Not sure if this is as much ‘news’ as ‘blog’.
We’ve been keen advocates of the MusicWorks Reflex Lite mains block for several years. Around the time that the Naim PowerLine came out, we were aware of a need for a truly effective way to make up a seamless power ‘loom’. The Reflex Lite was the very best, utterly passive, option that we could find and it remains a Very Good Thing.
Last year, the visually similar Reflex Ultra came out and, at a heady £895, offered more of the same sort of gains that the standard ‘Lite’ brings over more conventional blocks. At the time, the instruction was to run it in on some kit in the background before even listening. We are an obedient lot and we did comply with this request.
Even the standard ‘Lite’ is entering into loony territory in the eyes of many. For some reason we never really made all that much of the ‘Ultra’, although the odd customer tried it and, for some, the gains were felt to be worth the additional financial pain.
Now, and I mean just now, we have Reflex Ultra G3. A customer who is willing to take the punt ordered one at the same time as we were ordering our new demo unit and, with just a single unit arriving today, it seemed mean not to let our buyer have ‘first dibs’. But not before we had a quick comparison with the previous ‘Ultra’.
Well, golly gosh! Even without burn-in (which we are assured will be significant) this is a wholly better sounding block. It’s hard to credit the additional elegance in the sound, the clearer phrasing, greater sense of air and space and sheer musicality with a swap of something so outwardly mundane. Not to say physically similar. Well done guys!
The price has risen to £995 but, curiously, I feel less awkward about mentioning it here with head held high than the slightly cheaper previous version. It’s all about subtleties, but they certainly pay off.
Heartily recommended. And very soon we will have our proper demo one too! If you have a ‘lite’ you just might want to hear it!
