Synergistic Research Tranquility Bases, Transporter Ultra and UEF Tuning Circuits Review

The Spectacular New UEF Tuning Circuits

Finally, at the end of the review period, the new UEF tuning circuits arrived as replacements for the Enigma tuning circuits that previously came standard with all active Synergistic Research products. Here’s Ted’s take on the UEF babies, with a hint of products next to come:

The new UEF tuning circuits replace the original Enigma tuning circuits. They are our first tuning circuits that employ UEF technology, and now come standard on all SR products equipped with removable tuning circuits.

These products are but the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more to come, including UEF record clamps, headphone products, and phono cartridge products. We’re even developing a UEF USB stick that you put into your spare USB port. 

To test their effects, I progressively replaced every Enigma tuning circuit on my SR power cables, computer cabling, PowerCell, and Tranquility products with the new UEF tuning circuits, and noted the changes to my system’s sound. The results were mind-blowing.

First up was the FIM 24-bit CD remastering of Oscar Peterson’s We Get Requests. Playing the first track, “You Look Good to Me,” I noted the nice warm sound of the piano, the lovely speed and crispness to wire brushes on high hat, and fairly good bass definition.

Then I replaced a single silver Enigma tuning circuit on the Element Tungsten power cable that connects my PowerCell to the wall with a new silver UEF capsule. The sound immediately got more transparent. “The piano seems more resonant and fuller,” I wrote in my notes. “Everything sounds more substantial, and seems to have greater weight. The sounds are rounder, more three-dimensional, and thus more realistic.”

When I next changed the tuning circuit on the Element Tungsten power cable that runs between the PowerCell and Transporter Ultra, I experienced yet another leap in sound quality. The system actually seemed to be playing louder because I heard so much more there there. Since I could hear more of the resonance of each instrument within the recording venue, instruments that had formerly seemed unnaturally separated now sounded more united and realistic.

From Peterson’s jazz trio I went to the operatic voice of soprano Krassimira Stoyanova. Stoyanova, who is coming to San Francisco next fall after making her mark at the Metropolitan Opera, may not be my favorite soprano, but there’s no denying the power and beauty of her voice, nor the emotion with which she invests her singing.

At the same time, I changed the right angle tuning circuit on the Tranquility Base that supports my dCS Puccini CD/SACD player. Immediately, the sense of acoustic space around Stoyanova’s voice increased. Then, when I completed the tuning circuilt changeover by switching to a UEF tuning circuit on the Tranquility Base beneath the dCS Scarlatti Clock, and returned to We Get Requests, Peterson’s piano seemed to further increase in size, and the acoustic resonance that surrounded it seemed uncannily real.

When I played the recording of Mahler’s Second Symphony that I had used as one of my initial tests of the Tranquility products many months before, I was so astounded by how convincing it sounded on the VR4jrs that I wrote in my notes, “like some of the best systems I’ve heard at shows. I hear far more clarity on the orchestra’s individual strings, which no longer sound like a congealed mass. These UEF tuning circuits make these speakers sound so much better than they have any right to sound.”

Then it was time to add the UEF tuning circuits to my computer front end. Choosing a high-resolution file of Patricia Barber’s latest release, Smash, I began by listening with the original Enigma tuning circuits in place on the Tranquility Basik, Active USB cable, and active Firewire cable.

“There’s a certain amorphous quality to the sound,” I noted, already spoiled by the UEF tuning circuits on my dCS front end. “The sound is very crisp, but I can’t quite touch it.”

First, I switched to UEF on the active USB cable.“There’s a new roundness to the sound,” I noted. “Both the drum and Barber’s voice sound rounder and more three-dimensional, as they would if unamplified in a live acoustic. They also seem to possess greater weight and visceral impact.”

When I next switched to a right angle UEF tuning circuit on the Basik that supported my Macbook Pro and external HD, the sound opened up even more, and boundaries seem to lift. “I’ve never heard a drum set sound so round and clear on my system, nor been able to discern so many different colors from a single drum thwack,” I wrote.

I’ve seen countless reviewers throw around the phrase micro-tonalities as if reporting their increase would earn them extra points on the reader acceptance scale. Hence I tend to avoid that buzzword unless I actually have a visceral experience of greater micro-tonality. But by the time I had switched every single tuning circuit in my system to UEF, I heard a level of harmonic complexity that I had never before heard from my system. I could even hear how the recording engineer had superimposed Barber’s voice over her accompaniment. The increase in overtones and undertones was mind-blowing.

I also spent a while changing from silver to gray UEFs. (Synergistic Research no longer makes the black capsules.) While even a single change to gray noticeably increased midrange and bass, the corresponding diminishment of luster on high ultimately led me to again prefer the silver UEF tuning circuits. Audiophiles accustomed to hearing acoustic music in dry, damped halls may find themselves more satisfied using one or more gray UEF tuning circuits in the chain.

With the release of the UEF tuning circuits, every active SR makes has just taken a major step forward in performance. When all is said and done, I feel the UEF tuning circuits so profoundly improve the sound of all active Synergistic Research products that it will prove necessary for those who have already performed cable comparisons between Synergistic Research’s cables and those from other brands to conduct their tests once again.

In Summation

Synergistic Research’s Tranquility Bases and Basik, Transporter and Transporter Ultra, and UEF tuning circuits have an undeniably major effect on system performance. In my system, the Tranquility products by themselves – especially when powered by either the superior Galileo MPCs or Transporter Ultra – not only reduced the noise floor, but also greatly increased image size, three-dimensionality, air, and bass control. Frankly, I wish I had enough Tranquility Bases to also have placed them under my Pass amps. They are a win-win addition to any system.

Changing all the tuning circuits on Synergistic Research’s active cabling, Tranquility Bases/Basik, and PowerCell from the former Enigmas to the new UEFs took system performance to another level entirely. The upgrade invested sounds and images with an uncanny three-dimensional roundness, as well as a palpable increase in body and weight. The UEFs also opened the soundstage even more, further dissolving boundaries between music and listener. The effects of the UEF tuning circuits are so profound that they call for a performance re-evaluation of all existing Synergistic Research products that include active tuning circuits.

The sole reason I began my exploration of high-end audio was to bring me closer to the music I love. When I can get closer to a singer’s heart, a conductor’s intention, or any artist’s genius, music and life feel more fulfilling. Because Synergistic Research’s Tranquility Bases and Basik, Transporter and Transporter Ultra, and UEF tuning circuits remove boundaries and enable me to immerse myself more completely in the source of musical creation, they receive my most enthusiastic endorsement.