2025 AC Power Product of the Year: Nordost QBase8 MKIII

$2299 (QB4, $1399)

Available in either four-outlet or eight-outlet versions, Nordost’s QBase MKIII power distributor has been significantly upgraded to include a newly designed and configured dual PC-board, optimized for enhanced trace sizes, which further maximizes current flow while also increasing separation of ground connections. Sonically, QB8III is the quintessential incrementalist. Operating on a finer, more granular level, its bailiwick is an ability to more fully resolve timbral details and low-level transient information. As a so-called “passive device,” QBase8 MKIII doesn’t add or color information that isn’t already present in the source material. Rather, it is restorative, directing attention and bringing to light micro-dynamic shifts that had previously been obscured. Finally, it removes a subtle opacity that hangs over ensembles, immediately improving focus and layering. Time and again, QB8III proved that when you’re seeking the final touch of musical refinement and polish in your system, no part of the audio chain can be taken for granted. Affordable, attractive, and effective. (348)