Reviewers: Marja & Henk
Financial Interests: click here
Sources: PS Audio PWT; Dr. Feickert Blackbird MKII/DFA 1o5/Zu DL-103; Phasure XX-PC;
DAC: Phasure NOS1 DAC; T+A DAC8 [loaner]; Mytek Brooklyn & Mytek Brooklyn+ [in for review] with Farad external power supply
Streaming sources: XXHighEnd; iTunes; Devialet AIR; La Rosita Beta; Qobuz Desktop, Tidal Desktop; Sound Galleries SGM 2015 [loaner]
Preamp/integrated/power: Audio Note Meishu with WE 300B (or AVVT, JJ, KR Audio 300B output tubes); dual Devialet D-Premier; PTP Audio Blok 20; Hypex Ncore 1200 based monoblocks; Trafomatic Kaivalya; Trafomatic Reference One; Trafomatic Reference Phono One; Music First Passive Magnetic; Mytek Manhattan [in for review]; TBAC pre [short loan]
Speakers: Avantgarde Acoustic Duo Omega; Arcadian Audio Pnoe; Podium Sound One; WLM Sub 12; Sounddeco Alpha F3; dual Zu Submisson MKI; Soltanus Virtuoso ESL.
Cables: complete loom of ASI LiveLine cables; full loom of Crystal Cable cables; full loom of Nanotec Golden Strada; Audiomica Pearl Consequence interconnect; Audiomica Pebble Consequence
Power line conditioning: PS Audio Powerplant Premier; PS Audio Humbuster III; IsoTek Evo 3 Syncro; AudioMica Allbit Consequence
Equipment racks: Solid Tech and ASI amplifier and TT shelf
Indispensable accessories: Furutech DeMag; ClearAudio Double Matrix; Franc Audio Ceramic Disc Classic; Shakti Stones; Kemp polarity checker; Akiko Audio Corelli and Phono Booster; Pink Faun LAN Isolator
Online Music purveyors: qobuz.com, tidal.com, bandcamp.com, amazon.co.uk 
Room treatment: Acoustic System International resonators, sugar cubes, diffusers
Room size: ca. 14.50 x 7.50m with a ceiling height of 3.50m, brick walls, wooden flooring upstairs, ca 7 x 5m with a ceiling height of 3.50m, brick walls and concrete floor downstairs
Price of review item:  €4'499


In this review, you will read our experiences with the PLiXiR BAC 3000 where BAC stands for balanced power conditioner and 3000 for total output watts. It's been a while since we welcomed this type of power conditioner into one of our systems. The last time must have been the PS Audio P1000 in August 2005. A story on that cohabitation is here. Quoting from our own scribble on what balanced power is all about, "instead of having one 'hot' pin deliver the positive 220 to 250 volts here in Europe and the other pin being the zero return, a balanced power conditioner for European voltages delivers 110 to 125 volts on each pin out of phase with each other. Balanced power is the next hot thing in audio land. Not only are more and more makers of audio equipment attempting to build a balanced power supply into their amplifiers, more and more audiophiles are rewiring their power lines with a transformer-coupled balanced AC mains supply".


"A good example for how balanced power works is this. Remove two batteries from your Mag-Lite flashlight. Each battery is 1.5V. Now line them up such that the + terminal of the left battery connects to the - terminal of the right battery. The two batteries are now connected in series. When you measure the voltage between both extremes, you see 3 volts. Now take a length of wire and connect one end to ground and the other at the connection point of the batteries. Measure between the ground point and the negative terminal of the left battery. You'll see -1.5 volts. When measuring at the + side of the right battery, you'll see + 1.5 volts. Voilà, a balanced power supply."


Neat, innit? But why would you want to fiddle with the raw juice from your wall outlets? Well, if things were like back in the day of Adam and Eve in Paradise, there'd be the cleanest, utterly noise-free all-organic AC in tap; and free for all, too. But we all know that something went wrong big time involving some talking snake and an apple. In any case, Adam and Eve got kicked out of Paradise, had to wear clothes and AC... well, that took a while longer to become available and today is far from as pure as virgin snow.