Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC LAN Isolator Review – Deciphering The Complicated World Of Network Cables
Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC is a 422 Euro / $491 USD Network LAN Isolator with the promise to enhance network signal, by isolating noise and filtering interference. Today we review the Acoustic Revive RLI 1GB Triple C and explore whether, how and where it can improve your audio experience.
Introduction
Acoustic Revive is an esteemed company from Japan, experts in creating new ways of improving sound and music, using exotic materials, exotic approaches, and exotic ideas for creating a better sound for the audiophile mind and ear. You can generally find Acoustic Revive products in the catalogue of HiFi shops, but they are slowly coming to Amazon and more generalist shops, although at the moment their products are more of a rarity, made in limited batches and sold in limited quantities.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/424rhXV
Build Quality And Design
Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC is a very simple product externally, a short high-end audio accessory, designed to significantly improve the sound quality of network connected audio systems. It utilizes advanced materials, and it features a PC-TripleC, or Pure Copper Continuous Crystal Construction conductor, known for ultra-high purity and excellent conductivity. Quite different from other HIFI accessories, it supports gigabit Ethernet, speeds up to 1GBPS, making it compatible with high-speed networks and streaming.
The main function of the RLI-1GB-TripleC is to eliminate all electromagnetic interference or EMI and Radio Frequency Interference or RFI. It also acts as a Ground Loop elimination, being a potential solution for removing hum and noise where it happens. Acoustic Revive uses Gold Plaed contacts, and it is a simple plug and play device, no software, no settings, nothing else but adding it to the network.
There are measurements taken on third party websites from Japan that highlight just how much effect it can have, and for a 25 grams product that you can easily implement or take out of your system, RLI-1GB-Triple-C is quite effective, at least in theory.
Sound Quality And Subjective Usage
Pairings and Match-up – To test and explore the Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC LAN Isolator I have used it when feeding signal to mainly streamers including FiiO S15 Music Streamer, FiiO K17, LincPlus LincStation N1, Keces Ebravo, Matrix mini-i PRO 4, Cocktail Audio N25, and Magna HIFI Mano Ultra MKII Streamer. For most of those setups the effect is the same, consistent with the same situational usage.
Overall Effect – Using the Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB Triple C has a gentle effect, it can improve systems, but it is heavily system dependent. For example, for systems where you’re running a really long cable, across the house, you will notice a more dramatic effect, you will notice a cleaner sound, better speed for transfers sometimes, it is quite effective. On the other hand, for very short cables, the effect is less noticeable, but it is more noticeable if you have EMI or RFI generating devices. So running a cable behind speakers, or behind a computer will actually introduce a tiny amount of interference that Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB can remove.
The same happens if you’re using a router / modem that has Wifi enabled. Especially in a home with a mesh Wifi router setup, there will be quite a bit of interference if you’re running a long cable across long distance. It just so happens that I have a cable of around 15 meters running across the length of the home, with speakers, a large boiler and mesh wifi routers sitting very close to the cable. In this situation, the Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC is fairly effective at improving sound and removing a bit of hum and noise from a streaming-based system. The kicker is that I usually don’t listen via Streaming, especially not over this long distance, I use the local mesh router that is inside of my room, situation in which the effect is less evident.
If you have a really short 10 cm cable, you are less likely to notice any sonic improvement from using the RLI-1GB, as in that situation there’s just not enough length for interference to appear in the cable, unless it is sitting on the power amplifier, or GPU. Also quite important is the cable type and quality. I purchased multiple network cables from multiple companies, and even two S/FTP and F/UTP cables did not match the same noise levels, some cables that promise SFTP isolation had none, while some FTP cables were very good and reliable.
In theory, if you get an SFTP cable, adding the Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC will be less effective than if using a UTP cable, situation in which it will have the most drastic effect. Ethernet cables come in flavors ranging from the worst to best they are
UTP – No shielding at all
FTP – External foil shielding
STP – Individual shielding for each wire pair
SFTP – Individual shielding for each wire, plus external foil shielding.
Theoretically, if manufacturers respect those standards, a SFTP cable would be from the start less sensitive to noise and would render the RLI-1GB inert in most systems, but in actual practice, I noticed a noise reduction even with cables SFTP in quality, and you will be guaranteed to hear the effect with an UTP cable. The issue is that there are cables out there that promise SFTP quality, but are only UTP if you cut it and see what is on the inside, so even if you have a cable that’s believed to be SFTP, adding this isolator will not reduce speeds, and could have a positive effect.
Value and Conclusion
Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC is a fairly expensive boutique product for a very short and light network filter, but it can help a lot if you’re running really long cables, across a house, and if you have Mesh routers, or Wifi routers or a lot of EMI or RFI producing appliances. Overall, its value will be highest in a high-end system, and it is an accessory that can refine a system.
At the end of the day, we’ve been reviewing our first network adapter, and I learned from this review that cable manufacturers for network cables often lie and promise SFTP shielding but will sell you an UTP cable, so if you want to make sure your system has proper isolation, make sure to purchase a high-quality network cable (Acoustic revives makes some) and using the Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC will always improve and never hurt, so it is recommended if you want to just make sure.
PROs
- Effective for systems using long cables
- Effective for environments with lots of EMI or RFI, Mesh Routers and Wifi routes in the home
- Lightweight and simple
- Easy to install
Cons
- Not effective for short network cables
- Quite pricey
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/424rhXV
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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