PowerSwitch D-TC Gold Signature

Why it is renowned

It is the top of the Ansuz Ethernet switches, heading the Gold Signature series.¹ The German magazine Hifistatement reviewed it with the matching Digitalz cables; its reviewer had already found the earlier PowerSwitch D-TC Supreme the best he had heard in the field before Ansuz went on to develop the Gold Signature line.² The case carries the gold-coloured signatures of Lars Kristensen and Michael Børresen.²

The story

Ansuz built the Gold Signature series around finding the right share of gold alongside silver and copper in its conductors; in this switch they are shielded, gold- and silver-plated copper.¹ The noise control relies on the house's own techniques: active Tesla coils, coils wound in opposite directions so that a voltage spike in one triggers a cancelling spike in the other, including square coils etched into the circuit boards and a version with a zirconium bar; anti-aerial resonance coils; and a third generation of analog dither circuits, an idea taken from radar.¹

The case uses a natural-based composite material, first developed by the sister brand Aavik, to keep aluminium and its resonance to a minimum, and it sits on a sandwich base plate of laminate with titanium layers.¹ A section taken from the Ansuz PowerBox is built in.¹ The switch was revised after its first version and given its own feet to absorb vibration.² It measures 272 by 397 by 97 mm and weighs 4 kg.¹