychic comfort of the listener, and the latter as presenting the sound "as it is".

Perhaps this impression is caused by slightly “lighter” bass performance. With the Ag-1 Premium it is slightly lighter than with Acoustic Revive and much lighter than with Verictum, presented much like with the Accuphase PS-530. The Japanese conditioner goes even further, shifting tonal balance up. The Acoustic Dream does not do that, but the lowest bass is not as rich, as dense as with passive distributors. On one hand, it's good because the bass is better differentiated and has a better defining attack, but on the other, we lose a kind of "romantic" approach to a particular track.

Because - so we finally get to the bottom line – Mr Piątek's conditioner gets to this density, amazingly believable way of presenting music, high resolution, proper color and fluidity through resolution and precision. In turn, the two above mentioned distributors do the opposite. First, they saturate sound with colors, deepen the sound, and only then based on these features they build precision and resolution. It resembles the differences between gold CDs (Verictum Cogitari), SHM-CD (Acoustic Revive RTP-4eu Ultimate) and XRCD (Acoustic Dream Ag-1 Premium).

The gold gives density and warmth, but takes away some of the resolution (similarly - in my opinion – work gold-plated socket contacts), SHM-CD is resolving, dense and fluid, but lacking in depth and naturalness of the gold. Finally, there is XRCD, which sounds dark, dense, but incredibly resolving, yet lacking warmth of gold and cohesion and openness of the SHM-CD. The Polish conditioner is the closest to the XRCD, and in some way also to the Siltech Double Crown (in Polish). The Verictum would be an equivalent of the Kondo Ongaku, and the FM Acoustics system.

Summary

The Acoustic Dream Conditioner costs more than many audio components that most people usually deal with. Its performance and technical design already suggest including it in the high-end class, and it's performance only confirms that. My system connected to it sounded more like it played music from a reel-to-reel tape recorder than from a digital medium. It is not warm, but rather dark sounding, it does not make sound more detailed, but rather, by getting deep into the sound, it improves the differentiation at every level. It's the best - next to the full Verictum (in Polish) power system I have heard so far in my room. And the best one there is.

Specifications (according to manufacturer)

Filtered frequency range:
<100 kHz - 400 MHz/Rdc 4,6 mΩ/18 dB
Ut/50 Hz/5 mA/2 sec: 1500 VAC
UR/50 Hz: 250 VAC
Max current: 30 A
Filters total capacity: 40 000 µF/IR/100 Hz - 6,0 A
Conductors: Cu, Au, Rh