Thus far, I’d say both Vera-Fi Mainstream & Apotema Blackhole plug-in parallel filters are on a par with each other, however, I clearly hear a level of refinement not previously attained from the otherwise excellent Vera-Fi Mainstream. Add an Apotema Materik to the Apotema Blackhole & the refinement takes another leap forward in transparency & naturalness. Adding a 2nd Materik is like putting a pair of polarized sunglasses on. You can see & hear more deeply into the recording because of the ultra quiet background & increased level of silky smooth refinement. Materik #1 & Blackhole are plugged into a Factor-One 2510SE balanced power distributor & Materik #2 is plugged into the same dedicated circuit wall outlet that powers the Factor-One. And yes, the 2nd Materik in this location really does further improve on the pleasing effects of the other Apotema filters. Give the Materiks a quality power cord! That seems to make more of a difference to my ears than a fancy fuse does. Finally, the design & build quality are in a class of its own! The power distributor already has a sophisticated DC suppressing circuit, so I can’t compare it to the Vera-Fi SnubWay which I have not tried. FYI-I believe Apotema will soon release a new multi-socket power bar (10 receptacles I believe, but don’t hold me to that) that will include their proprietary filter technology.
