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(Jolida) Black Ice Audio Foz SS-X Sound Enhancement

I could find only a few reviews of this device and a few forum entries here. They were all favorable. I sorely needed the bass enhancement circuit for my Maggie 3.7s. I have a Marchand X.26 crossover handling them and the sub but the integration was not ideal. The pre and amps are Cary Audio Class A mono blocs. The source is transparent and very revealing. I did not want anything to upset the glorious sound of the tubes. I also needed something to offset my small-ish listening room. The Maggies ’stand watch’ but I can’t get the distance I need for them to bloom. The SS-X seemed to fit the bill - tube driven, clean specs and a solid designer pedigree. I respect Jim Fosgate.

I ordered the SS-X on the strength of his engineering expertise, particularly in tubes, viz-a-viz Jolida. Not having heard the device it could be considered a leap of faith or a plunge into disappointment. I held my breath.

Straight to the chase: Maggies now have a sweet bottom end, the sub has been dialed back and has disappeared and the top to bottom synergy is spot on and very satisfying.

But wait, there’s more...

The spatial imaging adjustment: Well, I listened to several of my favorite studio recordings. Clean, thankfully. I then put on a nightclub recording of the late Ben Webster live in Amsterdam. I nearly fell out of my chair. The speakers disappeared and I was looking around for the cocktail waitress. The drum kit, the piano, the double bass were all present in the venue with all of its ambiance and Mr. Webster was doing what he did so incredibly well: swinging the audience ala Ellington with that big smooth sax. You could hear everyone present as if you were sitting there.

I’m still waiting for the cocktail server. Incredible device and worth every penny and the anticipation.





128x128keesue
4krowme's avatar
4krowme
542 posts
 
 I am also glad to see this conversation move along as people experience the benefits that this unit has to offer. The beauty of this unit, as has been stated above is the fact that you are the one in control. There IS no set position for the knobs. It is a good point that the OP made about some studio recordings. Yes, in fact that hey may be too wide, and the dimension control is useful for that too!
sgordon1
439 posts
 
To "supercharge" your SS-X, apply a small amount of
anti-static fluid with a brush or cloth to the unit, and to the
supporting shelf.

4krowme's avatar
4krowme
542 posts
 
Once I aimed an antistatic gun at myself. It made me anemic.
sgordon1
439 posts
 
Jim Smith, from "Get Better Sound" on tonal balance:

p. 92 "We perceive warm or cool sound to some extent
by the amount of energy present in the lower
midrange/upper bass.  If we bring our speakers (or microphones)
a bit closer togeether, the reproduced sound "couples"
ever so slightly better, slightly shifting the balance to "warmer."

p. 94 The other extreme, "pinpoint stereo imaging," results from
"very wide separation, which thins out the tonal palette of
the music.  You can make an orchestra (or band, etc.) sound
bleached out, thin, and totally uninteresting by going too far in
your quest for pinpoint imaging." 

Enter SS-X!
keesue's avatar
keesue OP
42 posts
 
@sgordon1: Thank you for this citation, good sir. Your conclusion is spot on, "Enter the SS-X". Precisely what the SS-X is for!

In a cozy space, such as mine, you can adjust the imaging to your liking to make it more believable. I always bemoaned the artificial separation in studio recordings but no more. With live recordings, jeepers is all I have to say! "Oh, waitress!" :-).

To give life to this "Oh, waitress" schmaltz, lemme ’splain. I have a recording of John Coltrane live at the Village. It is a cozy club setting. Right in the middle of the drum solo, there is a percussive noise that is out of place. I always assumed it was an anomaly of some sort on the drum kit because it was buried down so deep - hardly noticeable - but there none-the-less. When I added a tweak I had been eyeing for some time, and played that cut, that noise became immediately obvious. It was a glass dropped out in the audience - and now heard clear as a bell! Needless to say that tweak has been in my system ever since.

With the addition of the SS-X, I can now tell exactly where in the club that person who dropped that glass was sitting relative to the stage! Incredible resolution. Put another way, it did not obscure that extraneous noise, a testament to its transparency, and brought out its spatial location in the live space. Hence, why I say, "Oh, waitress".

I suspect that even in the best of spaces, you can adjust the recording to your liking, particularly studio recordings. Indispensable.


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