I've just taken delivery of a pair of these latest models from SR and as one of the early customers and given the interest in SR graphene technology I thought I would share some first impressions. The 12UEFs (the glass top model) replace a pair of 10UEFs in my system. One powers the sources (phono, preamp, turntable and my 4 part DCS stack) while the other powers my two monoblocks. I had been very pleased with the 10UEFs and have several years experience with them finding that they did a good job of getting out of the way and letting each component perform.
Anyway after a day or so of listening (so given past SR black experience expect more burn in) I am surprised to relate that the impact of the 12UEFs is almost transformative. The best way of describing the effect is to say that with the 12s its as if a) all the musicians are now performing together in the same room and b) you are in the room with them. Across an array of my test discs I found the same effect. The normal indicators of frequency extreme performance, dynamics etc all somehow seem irrelevant. A couple of examples. On
"Bye Bye Blackbird" by Nancy Harms yes the bass is very clear but also superbly dimensioned, this then becomes a busy and congested recording as the full band enters but with the 12UEFs it's easy to sort the parts out and hear all of the musicians playing off one another. Another simple recording is Canen "I've got a guy in Kalamazoo" -- this is almost a mono recording and frankly I thought it sounded a bit muffled but with the 12UEFs again everyone is playing together, you can't help your toes from tapping and really engage with the bass players moves
One odd manifestation of the effect of these components is with any strong central vocal when you move your head forward and back it seems as if you are in the room with the vocalist and are moving away and towards him or her -- all the other instruments stay relatively in proportion and it's as if you can walk around the room
I can only surmise that by taking away low level noise from the power supply the 12UEFs are letting through more of the recorded acoustic - others have noted similar effects with other SR Atmosphere and black series components
Anyway for those already using SR Powercells or in the market for some sort of conditioner I can highly recommend them
