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It Pegged the Needle on My "BS Meter". Now, I'm A Believer. Ever Happen to You?

Okay, here you are. Feeling pretty good about yourself. Your high end audio knowledge base is extensive. Ears fine-tuned. You can sling words around like "dampening factor", "air gap flux density", and throw in the occasion "dark background" or "micro-dynamic" just to let those around you know you’re not a high performance audio lightweight.

Then, there it is: you are presdented with the utterly ridiculous. After the initial automatically triggered chuckle, the "reasonable" part of your brain assembles a list of the number of reasons why this makes no sense at all. You hit the eject button and move on to more sane topics, like alien shape shifting. But, the topic gets revisited. Most likely an acquaintance or industry associate asks: "Have you tried this?" You put on your best poker face and attempt to keep a friendship intact while explaining in no uncertain terms why they are out of their cotton-pickin’ mind.

After defending your space and putting up your best efforts to not come within 100 meters of this "thing", you give in to the pressure(s) and give it a listen. And then ... "what the heck just happened?!!" You are flabbergasted. Not only did it make an improvement. You have to look at the guys you just labeled as certified lunatics -- and admit they were right.

Ever happen to you?

The first, and most memorial for me .....

Monster Cable CD Sound Rings

The sonics first generation CD players were not, uh, as advertised. They had more grain than a belt sander with 60 grit attached. A bit later Yamaha introduced a new (lower priced) player with "oversampling" that filed the burrs off a bit But, still not even close to an analog experience in my view.

Then the Monster rep showed up and dropped off a little package of CD Sound Rings. Per the rep, these little boogers reduce "jitter" in CDs and make them sound better. I just couldn’t hide the obvious smirk, and "promised" to listen to them. He left. They sit on the desk along with literature, open invoices, and a pretty full todo list. I’m not sure what provided the nudge for me to give them a listen. But, I finally opened the package, stuck one (literally) to a CD, and closed the drawer. Music started playing. It was at that precise moment that CDs became listenable for me. And, opened the window for a lifetime of open-minded, audio experimentation.

Similar experience(s) anyone?

128x128waytoomuchstuff
waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff OP
1,098 posts
 

@judsauce @macg19 @dcevans 

Thanks.  I needed that.

Every day I read, contemplate, and comment on very serious topics.  It is nice to get a break from insanity, and put a little distance between myself and actions that have major consequences.

EVERYONE's contributions to this "little" forum have value that can't be overstated.  Thanks for YOUR posts.

mswale
71 posts
 

"Ground Enhancers" on my speakers. Stupid little Litz coil of wire makes a difference. 

Going to try putting them on my open RCA's on my pre-amp to see if they do the same as what they did for the speakers. 

macg19
909 posts
 

My pleasure.

ddrave44
144 posts
 

After market power cords. Was convinced that it would be a total waste of time and $$    A buddy lent me some to try out and wow. Numerous upgrades later I'm a believer. 

boomerbillone
355 posts
 

USB cables make an enormous difference. I started out with the original Dragonfly outoard DAC. I used a USB cable that I had ued with a computer printer. Out of curiosity I bought a used Wireworld Silver Seven and a lot more fancy words and tried it out. Gobsmacking! I have since purchased a Zafino cable which is even better. A cable from Analysis Plus is as good or bettter. But, you should know that cables and DACs are fussy about what matches with what. What works well on one model may not work so well an a different mafufacturers unit. It's just like why the Burger Barons offer so many variations on the basic burger. Happy Liatening!

P.S. Sorry, but somebody's got to say it: If you don't hear any difference between interconnects, it just may be because you amp/speaker wire/speaker combination does not have enough "resolution" to let you hear the difference. Try some of that free speaker wire that some consumer junk comes with. (Something like 20 gauge zip cord.) Compare that with what you are normally using. If you don't hear a difference, you do not have a good package. Sad, but true.

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