bloodlemons
|
I am surprised to see such a recent post on the Sorcer X4 here. I recently picked up a Sorcer X4+ after demoing an X4 from my local shop. What follows is a post I made on the Steve Hoffman Forums on December 1, 2023 (just a few short weeks ago) regarding my initial impressions of the device. I think the Sorcer's effect is somewhat difficult to explain, so having another perspective on the thing may be helpful to the curious in the future.
"Has anyone tried one of these, or any of the ADD-POWR stuff?
A few days ago my local shop, Gig Harbor Audio, sent out an email newsletter type thing that included a short blurb about the ADD-POWR Sorcer X4, how you just plug it into the wall and somehow it makes everything sound better. It had a clear plexiglass top so you can see all the transformers and flashing lights. It kind of looks like the flux capacitor from "Back To The Future."
I was intrigued, at least. I get along pretty well with Erik at GHA, so I shot him an email this morning to see if I could give the Sorcer a spin. No problem, he said, take it for a week or so. I picked up the store demo around 10:00 A.M. Jake at the shop told me to plug it into the same wall socket as my system power supply (if possible, I guess it works pretty well just plugged into the PS, too) and to let it do its thing for about an hour before I started turning it off and on to compare.
So I did that. I had been listening to Dua Lipa's "Future Nostalgia" on LP before I ran out to GHA, so I started with that on the table. I turned the Sorcer on, then off, then on, trying to hear the magic. Nada. Magic denied!
Next up was the debut Wet Leg S/T LP, an album I've had surprising moments with when dialing in other components. Nope. NO MAGIC.
What both of those albums have in common in what I would call "busy" mixes. Not a lot of space in most of the song and production style. So I put on Dominque Fils-Aime, "Nameless," which starts with her amazing rendition of "Strange Fruit." Suddenly, I could hear something happening, mostly in the backing vocals. With the Sorcer "on," they were more present in the mix, more full and holographic in comparison to without the Sorcer. This is what I was looking for. It was starting to come together.
Next was Julee Cruise, "Floating into the Night" LP, which of course has "Falling" as made famous on Twin Peaks back in the day. "Falling" has huge, wide, multi-layered backing vocals that already sound amazing on my system, so I'm very, very happy to report that the Sorcer just took all of that to a new level, noticeably wider and deeper in soundstage and dynamic range than without the device. Even better, the difference was clearly apparent on the iconic, reverb-drenched, palm-muted guitar notes in the intro to the song. The notes are fuller, deeper, rounder. Finally, the magic was not confined to vocals! Once I made that observation, the Sorcer effect started making a lot more sense to me. It is a subtle difference that becomes more and more dramatic as you start remapping what you expect the song to do or where you expect the song to go. With the Sorcer, the music does more, and it goes further. Up, down, left, right, forward and back, stretched out on the walls.
Final test album of the day was the Mo-Fi Original Master Recordings pressing of Miles Davis' "Sketches of Spain." I still had the volume up very high from listening to Julee Cruise, so at first, without the Sorcer on, there were prominent brass passages that stuck out as shrill, slightly-unpleasant. Typically, I would just back off the volume a little. But this time, I flipped on the Sorcer and the same horns came into focus and were no longer shrill. I didn't want to turn it down after that. The Sorcer just put everything right into place.
So, obviously, it took a little while for me to figure out what I was listening for. But, now that I hear it, it's very obvious when the Sorcer is on vs. off. What's interesting is that it almost seems like it brings something different to every recording, but I'm chalking that up to only having focused on certain parts of each recording today as I was comparing affected vs. unaffected SQ. It was very active, granular listening, not holistic. As I type this post, I'm listening to the recent VMP pressing of Miles Davis "Tribute to Jack Johnson," an already astonishing pressing that is now somehow even more astonishing. I didn't need this album to sound better, yet here we are, people.
What's so strange about this thing is that it is NOT in your chain. At all. It's just plugged into the wall. It's not doing anything to your chain. And yet, here I am writing this novel because it really does make everything sound better. It's not like flipping a loudness switch or anything like that, but once you hear it you can't unhear it, and it is obvious and replicable after that. Things actually do sound better with the Sorcer in the circuit for some reason. I've read that you can also plug it in next to your breaker panel and it works on the whole house that way. But I didn't feel like putting it in my laundry room, so...
I emailed Erik at GHA again and told him my impression that, in effect, the Sorcer essentially remasters the album in your living room in real time as you are listening to it. He agreed generally, admitting that neither he nor his shop tech understand how it works yet. But they both have one in their systems at home. Because, somehow, it does work. Beyond the mastering analogy above, I might also compare the Sorcer effect to something like a really, really good cartridge upgrade.
The people at ADD-POWR do seem to know how their stuff works, and there's some explanation of it all on their website, about feeding low frequencies into your AC to increase the dynamics of the power peaks, eliminating EMF signals in the air, etc. I understand the explanation, intellectually, like if someone explained how the transporter beams are supposed to work on Star Trek, but it doesn't seem like something that would really work in real life and the end result is baffling. It all seems very complicated yet very simple at the same time. I mean, seriously, you just plug it into the wall. That's it. Too easy!
The Sorcer X4 is about $4000 USD. I have a nice system, and a decent job, but $4K is a sizable chunk of change for my typical gear budget. I can afford it, but I really shouldn't buy it, you know? But, now that I've heard it, I'm not going to want to go without it. Which is how they get you, but you know, I did ask to try it out...
Anyway, I was surprised to not see much discussion on ADD-POWR stuff in general on this site. There are a few vocal disciples over on Audiogon. Has anyone here given any of this stuff a chance? Do I sound like a crazy person? I guess I need someone to tell me I'm not crazy!"
I'll add here that the same week I was demoing the X4 I had a music-lover friend come over for a blind listening test. He identified the Sorcer being powered on as "better" every time where the unit was "on" 5 out of 8 plays. This is without him ever hearing the unit before and having no idea what it should sound like or what he should listen for. It's definitely not a placebo device.
|