This thing is not the cure-all for all sound issues. But it can make the difference between great listening pleasure and constant agony. There’s no getting around trying out the EE1 from English Electric. Why should you take the time for this clever little box? We have the answers.
I guess I had it coming. That’s what I get for having a loose mouth. Whenever I had to lug a monstrous CD player or a power amplifier the size of a fridge up the spiral staircase into my apartment, I was regularly crying out for a special edition of this magazine called “MINIDELITY”. According to my heretical idea, it should only contain reviews of tiny devices at equally manageable retail prices. And that’s exactly what I received in the post a few days ago – an English Electric EE1: about the length my index finger, weighing just a few grams, with an Ethernet socket on each end. Enclosed was a matching, very short cable with a turquoise plug identifying it as the “C-Stream” from the British Chord Company.
So why is there a large “E” emblazoned on the box and the manufacturer’s name in small print refers to a manufacturer called “English Electric”? Well, this is the Chord Company’s fairly new second brand. And the fact that it was created goes back to an ancient agreement, a non-aggression pact between gentlemen. Anyone familiar with the British hi-fi scene will know that there are two independent companies called “Chord” on the island. While Chord Electronics focuses on devices such as amplifiers, the Chord Company concentrates on everything related to cables. “The agreement clearly states that Chord Electronics will never enter the cable business and that the Chord Company will not manufacture any electronics in return,” says Mika Dauphin from the German Chord Company distributor 3H.
The English Electric EE1 could, of course, be interpreted as a breach of the agreement, as a small processor, the specifications of which the manufacturer keeps secret, is located between the strictly galvanically isolated Ethernet sockets of the box, which is intended as a network enhancer. This is why the English Electric brand was created so that the manufacturer can safely dip its toes in the grey area of hi-fi gray area that is the not entirely new flirtation with the world of computer audio. “The name was available,” explains Mika Dauphin, leaving no doubt that there must and should be no risk of confusion.
The full type designation is “EE1 Network Noise Isolator” and describes quite well the task of the accessory, which at 379 euros sits at an affordable price point: filtering (high-frequency) network noise out of the signal and thus, ideally, also cleaning the sound of those components that, not least in view of the increasing digitalization in practically all networks, have a harmful effect – someone is practically always interfering via some path. “The passive design converts interference frequencies into heat,” promises the manufacturer.
And that’s where my high-end buddy Klaus comes in, who converted a room in his old apartment in the north of Fürth into a listening studio some time ago. Here he, who has long been indifferent to dogmas and system disputes, has set up a chain that allows music to be listened to from practically all sources – from mass-drive turntables to hard disks. An Asus P5Q with an HDAV 1.3 sound card currently serves as the playback laptop. Amplification is provided by an aged but carefully refurbished AVM preamp from 1985, a well-maintained “Showcase” from Krell and the classic Mark Levinson No. 332 power amplifier. And because Klaus is a fan of minimalist setups and his horn loudspeakers are currently at a shop to have new plasma drivers fitted, a pair of Heco SAT 206 monitors are currently at work in the 50-square-metre listening room – for the sake of spatiality and freedom from coloration.
This chain plays astonishingly punchy, “knows” to deliver timbre and depth layering and pleases with absolute neutrality. Before the EE1 was looped in with the shortest possible cable connections, we measured it and found that it did not pass the mass. “That’s the idea,” emphasizes Mika Dauphin. It’s about kicking stray frequencies around 100 kilohertz and higher out of the signal path, “filtering out the dirt in the last few centimetres”, as Dauphin describes it tongue-in-cheek.
In the Klaus configuration, however, it was difficult to hear any differences, whether Joni Mitchell was coming into the room from the hard disk with a large orchestra, Malia was sparking and jazzing with Boris Blank or Gustav Mahler’s Eighth was on the program. Blind tests yielded nothing. This is not least due to the fact that Klaus has done a lot in his old building to overcome the limitations of the power supply and ensure absolute stability and low interference. The man earns his living as a self-employed IT consultant and is therefore absolutely dependent on the fault-free functioning of his equipment. The EE1 simply had nothing to do.
Our colleagues in the Oberhaching editorial office had different experiences, where the EE1, depending on the configuration of the test chain, sometimes produced very clear differences in sound, including more contour and a more stable bass range. For this reason, we strongly recommend that interested parties try out the English Electric EE1 Network Noise Isolator in their own four walls. There is a good chance that a small sonic sun will rise. And if you want to take the game further: English Electric aka The Chord Company also offers network switches with eight outputs.
Accompanying Equipment
Laptop: Asus P5Q with HDAV 1.3 sound card | Network player/DAC: Esoteric N-01XD | CD player: Mark Levinson No. 390S | SACD player: Pioneer PD06 | Turntable: Clearaudio Concept Signature, Grundig PS 4500 with Shure Ultra 500 | Phono preamplifier: Musical Fidelity M-VNYL | Preamplifier: Mark Levinson No. 38S | Integrated amplifier: Unison Simply Italy | Power amplifier: Mark Levinson No. 332 | Loudspeakers: Infinity Kappa 7.2 Series II, SoundSpace Systems Aidoni, Heco SAT 206 | Cables: in-akustik, AudioQuest, Silnote Audio, Chord Company, among others
LAN noise isolator English Electric EE1
Concept: network isolator with an electrically isolated Ethernet input and output | Connections: one LAN input and one LAN output | Dimensions (W/H/D): 6.5/2/3 cm | Warranty period: 2 years | Price: around € 379 (incl. C-Stream network cable from the Chord Company)
DREI H
Mika Dauphin
Kedenburgstraße 44, House D/1st floor
22041 Hamburg
Phone +49 177 6170123
mika.dauphin@3-h.de