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ZeroSurge 2R15W Surge Protector Review

Rate this surge protector:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 49 37.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 33 25.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 29 22.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 20 15.3%

  • Total voters
    131

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the ZeroSurge 2R15W AC filter & surge protector. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $239.
ZeroSurge 2R15 Surge Power Quality Filter AC Review.jpg

I like the descriptive model name: it has two (2) outlets and is rated for 15 amps. A hefty AC cord gives one confidence that it can carry that much current.

If you are not familiar with the company and this product, their products (and that of another competitor) use "series" non-destructive surge protection devices. Traditional surge protectors rely on components that are in parallel with the line and sacrifice themselves should a sufficiently powerful surge arrives. Some can fail this way with catastrophic results (think smoke and fire). They are cheap and have the advantage of having no impact (if well designed) on power delivery of the unit. Series protection devices like the one in this review, shunt the power instead and are able to do so repeatedly. But by putting a circuit (inductor) in series, they are said to impact power delivery. They also cost a lot more as you can tell here.

I can't test the surge protection of these devices but can see if a) they improve the fidelity of audio system and b) whether they have a negative impact on power delivery. Many audiophiles buy these for reason (a) and to sleep easy should a surge arrive.

ZeroSurge Filtering Measurements
For such a device in theory having a benefit, it needs to filter noise in the audio band so let's test that. I first measure the "raw" AC coming out of my equipment rack power strip using a 1/100 attenuator:

Raw AC THD Measurement.png


The level of distortion and noise remains more or less the same. Lots of harmonic distortion is responsible for creating 2.2% distortion added to the 60 Hz mains. Now let's do the same measurement but routing the AC through 2R15W:
ZeroSurge 2R15 Surge Power Quality Filter AC Dashboard Measurement.png


Focusing on THD+N, we see the same 2.2% so nothing has been filtered there. The sine wave on the left looks distorted just as it did when we didn't use the device. The FFT spectrum also appears to be the same but let's run a dedicated test to be sure:
ZeroSurge 2R15 Surge Power Quality Filter AC FFT Frequency Spectrum Measurement.png


There doesn't seem to be any attenuation there. Based on this we can predict that performance of our audio gear won't be improved but let's test that theory.

EDIT: question was raised about the above measurements as to impact of loading down the ZeroSurge to see if it makes a difference in filtering. Before doing that, I expanded the measurement bandwidth 50 times to 1 MHz to see if there is a filter operating above audio band and there is:
ZeroSurge 2R15 Surge Power Quality Filter AC FFT Wideband Frequency Spectrum Measurement.png


As is typical, filtering doesn't start until well above audio band around 40 kHz. Even then the attenuation is about 11 dB or so and not enough to shunt all that noise down.

I then tested the impact of having a load in the form of Hypex NCx500 amplifier plugged into the ZeroSurge:
ZeroSurge 2R15 Surge Power Quality Filter AC FFT Wideband Frequency Spectrum load no load Meas...png


There seems to be some incremental attenuation around 20 to 50 kHz. The load is forming a network with the internal filter changing its transfer function. But the impact is again very minimal. The bulk of what is 'bad' remains with AC power.

ZeroSurge 2R15W Amplifier Measurement
I recently tested the new NCx500 high power class D from Hypex so I thought it would make a good target for measuring the fidelity and impact on power of the amplifier. Let's start with our standard 4 ohm power sweep (with buffer enabled in NCx500):

ZeroSurge 2R15 Surge Power Quality Filter AC Hypex NCx500 Amplifier Test Nooise and Distortion...png


The raw AC (green) and run through ZeroSurge show identical noise and distortion. The two graphs are completely on top of each other indicating that no improvement to be had. You can take to the ban that the fidelity is the same.

But let's see if we lost some power starting with maximum power available into 4 ohm:
ZeroSurge 2R15 Surge Power Quality Filter AC Hypex NCx500 Max and Peak Power Amplifier Test No...png


There is a tiny impact here which is not even worth noting. Let's test burst power:

ZeroSurge 2R15 Surge Power Quality Filter AC Hypex NCx500 Burst Power Amplifier Test Nooise an...png


Once again, the impact is tiny which could just be the extra wiring and outlet involved in the circuit. This is great news as it dispels the worry that you can't use these surge protectors for power amplifiers. Granted, we are talking almost 700 watts here and not 1,500 but still, you are unlikely to be pulling 600 watts continuously as I am doing here.

Conclusions
As with all the other power tweaks, filters and cables, no fidelity improvement is to be had with 2R15W. It doesn't "clean" the AC in any way that I can measure. And as a result, real-life testing with an amplifier shows the same performance with and without. On the other hand, it is a major sigh of relief that despite pulling some 700+ watts out of the box, it had essentially no impact on the amplifier performance.

Where this leaves us is that if you like its flavor of surge protection, you can proceed to use it for that purpose and not worry about power loss.

I can't recommend the ZeroSurge 2R15W as a fidelity improvement device. As a surge protector, going by what they say it does, it seems like a better bet than many cheap solutions.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
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respice finem

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Seeing this distortion factory, one might be tempted to use a UPS instead, which at least provides some safety in case of a power outage etc.
 
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Robbo99999

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Expensive, I'm sure that there are less costly ways to get adequate surge protection. I just use power strips that have surge protection built into them, they're like only £15 or something!
 

mcdn

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Seeing this distortion factory, one might be tempted to use a UPS instead (usually also is one), which at least provides some safety in case of a power outage etc.
What distortion factory? It doesn’t add or remove anything from the mains, that’s the entire point and conclusion of the review. Whether it will protect your equipment is not tested here…
 

respice finem

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What distortion factory? It doesn’t add or remove anything from the mains, that’s the entire point and conclusion of the review. Whether it will protect your equipment is not tested here…
OK, corrected, but isn't a filter meant to... filter? This is what the buying layman will expect, at this price level anyway.

BTW, "power quality filters" is stated on the box... :)
 

Nathan Raymond

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When I rented, series mode surge suppressors were good piece of mind. Landlords didn't have much interest in installing whole-home surge suppressors. And you'd be surprised how many MOV surge suppressors will continue to operate without warning after their MOVs are worn out and you no longer have protection.
 

mcdn

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OK, corrected, but isn't a filter meant to... filter? This is what the buying layman will expect, at this price level anyway.

BTW, "power quality filters" is stated on the box... :)
Yes but as demonstrated in the review, ”filtering” of AC is pointless, so just judge it on surge protection, which I guess we have to take on trust.
 

mcdn

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Pointless or not, if it's stated on the box, it should be present IMHO.
BTW, I can't confirm it's generally pointless, a simple Furman filter had eradicated a problem with my studio monitors.
Well sure, if your other equipment is poorly designed it may need help? The power supply should already do all the filtering needed, that’s literally its job! Amir has demonstrated this time and again.
 

respice finem

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Well sure, if your other equipment is poorly designed it may need help? The power supply should already do all the filtering needed, that’s literally its job! Amir has demonstrated this time and again.
So, the Neumann KH 310A are poorly designed? Or maybe the RME ADI-2 DAC? Interesting.
 

mcdn

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So, the Neumann KH 310A are poorly designed? Or maybe the RME ADI-2 DAC? Interesting.
You’re the one claiming an audible improvement from adding a mains filter somewhere. If it’s audible it’s measurable, so post your results?
 

mcdn

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Prana Ferox

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I understand Amir doesn't have the facility to test the surge suppression and this wouldn't be the forum for it anyway, but I'll note every serious-business industrial surge protection device I'm aware of is of the parallel type.
 

mcdn

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But nothing about an "audible improvement" did I?
So you had a problem that wasn’t audible? I mean that‘s interesting, but I’m not sure how it’s relevant to this discussion.
 

respice finem

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OK, if you insist... Bye.

"anyone can talk with me like with an idiot for 5 minutes, but then they're over".
 
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