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Tweaks you got rid of because they were not effective (enough)?

There are some audiophiles for whom cost is no object; they buy what they wish and every single tweak and gadget which promises to improve the sound. And the industry is all too happy to produce such tweaks -- often made of expensive materials with elaborate engineering explanations. Those who question the value of these tweaks are frequently accused of being "naysayers" who are either too ignorant or insensate to realize that "everything matters."

Of course, money spent one place cannot be spent elsewhere; expenditures on tweaks take the place of other more central factors affecting the sound. In some cases, those tweaks are worth it; you can hear the difference, and that $400 (or whatever) really could not have improved your speakers or sub or amp, etc.

So, the question here is simple: Which tweak have you tried which, after some experience and reflection, you realized was either *not* effective or not the most effective way to improve your system? 
128x128hilde45
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
agree w input already given

footers and spikes on electrical components (i do feel they matter under speakers and racks, ground to concrete subfloor)

tube dampers, esp. those retarded metal spring loaded thingy’s - ugh

shun mook mpingo wood thingy’s and shakti stone - what a load of bs

cd demagnetizers, glow paint, poly edge rings - all useless

lots of expensive wire...


aewarren
659 posts
 
Snake oil.
mitch2
4,027 posts
 
@cd318 
To get a real improvement it was better and more cost effective in the long run, to just buy better equipment
Bingo! - Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Better Equipment.....everything else is just icing on the cake.

I have been underwhelmed with most tweaks (many already listed here) with a few exceptions, which are listed below in the (approximate) order of the tangible benefit I perceived:
  • Decoupling/springs and/or Herbie's products below components, and especially beneath speakers
  • Stable, heavy, acoustically inert platforms/bases
  • Damping the room
  • Mass loading components and speakers to reduce cabinet resonances
  • Optically decoupling Ethernet connection to DAC
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,159 posts
 
Because tweaks are not always major improvement, or even improvement at all for some ears , and sometimes costly, some conclude :"snake oil"...

The human mind is sometimes too swift to make a conclusion...

And some other advise to upgrade....But most people had already good components and the truth is that they never listen to them at their potential maximum level ever in the first place.... Because they are badly embed in the system, in the room, and in the house, mechanically, electrically and acoustically....

My friends the truth is not so simplistic at all....

The alternative is not this simplistic motto :

"snake oil" purchase or upgrading....

Some sheep buy "snake oil" and other sheeps upgrade....But we are no more sheeps if we wanted to....

Be creative....And think about the way any components must be EMBED rightfully to gives his utmost S.Q.



Are you able to think?
:)




ladickinson
21 posts
 
To borrow a phrase from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, "A system is perfect not when nothing else can be added but when nothing else can be taken away."

I have gotten my best results, and only recently, with simplicity.  A Roon pi-based streamer; i2s to a non-oversampling DAC; XLR Mogami to a Class A amp.  The basics.  The music comes out of the wire just like it went in.  The only way to improve it would be better musicians or a better recording engineer.
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