Here at Audio T Southampton, we are longtime fans of IsoTek and their range of power optimisation solutions. We have many long standing customers whose Hi-Fi and Home Cinema systems have been dramatically improved with the addition of IsoTek products. So when we were given the opportunity to try the brand new V5 Aquarius, we jumped at the chance…

IsoTek V5 Aquarius is available in black or silver

Just another mains box?

The original IsoTek Aquarius was arguably one of the most cost-effective power cleaning upgrades money could buy. The new V5 model builds on the Aquarius concept and takes it to a higher level.

This all new design is presented in a stylish, smooth, solid casework with no visible fasteners. A simple, yet effective style choice that looks very classy indeed. Hewn from a single block of aluminum and measuring 450mm in width, 350mm deep and 110mm high.

The V5 Aquarius isn’t packaged with your standard, cheap and cheerful IEC lead. IsoTek also include their award winning Evo3 Premier mains cable in the box as standard.

The Design

The V5 features a new circuit that offers twice the inductance, with a 40% increase in current leading to a more open sound stage, micro dynamics and detail with more immediate timing. Improved Direct Current Resistance (DCR) has been applied throughout the design. Part of the IsoTek goal being to reduce DCR bringing performance closer to the zero Ohms ideal, V5 Aquarius is at least 25% improved compared to its predecessor. Surge protection has been raised to an instantaneous 81,000A, offering the ultimate insurance of your cherished Hi-Fi or Home Cinema. This six-way mains power-cleaning unit sits far above the specifications of the market standard. Offering two high-current outlets that are dedicated for use with amplifiers, subwoofers and so on, with four medium-current sockets for other components such as streamers, record players and CD players. Each outlet of the V5 Aquarius has its own dedicated power-cleaning network, thus six power cleaners in one box!

Using the V5 Aquarius, you’ll find that both Differential Mode (a noise current loop) and Common Mode (a leaked signal) noise are dramatically reduced. Cross contamination of connected components is also kept to a minimum due to the multiple power cleaning stages for each output socket. Most power filters join output sockets together, running each in series. This is an error as Differential Mode Noise created by your connected electronics will cross contaminate from one output socket to the next.

The proof is in the listening…

It was fantastic to be given the opportunity to try the new Isotek V5 Aquarius in store. Opening the box revealed how well packaged this new mains conditioner is. If IsoTek put so much care in to the cardboard box, I can only imagine what wonders hide inside the chassis…

We were keen to hear V5 Aquarius in action, so without haste we built a high resolution system consisting of Auralic Aries G1 streamer as our source, a Chord Electronics M-Scaler, DAVE DAC/Pre-Amp and Ultima 6 Power Amp driving a pair of the brand new B&W 804 D4s.

It’s no surprise that this setup already sounded superb without the addition of any other peripherals, but the moment we connected the V5 Aquarius, was a game changer. The removal of mains noise and artifacts achieved by this wonderous little box can almost be likened to a window opening wider to allow more of the outside world in. the music to flow and fill the room even more effortlessly.

Over twenty years of developing clean power technology has definitely paid off with V5 Aquarius. As previously mentioned, removing differential mode noise, exacerbated by widespread use of switch-mode power supplies, and common mode noise, ever worsening due to the proliferation of RFI, has clear audio benefits, as does the sine wave correction and multiple filters. Adaptive gating ensures each connected product receives the correct level of differential filtration with no cross contamination between sockets. Two sockets are high current, designed for power amplifiers, with another four for source components and pre-amplifier.