Node Audio SS-1

We audio nerds are an interesting if often contradictory bunch. From the “cables don’t make a difference” crew to the “more outlandish the better” collective, and at all points in between, one thing that we all seem to agree about is vibration. While Brian Wilson and Mike Love were still on speaking terms Good Vibrations were aurally most pleasing, but in all other cases, we don’t like vibration in our music replay systems. This can range from footfall on a wooden floor wreaking havoc with our turntable to the micro-vibrations from a noisy power supply. 

I have, in my heyday, been known to try all sorts of things, a few wonderful but mostly weird, some of which would wander into the feared territory of snake oil. I am the proud owner of a Bedini Ultra Clarifier for example, a device that spins compact discs at super high speed, which, as far as I remember the blurb at the time, reduces static and thus improves the sound of CD. Allegedly. I also have a couple of dozen CDs with bright green edges (if you are old enough to remember that craze). I was an early convert to the control of vibration however, having had the effects of one anti-vibration device revealed to me one day in the demonstration room of the dealership in which I was working. I have purchased several sets of different vibration-damping products and still use them to this day. 

Audio civilian

Back in early June of this year my wife (an audio ‘civilian’) and I had the opportunity to visit Node Audio, which is based in a technical enterprise centre in the countryside just outside Cambridge. The invitation was issued after I reviewed their extraordinary Hylixa loudspeakers some time ago and gave them a very favourable rating. The Hylixas are made by an extremely advanced but time-consuming 3D printing process at their Cambridge facility, and I was keen to see how the whole thing worked. While there we were treated to a listening session in their dem room. Of course, the Hylixas were there, coupled with some high-end amplification and an expensive streamer. 

We listened to two or three tracks including one by the Irish singer/songwriter Cara Dillon and then my host said that he wanted to make a few adjustments to the system. He produced three palm-sized devices, which he explained were Node Audio’s latest development, the Support System One, or SS-1 for short. He lifted the streamer and placed the three SS-1s under it then sat it down on top of them. We returned to Cara Dillon and played her song again. Oh my goodness. She had sounded good the first time, now she sounded fantastic. The track featured her speaking her poetic lyrics as well as singing them. It was goose-bump inducing for the realism, for the almost palpable presence of her in the room with us. 

Our host said that was just the first stage. He then placed a series of SS-1s, this time with what looked almost like elegant black flowers attached to the top under each of the loudspeaker cables feeding the two Hylixas, pushing the chunky cables down into the black flowerheads, which were two pairs of arms pointing upwards. He explained that these were also 3D printed, as were parts of the base SS-1s, melded with milled stainless-steel parts. We then listened to Cara Dillon for a third time and this time she was almost standing just in front of us, holographically real. When pressed, the lovely Node Audio folk explained that the SS-1s not only remove all vibration that could diminish the signal but eliminate little eddy currents of electricity and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) too.

As we were leaving I asked Mrs K what she had made of what she had heard.  She expressed her astonishment that such small bits of equipment could make such a huge improvement to the listening experience, which was high praise indeed.

Listening at home

It is one thing to hear things in the pristine surroundings of a manufacturer’s dem room, but possibly quite another in one’s less-than-perfect listening room, in a system that would cost at retail significantly less than a pair of Hylixas. 

The review system in use at the time was my Lyngdorf TDAI3400 integrated digital amplifier, my Yamaha CD-S3000 SACD/CD player, an AURALiC ARIES Mini streamer and my Linn Sondek LP12, with a Vertere Dark Sabre MM cartridge attached to the Ittok arm. I have been using the MM input in the Lyngdorf for the Dark Sabre. Speaker cable was Tellurium Q Ultra Black II, with the same company’s Ultra Silver II RCA interconnects connecting the Yamaha to the Lyngdorf. Loudspeakers were my Harbeth Compact 7 ESXDs, sitting on Hi-Fi Racks Fortis stands.

I started out by deploying an SS-1 beneath each of the conical feet under the Fortis stands. The top of the SS-1 is a gimballed circular steel cylinder, with a rifled recess in the centre. I made sure to carefully position the post of each cone into the central recess. The last album I had played was on the streamer via Qobuz, the high-resolution version of Pink Floyd’s Meddle, an evergreen favourite here. As the opening bass riff of ‘One Of These Days’ started there was noticeably more attack, and more precision in the way the notes rang through the Harbeths. The two-way, bass-ported Compact 7s sounded bigger, as if someone had managed to sneak in and replace them with their bigger siblings, the SHL5s.  Nick Mason’s delivery of the song’s rather sinister vocal line “One of these days I’m going to cut you into little pieces” was as dark as I have ever heard it.

I next deployed a trio of them beneath the Lyngdorf. Sitting as it did at the heart of my system, I felt that this was the obvious place to start. Node Audio told me that positioning below components was critical, and to experiment before settling on final positioning. This I did, and it paid dividends. My first effort sounded all right, but I was looking for a lot more than that, so I moved the unit at the back of the triangle about a centimetre to the right and played the last track again. Bingo! The music sprang to life again, full, fast and free from any exaggerated emphasis.

My last act was to attach eight cable supports to eight SS-1 base units. I then lifted the five-metre run of Ultra Black II from behind the TV unit, away from all the other cables with which it normally shares space and laid it on the carpet. The right-hand cable, which is closer to the equipment rack, was pulled clear of its normal neighbours. I slotted the left cable into four of the cable supports and that on the right only had room for two. I put Meddle on to the turntable, lit the blue touch paper and retired to my listening chair. As the opening wind noises of ‘One Of These Days’ faded and that monster bass riff kicked in I almost flinched – it was that visceral. 

Support When You Need It

That may sound like the strap-line for some self-help gathering, but in this context it turns out that it applies everywhere in my system. Sadly time ran out on me, so I didn’t get to try the SS-1s under my LP12 or indeed its Lingo4 power supply – I suspect they would have been very effective in either or both areas, nor was there space on my rack to get them in under the Yamaha or indeed my Shunyata Hydra power distribution block. I hope to get them back here later in the year for further experimentation. Nonetheless, where I was able to deploy them they made an irrefutable improvement to my listening experience, confirmed not only by my experience but also by the more acute hearing ability of Mrs K . These devices are not an inexpensive option but the good news is that you can dip your toes into the wonderful Node Audio waters without breaking the bank. Buy three of the SS-1s and try them under different components of your system, and as I have already said, experiment with the positioning. Once you find the sweet spot you will not want to move them, so  then you will buy more and repeat. All that improvement is available through the components that you agonised over buying in the first place.

Having seen the way that Node Audio builds its products I am not taken aback by the price – every piece of 3D printing is a labour of love, and there are no shortcuts. Understandably the company keeps its secrets close to its chest, so I have no idea what manner of sorcery is afoot within the SS-1. All I know is that it works supremely well and that in due course I shall be buying some for myself. Reviewers are privileged because we get to hear all manner of wonderful stuff, but it would be financially (and matrimonially) ruinous if I wanted to buy every great bit of kit that passes through my room. In the six years that I have been doing this, only twice have I bought something after a review. Node Audio SS-1s will join that small band in due course.

I can think of no higher recommendation. 

Price and contact details

• Price: from £810, $1,056, €967 for a set of three SS-1

Manufacturer

Node Audio

Node Audio Homepage: www.node-audio.com

Node Audio SS-1: www.node-audio.com/ss-1

Node Audio Retailers: www.node-audio.com/where-to-experience

Node Audio SS-1 webstore: www.node-audio.com/shop/accessories

Tel: +44(0)1223 895854

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