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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
jacksky
102 posts
 
I had trouble with hdmi cables for home theater >Oppo bdp105 >TV.  kept buying better and better cables to overcome hum and glitchy connectivity issues.
matter finally solved when I tried the standard cable supplied by the cable company.
I never noticed differences between spikes or no spikes, not that I invested heavily in them.

tk21
238 posts
 
IsoAcoustics Gaia footers under Totem Arro loudspeakers.
I returned them and bought adjustable outriggers instead. I suspect some of the Gaia rave reviews result simply from raising the height of the speakers a bit. But YMMV.
clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
Almost all tweaks are snake oil and make no difference plus or minus.
Two that really work are room treatment, when applied effectively.  Dedicated rectangular listening room is much better but don't go too far towards anechoic just because you can.  I dreamt of one thru 40 years and four homes and got to build 4 years ago.  Immediately obvious black silence behind the music.  Really big deal, but I know not everyone has the space and there are usually...'issues'.

And mass loading particularly under turntables but also phono amps, pre-amps, power supplies.  Cutting vibration is important to stylus in groove and electronic components.  My set-up stands on thick marble and stone racking, all standing on a 300kg marble slab locked to by pointed cones to the concrete ground slab in the basement.  Effectively infinite mass loading incorporating the mass of the Earth.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Depends on the definition of tweak. To me a lot of amplifiers, DACs and to a lesser extent exotic speakers are tweaks. Once the components are transparent to human hearing and you get a good in room FR at a comfortable SPL the rest is jewelry. 
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
4,982 posts
 
@djones51 As I'm intending it for the purposes of conversation, a "tweak" is something supplemental to the system, something which is not necessary to make it work.

For example, a speaker cable is not a tweak. A fancy speaker cable is. Etc.

An external DAC -- I see how that could be a grey area, if there's already another one in the system. So, for example, when I added an external DAC and bypassed the cheap DAC in my cheap CD player, and it made a big difference (that I could hear), that's an example of a "tweak that works." 

I just purchased some good stands for my speakers. They are made of solid steel, very rugged and are replacing some cheap MDF stands my wife picked up at a Good Will for $10. Does this tweak make a difference? Well, visually, they're much more attractive, so in that sense, "yes." Do they make a sonic difference? I have to spend time listening back and forth to decide. 
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