The IO Approach: Multi-Stage RF Isolation
IO uses a three-stage passive architecture that works synergistically to achieve what no single technique can:
Stage 1: Ground RF Isolation
The critical insight: most equipment RF contamination travels through the ground conductor, not hot or neutral. IO employs a series resistance-capacitance network that blocks RF on the ground path while maintaining safety ground connection at 60 Hz.
This prevents your amplifier’s switching noise from reaching your DAC via ground. It stops your streaming device’s Ethernet RF from polluting your preamp’s ground reference. Each component maintains proper safety grounding, but RF isolation between them approaches 60-80 dB at critical frequencies.
Stage 2: Transient Energy Storage
IO integrates a large-scale capacitor bank using audiophile-grade film capacitors. This serves three purposes:
- Ultra-low impedance at RF frequencies (where equipment generates noise)
- Instantaneous current delivery for dynamic musical transients
- RF shunting that gives equipment-generated noise a local path to ground rather than contaminating other equipment
Unlike small “filter” capacitors in typical power strips, IO’s substantial capacitance provides genuine transient response which is critical for amplifiers reproducing orchestral peaks or bass transients.
Stage 3: Magnetic Time-Domain Correction
Power-line RF creates both amplitude and phase distortion, different frequencies arrive at different times. IO incorporates a passive electromagnetic structure that introduces controlled time delay, allowing out-of-phase RF components to self-cancel through destructive interference.
This isn’t a simple inductor (which would color sound and limit dynamics). It’s a distributed geometry that affects only RF while remaining transparent to 60 Hz power delivery. The result: RF components that would interfere with audio are phase-cancelled before reaching equipment.
Why These Stages Work Together
Each stage addresses a different aspect of RF contamination:
- Ground isolation prevents RF from traveling between equipment via ground
- Capacitor bank shunts RF to ground locally (preventing backfeeding into hot/neutral)
- Magnetic structure cancels phase-distorted RF through time-domain correction
Individually, each technique offers 15-20 dB of isolation. Combined, they achieve 40-60 dB of RF suppression across the critical 100 kHz – 10 MHz band where modern digital and switching equipment operates.
This is synergistic engineering: the whole is greater than the sum of parts.
Power Reset, Not Regeneration
IO’s philosophy: don’t fight the AC waveform, preserve it.
Active regenerators create new AC from DC conversion, an inherently noisy process that adds switching artifacts while limiting instantaneous current delivery. They “fix” the 60 Hz waveform but create new RF pollution in the process.
IO resets the electromagnetic field without touching the fundamental AC waveform:
- No voltage regulation (preserves dynamics)
- No active conversion (no switching noise)
- No inductors (no phase shift or coloration)
- No current limiting (full transient response)
The AC waveform passes through with essentially zero series impedance (< 0.004Ω end-to-end). But the RF environment is reset, like giving your equipment a clean electromagnetic canvas.
Engineering Principles
Every design choice serves sonic purity:
Zero Series Inductance
Unlike most power conditioners, IO contains no inductors or transformers in the signal path. Inductors color sound, create phase shift, and limit transient current. IO maintains the lowest possible impedance from input to output.
Solderless Construction
Every connection inside IO is crimped, never soldered. Solder creates dissimilar metal junctions that rectify RF—generating additional distortion products from the very RF contamination IO is designed to eliminate. Crimped connections avoid this micro-rectification while providing superior long-term reliability (no thermal degradation from heat cycling). This is standard practice in RF engineering but rare in audio power conditioning. In a device whose entire purpose is RF management, solderless construction is non-negotiable.
No Serial Chaining
Each of IO’s six outlet pairs connects directly to the central filtering core, not daisy-chained from outlet to outlet. This ensures maximum isolation between equipment. Your amplifier cannot contaminate your source through shared wiring.
Individual Per-Outlet Filtration
Beyond the central three-stage architecture, each outlet pair receives additional local filtering. Equipment-generated RF is dealt with at the source before it can propagate to other outlets.
Pure Passive Design
No active circuits. No microprocessors. No switching elements. IO is a purely passive electromagnetic architecture, it cannot fail electronically, generate its own noise, or degrade over time. The design will function identically in 30 years.
Continuous 30A Capacity
IO’s topology and conductor sizing support 30A continuous current (far beyond typical 15A power conditioners). This isn’t about running more equipment, it’s about never current-limiting during peaks. Your amplifiers receive instantaneous current without impedance or compression.
What You’ll Hear
The IO effect is immediately audible:
Black Backgrounds: Noise you didn’t know was there, gone. Instruments emerge from genuine silence rather than a gray electronic haze.
Spatial Precision: The sound stage gains three-dimensional depth and specificity. Images lock in place with tangible presence.
Dynamic Ease: Orchestral crescendos and bass transients arrive with effortless power, no sense of strain or compression.
Timbral Accuracy: Instruments sound like themselves. The electronic “signature” that homogenizes your system disappears.
Micro-Detail Resolution: Low-level detail, string texture, hall ambience, breath sounds, becomes clearly audible without artificial etching or brightness.
This isn’t subtle tube-rolling coloration. This is removing contamination that was masking your equipment’s true performance.