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Tweaks - An Honest Discussion

I know there is a lot of talk about performance tweaks in this forum and the value that can be realized.  I've started this thread because it seems that folks tend towards believing they are either the silver bullet to sonic bliss or conversely simply snake oil.  I believe tweaks are somewhere in between and in most cases, worth about what you pay for (crazy  I know).

I'm open minded to tweaks and have employed many in my system over the years including isolation, fuses, footers, HFTs, cabling, cable risers and attempts at reducing RFI (among others).  While I believe that many of these tweaks incrementally helped me get better performance out of my system I never for a second found any tweak make a transformational difference the way that a significantly upgraded piece of gear brings to the table.  I think many of us have been quite happy with our systems over the years but that doesn't mean implementing a tweak can possibly compete with the benefit of replacing a piece of gear that is well matched to elevate your system. Just because you're happy with your setup doesn't mean a major gear change can't really elevate the experience - surely well beyond any form of tweakery.  

As an example, I've been very happy with a Hana ML cart and how it's performed in my system.  I recently decided to acquire a Lyra Kleos cart - for a $2K increase the change has been transformational in terms of dynamic range and ability to convey detail and imaging.  There has never been a dot I've placed on a wall, carbon platform placed under gear, or RFI shielding device I've ever used that could possibly come close to this equipment upgrade.  Same goes for upgrades to my system over the years in terms of amps, pre's, and speakers.  For anyone to suggest that through tweaks alone you can elevate your system to a level that only gear changes can achieve simply falls flat in my experience.  Some may be shocked to hear that most of the time a $200 tweak truly only gets you about $200 worth of improvement (if any) and not the equivalent of a $5000 gear upgrade. I know there is a certain allure that by simply being smart and applying elbow grease that we can extend the sonic limits of our system well beyond it's design, parts, and capabilities but that's just not true IMO.

What's your experience been?   
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mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,965 posts
 
Thanks discopants And thanks djones51


My philosophy is simple:


1-Hi-FI is lower cost than anything you had ever dream of...


2- Buy only what is rightly chosen and after that think and read and buy no more...


3-Owning a very good Audio System, like most of us own one already, is only the beginnings of fun: how to embed it is the goal....Using cheap materials and the ears...

If someone mock your ears with a measure apparatus, answer him that only you know how your audio System really sound in your room with all these numerous, unmeasurable simultaneous, parameters at play in the 4 embeddings in place...

Anyway:

«Human hearing beats the Fourier uncertainty principle»
by Lisa Zyga , Phys.org

In this article(2003) it was explained why the human ears is all we need, to embed our own audio system and what are some of his capabilities...

Trust yourself and music will sound beautiful for your ears ....

https://phys.org/news/2013-02-human-fourier-uncertainty-principle.html

«For the first time, physicists have found that humans can discriminate a sound's frequency (related to a note's pitch) and timing (whether a note comes before or after another note) more than 10 times better than the limit imposed by the Fourier uncertainty principle. Not surprisingly, some of the subjects with the best listening precision were musicians, but even non-musicians could exceed the uncertainty limit. The results rule out the majority of auditory processing brain algorithms that have been proposed, since only a few models can match this impressive human performance. »

This is all that we must know...


discopants
149 posts
 
https://youtu.be/3z-egjDoR1Q This is Peter Lyngdorf he's going on about a hifi system that is pitched at the very high end of the market but 17:45 he rambles on about exactly how sensitive our hearing is and he makes some powerful analogies.


mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,965 posts
 
discopantshttps://youtu.be/3z-egjDoR1Q This is Peter Lyngdorf he’s going on about a hifi system that is pitched at the very high end of the market but 17:45 he rambles on about exactly how sensitive our hearing is and he makes some powerful analogies.
Thanks very interesting video and what he said(the numbers) about seeing and hearing is very illuminating....

Trust in our own hears is the ONLY way to enjoy music, not so much and mostly because they are truthful, but because our ears are the only master of our own musical experience....Even if we are older... :)
mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
wow hot topic,, everyone has some experiences/ideas/opinions/philosophy
imput.
1) employed new M SGO caps on my Cayin cd17 mark1 player, 
cost of,,ohh 400, worth it?
i'd say the sonic gains may some difference,,thats all i wanted, some fq pop. not much, but enough to make me hear more of the classical orchestra.
aded kt150's over the kt88's, worth it?
again, some gain, worth the $800  mod?,, yeah, miniscle gain  over the 88's. but thats all i hoped for anyway.
where my gaisn really poped were getting rid of all 12AU7's in my system and using the incredible E80 tube, Now here is my bigges mod of all. HUGE sound stage gain/sonic pop.
Will mod all caps in preamp and amp to Mundorf SGO EVO. 
cabels. nota  believer,, a  cabel is a cabel,, Rat Shark's $5 is equal to snakeoil's $$$$$$$$ interconnects.
Cones??? not a  believer
Tele 12AX7's, yeah now thats a solid bonifide mod gain. 
Speaker placement? Never beena  believer, never will. 
after some 40+ yrs around this business, i pretty much know whats snakeoil and not.
Just auditioned a   new preamp,,,,incredible gorgeous design,,but sadly, not for my system/my preference in my Jadis Defy system, i returned it. 
will take some time to read through the posts
also will upgrade my caps in my near 20 yr old speakers to Mundorf caps. 
Mods are for real, just know which is for real, which are snakeoil.  and don't expect night/day out some mods. 
All we can hope for are ~~~ Miniscle~~ gains. 
Take a  paper $2 cap, vs Mundorf's Silver Gold EVO non oil at $50 . 
a  tech guy puts both on his testing equipment,,and can not see  any great  dif's. 
But in a   real live operating amp, here is where that tiny gain is noted in the sonics. 
Tell you what, i have locked in memory exactly how my preamp sounds pre cap mod,,,after 8 new M caps are installed i will report back on my topic. Mundorf caps.
I want to get to the bottom of this cap mod.
Caps are $300, tech fees?
So in a  time like this(post CV19 epoch), we have to count our audio budget carefully. 
Was the mod ~~well worth it~~ is the K$ Q. 


geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
mozartfan
after some 40+ yrs around this business, i pretty much know whats snakeoil and not.

>>>>>Sorry, but I only got as far as that sentence. 
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