Chord Company PowerARAY Plug Review
The Chord Company is a company that I have used for my HiFi systems for the last 20 or so years, because they have offered some of the most noticeable improvements with every upgrade I have made to my systems, ranging from budget cables all the way up to the Signature and Indigo cables which I used on a variety of equipment and every single time I found worthy improvements to the quality of sound. This has always given me huge confidence and appreciation of their products and the R&D taken to develop their products. I reviewed the Chord Sarum T tuned aray interconnects a while back and found them to be quite a revelation in how they improved the soundstage and dynamics in my system at the time, so the tuned aray tech had a prefound impact on what I was hearing, when I found out that they were producing power enhancing products it really piqued my interest as I have had a lot of experience over the years with other power products produced to benefit HiFi and AV in general.
The PowerAray Plug is their starting point but they do offer power blocks like the PowerHAUS M6 block and power connecting cables to build up to a complete solution, the power aray plug is the starting point and what I have here for review.
The power aray plug arrives in a beautifuly packaged box and feels weighty for what really is a larger size plug but the tech inside is what makes these so special and to note this is a passive product which sits in line with your HiFi equipment plugged in on any socket located near your HiFi or power strips that you are using. I am using it plugged in to one of my power strips feeding my HiFi, it works in absorbing HF noise from the mains which can enter your HiFi and colour the sound which can impact on dynamics, soundstage and musical enjoyment. This approach to minimise noise from entering the system rather than filtering it out is what makes the technology unique in the aray plug and what Chord believe to take away the enjoyment from the musical performance. The manufacturing process takes considerable time due to the delicate grounding elements which have to be carefully assembled in each of the plugs and then resin is poured in to isolate the elements to isolate them from any microphonic interference once assembled.
Putting this technology into action connected up I am using my Cyrus Audio 82 DAC Integrated Amplifier, Cyrus CD8 player and Chord Hugo 2 DAC and for streaming my Bluesound Node player all connected up with Chord Epic and Rumour 2 cables, I also have some Chord power cables too connected to my CD and amplifier, speakers are the beautiful ProAc D2Rs.
On to my favourite part of any review and that is listening to the music and what to listen to, so I have been trawling through Quobuz and found some great new music to stream via my system and I start with the PowerAray plugged in to get used to the music I am listening to and will then remove it to see how my system reacts by its removal. Seeing as we have just had his majesty the Kings coronation I found a great album by the London Symphony Orchestra aptly named Music for Royal Occasions and it is a brilliant listen and perfect for demoing and evaluating your HiFi with huge dynamic orchestral music which really can show a systems good and bad points, track 1 Fanfare for the Common Man starts with some loud percussion and brass section and the soundstage is vast with great imaging with the trumpets and big drums having real attack and immediacy to the sound, when the PowerAray is removed from the system the sound stage becomes more shut in and not as open with the PowerAray in situ, bass doesn’t seem to be as tight either which I was not expecting but it is quite noticeable especially with the big drums hitting, track 5 Pomp and Circumstance Military Marches confirms this as with the PowerAray plugged in the bass has more attack and is better defined.
I move on to an album I know well but which has been re-released for its 10th Anniversary since it’s original date and that is the great album Random Access Memories by Daft Punk which I love, track 1 Give Life back to Music sampled at 24bit 88kHz sounds so good and with the PowerAray in line it has great bass and a thumping beat with a very open sound once it is removed it falls away not as drastically as with the orchestral music but still noticeable and then the bass again is not as defined, it is good but once you notice it you cannot go back as it just sounds tighter and more enjoyable to listen to. Track 3 Giorgio by Moroder is another great track and on the opening when Giorgio Moroder is talking it is in a club style venue in the background with the people talking around him is nice and open sounding with wide imaging but once the PowerAray is removed this diminishes in size, very impressive and shows how affective the Chord is at allowing you to hear more of the music, track 4 Within has a beautiful piano intro and melody which sounds stunning and with the Chord plugged in it is better defined than without, I keep trying it off and then back on but it is clear that this is the case and to the benefit of the music.
It is impressive how Chord have managed to use this noise eliminating tech and know how and once again improve your musical experience to good affect.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
It is clear that introducing the Chord Company PowerAray Plug into my system it has improved the quality of the music that I am hearing with the reduction of noise which masks the music and utltimately the enjoyment of the music, some accessories are a must have and this is one of those items that is staying firmly in place plugged into my system. I think it is another superb addition to Chord’s portfolio of products and if you want to improve noise reduction in your system then it really is a great product that works extremely well !
The Speaker Shack awards the Chord Company PowerAray Plug with a Highly Recommended award.
Price at time of review: £550
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