As I learned in the interview with Garth Powell about the "LowZ/Noise-Dissipation" mains power technology he designed for Audioquest, he was previously responsible for the development of the Furman mains conditioners. Since three of my colleagues and I have been using Audioquest's Niagara 5000 along with the corresponding cables for several years with utmost contentment now, it was logical to recommend Garth Powell's latest creations to Christoph Stickel instead of his earlier designs made for Furman. When, a short time later, Rob Hay, Audioquest's Marketing Director for Europe, and Richard Drees, Sales Director for Germany, dropped by for a visit to introduce the fantastic Mythical Creatures interconnect cables, I asked them if they would be interested in having their power supply components tested in a mastering studio. Immediately after Richard Drees had clicked through the references list on the CSM website, a visit to Vienna was a done deal. An appointment was roughly planned to take place right before or shortly after this year's High End show.

I was really surprised when the plan took on a concrete shape: Richard Drees was planning to travel to Vienna together with Garth Powell right after the Munich show. Since cables and mains filters had already been sent ahead to Vienna and I didn't want to miss the opportunity, I picked them up and we then headed east together - among other things, it was an excellent occasion to again talk to drummer and (free) jazz fan Garth Powell about his current musical projects: At hand he had the rough mix of an album recently recorded with his trio in the large recording room A of the legendary Capitol Studios.

After having arrived at the CSM studio, Garth Powell, Richard Drees and Christoph Stickel first took care of the set-up by preparing a Niagara 5000 as well as Monsoon and Thunder cables in order to be able to quickly switch from what the studio owner called DIY store cabling to Audioquest cabling for the Kii THREE BXT active monitors, the Antelope Eclipse mastering AD/DA converter and the Maselec mastering console, which is used to assume the preamplifier function. Garth Powell made sure that the Niagara was not connected to the mains while listening with the cheapies, as it unfolds part of its effect even if it’s only connected in parallel to the active devices. Christoph Stickel first listened to a few short excerpts from his current productions, then his guests had free choice thanks to the given streaming possibilities. As to me, I wanted to know how the intro of the first movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 3 sounded in the interpretation of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons at the place where the album was mastered – a tip by Helmut Baumgärtner by the way, which I always like to pull up since reviewing the Stealth headphones.