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My list of tweaks and the verdict

As metro NY has been pretty much shut down for the past 11 months and counting, I get so bored sometimes that I find experimenting by buying tweaky audio products to be a helpful reprieve and keeps me from spiraling into the abyss.
So this is what I have purchased in the past 6 months and my quick verdict on sonic impact — what I hear or perceive to hear using my brain and ears in my 2 channel all analog all tube setup:

Not in any particular order and using baseball terms:

1. Walker Audio Talisman. Strikeout. A big swing and miss. The silliest purchase for sure.

2. Copper ankle socks. Home run. No more shocks when I touch my tonearm. Just wow. Least expensive tweak to date that works.

3. Symposium Segue amp shelves. Strikeout. Heard no difference in noise floor, bass, etc. But looks really nice.

4. Symposium Segue ISO Stealth turntable shelf with Rollerblocks Series 2. Home run. Out of the park. Really hear and SEE a significant improvement in everything - clarity, bass, soundstage. Took the performance of 2 very different turntables up a lot. “See” because my needle would jump sometimes and now you can actually see the rollerblocks doing their job swaying back and forth with no impact on the music like a building a Japan. Disclaimer: Room suffers from significant footfall.

5. Townshend Seismic Isolation Platform under my Harbeth 40.2 Ton Trager stands. Home Run. Further improvement due probably to serious footfall in my room. My most expensive tweak but worth it to me.

6. Stein Music Carbon Edition Perfect Interface. Another big swing and miss. Strikeout. Zero diff perceived vs no mat or stock mat. Most expensive swing and miss.

7. Yellow bird Hexmat. A solid double. First time I’ve heard a mat make a noticeable improvement. Probably cause this mat is a record isolator/decoupler and again reduces impact from vibrations.

8. Stillpoint Ultra LPI ver2. A solid double. This one is so easy to A/B and hear a noticeable improvement on some songs vs using no record weight or even the stock record weight. Basically things got quieter enabling me to turn up the volume which increased the perceived dynamics. Plus it looks really cool.

9. Symposium rollerblock jr. Under my phonostage or preamp. Strikeout. I don’t hear any impact on the noise floor but theoretically it’s there.

10. Isoacoustics Gaia tried under preamp, phonostage, amp. Strikeout. Didn’t hear anything noticeably different but again theoretically it’s doing something.

11. Assorted tube rolling. NOS, new new etc. Not sure if this is a tweak but I didn’t really hear any discernible difference to my memory. But it was fun to learn and do it.

Well there you have it! Anyone have similar experiences?


aj523
aj523 OP
373 posts
 
Right ear to brain. It was a bad joke. Anyway since I have little interest in claiming what I have is the best or that any audio tweak that I spent money on must work, it simply comes down to what I’m hearing and if i think it sounds better than it doesn’t really matter if it’s real or some false perception. It’s only my sensory experience that matters here.
For the record clamp I had my son take the Stillpoint record clamp and the stock clamp which is about half the weight and I had him stand at the turntable and switch between them and none at all and it was really cool hearing when the music sounded best to me. He heard it too but he had knowledge I didn’t, although I didn’t tell him one cost like 5x the other lol. Anyway it was harder to replicate that with the Uber expensive Stein mat but I tried and for the life of me couldn’t hear a difference between it and no mat. Doesn’t mean it’s not there I just couldn’t hear it. But that hexmat wow but perhaps with a SOTA I wouldn’t have heard such a stark improvement in either the clamp or the mat.   Lots of fun regardless.
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,189 posts
 
I sorta thought it was ear to brain. My point aj is that the equipment is where the money is not in these things. Most tweaks are only about improving the eye to brain experience.
This is completely false....

The S.Q. is where your creative work to rightfully install the gear is, in his working dimensions...My 500 bucks system is better to my ears than very, very costly system ....

Attacking blindfully all devices as "snake oil" is pure prejudices and ignorance...Some are, some are not...

My own devices cost nothing or almost nothing and are homemade and completely transformed my audio....Hallucinations?

Think before judging and recommending to people to throw money at upgrades ........The world is bigger and more surprizing than what consumerism dictate you to think it is....

It is more clever to learn how to control the mechanical electrical and acoustical dimensions than plugging new upgraded amplifier or new speakers....Acoustic of a room for example can KILL or TRANSFORM totally a pair of good speakers at ANY price....

And i am tired to read about "hallucinations" and "suggestion" coming from some about all other people experiences...

Sorry....

Nevertheless, i dont want to upset you....I only want to say what i think is true in the sea of your free generalizations to justify your prejudice.... And your prejudice is only simple: buy an EQ. and call the rest "snake oil"...

The best example is your last use of Bell curve without knowing what it is and how it is used voluntarily or not to hide reality....Same thing for your use of the placebo concept....

Negating the sensory experience of others and throwing all testimonies in the drawer of illusion and deception can be insulting, even if you dont want to insult people.... Do you understand that at least?

Invoking true scientific concepts like, placebo concept,  in a context that suit you, audio experience, to use them for your own opinion expression which is the negation of sense experience you dont want to hear about, is no science it is sophistry....


aj523 OP
373 posts
 
OMG I can’t believe I forgot two additional tweaks! Too bad you aren’t allowed to update at least the original post.
Anyway for those that are following my (mis)adventures, I bought

12. Cardas audio rca noise cap covers for my preamp. Can not tell any difference even putting them on and off as music is playing but they were inexpensive and I feel they are protective in some way so I kept them on.

13. Ok don’t laugh but I also bought the $249 Furetech Clear-line plug. Thinking reputable company, smart engineers and Jesus it comes up in all social media feeds so I said wtf. 
Anyway I tried it first in my dedicated outlet and then in my Niagara 5000 on an empty outlet which shares the same bank as the amp. Classic snake oil? Hmmm This one is tricky. I feel like it does make a difference on the noise floor but subtle at best and probably my brain playing tricks. I could have returned it but I didn’t. Anyone else try this one, the marketing of it is everywhere lately.
sokogear
1,097 posts
 
Thanks for all your thoughts @aj523. I 100% agree with the Townshend pods- I have their seismic platform and when I put it under my admittedly light turntable, it completely blew me away. Herbie’s mat got rid of my problem of the static from a stock felt Rega mat lifting off the table, but I didn’t really notice a sound difference. I also put Herbie’s Tenderfeet under my phono stage and amp, but didn’t notice anything, but I didn’t expect to.

I get no shocks when touching my tonearm, and Rega specifically says not to use record weights as it is completely diametrically opposed to their low weight philosophy, so I’ll wait to hear what happens with the Schumann Generators. I am always looking to improve the sound of my existing equipment. 
It would be nice to not hear comments about either only tweaking (electrically, mechanically and acoustically) or only getting new equipment to increase SQ. Anything may help - trust your ears, nobody else, least of all reviewers.

Can anyone please explain how Schumann generators work and what they are?
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,189 posts
 
There exist 3 working dimensions for any audio system:


-Mechanical : try and experiment with simple device to eliminate vibrations but also to decrease internal resonance in the box speakers ( other gear also but speakers are very important)

I succeed for peanuts with sandwich of varied materials under my gear and using springs in a way to decrease resonance with a dyssimetric compressing force applied to them.... Cost: peanuts...

-Electrical: Decreasing the noise floor of the house electrical grid is of the utmost importance.... I created my own device at peanuts costs...
"golden plate" : shungite plate+ copper tape on the external side....I put 30 of them all along my electrical grid.... Very audible impact... Low cost...

-Acoustical controls and treatment: I used passive materials treatment homemade with simple materials, absorbent one, reflecting one and diffusive devices, i use Helmholtz tubes and bottles, resonators, cheap grid of Schumann generators modified, and ionizers, and many other devices....i created my own room tuner at NO cost....The Helmholtz-Fibonacci room tuner....

Cost peanuts with result so powerful that it is better than upgrading with most possible choices in my purse range...


Is it snake oil?

Feel free to try my device or idea....I sell creativity, confidence in our own ears, and fun....

Is it hallucination?

I must say that i will feel insulted to read that about my experience especially on the guise of an alleged "scientific explanation"....





My advice is simple: dont buy costly cables and costly "tweaks" before  taking care at low cost of these 3 working dimensions where your audio system is working....I never bought "tweaks" and i dont need them now at all....

A tweak can  never  be a method of listening experiment and no tweak  can be the  single solution to all the problems is these 3 working dimensions....

Tweaks are costly and even if they work you can most of the times replace them with a no cost solution.... I did it then you can....
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