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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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asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,618 posts
 
I wonder what it would be like to become the Banksy of audio?

Deviously Tempting, that....
adameos
66 posts
 
‘A fool and his money are soon parted’
Thomas Tusser

Don’t mean to offend and I confess that I have been guilty on occasions in the past of wasting too much money on tweaks and quackery. For a science / engineering-based hobby we should be more objective and wary of the un-provable sonic benefits of certain tweaks, especially with large price tags. 


discopants
149 posts
 
I've tried a fair few tweaks, I include the free stuff like speaker positioning in there too and I'm also in the camp that everything matters to some degree. How much difference is going to be tweak and system dependant.

Some tweaks can deliver huge benefits for relatively low cost and some are punching about their weight, there are others which deliver much less bang for the buck.

The value proposition is always a personal one. 

Equipment manufacturers always offer a range of gear , they manufacture to a price and they want to have a clearly audible difference between their entry level, thier 2nd tier and subsequent tiers (if they go that far).

In my opinion some tweaks can close the gap in equipment tiers and in some cases eliminate that gap totally.

If your total system budget is tight there are still loads of low cost/free tweaks you can do that will deliver bang for your buck. See Mahgister's system.

If your happy spending many 10s of thousands of dollars for you system then many more of those tweaks become cost effective, but for some folks they will never be happy until have the top tier equipment in their system (and in many cases that means they are paying a premium in my opinion).

Personally I really enjoyed fine tuning my system with tweaks. My system is low resolution source material but it sounds incredible (3D soundstage, PRaT, microdynamics, accurate tonality)

For reference my total system cost is about £10500 ($13000).

Cabling, fuses, clean power, and resonance control £3500.

Speakers £2000.

Amplifier and source (mine is 1 box streaming amp and it takes care of my room to boot with dsp) £4250

Source Apple TV 4th gen £160

Etherregen (audiophile network switch) £660

Enjoy the music everyone.




alymere
20 posts
 
+ebanksms
Ear/brain systems differ and while technical measurements may be identical, experiences often are not. I’ll try to contribute a little to what millercarbon is saying. Imagine a system that has three removable or tweakable components that add similar noise and/or distortion to an underlying ‘true’ audio signal. Remove component #1 and listen. Hear no difference? Not surprising because the effect is masked by the additional garbage introduced by components #2 and #3. The overall signal/noise ratio hasn’t changed. Add #1 back in and remove #2 – same result. Now change all three components together and wow! All the garbage is gone because the overall signal/noise ratio has increased.


In my case it was going from no chassis damping, a good but inexpensive Sch**t DAC, Amazon RCA cables, and a garden variety Furman power conditioner. Added a steel and Sorbothane platform and cones – no change. Removed the cones and switched to a Berkeley Alpha DAC, definitely some change but for a high cost (plus it’s really a component, not a tweak). Changed back to the Sch**t and switched out the RCA for a balanced Synergistic Research active-shielding cable, no change. Went back to the Amazon RCA cable and switched the Furman out for a popular AC regenerator, no change. Very disappointing; nothing worked.


But then I decided to put in all of the new stuff and live with it for a while before selling it all as useless. I was puttering around a day or so later looking for a new novel to read and I had some background music on. Suddenly the music reached out and gripped me! It was [insert glowing audio jargon here] shockingly different and so much better, visceral. Every component mattered; no single change made the difference.


Aside: My example above is also an illustration of why I believe that as we get closer to the bleeding edge of system performance improvements, A/B testing becomes increasingly less reliable and essentially meaningless because of masking effects. The stimulus response function is just too weak. Double-blind testing with a small sample size of untrained subjects and a weak stimulus response function is the quickest way I know of to produce a false negative. But that discussion belongs in a different thread.

gregm
3,405 posts
 
@discopants
My system is low resolution source material but it sounds incredible (3D soundstage, PRaT, microdynamics, accurate tonality)
Accurate tonality & dynamics from low res source matl -- that is exceptional performance indeed!


Back to tweaks: how about a 200euro ($230) one that yields multiples? DIY sound absorption panels to bring the low frequencies back into the sonic picture?

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