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Anyone try Synergistic Research PHT...

transducers on their cartridge/headshell? Wondering if this really improves sound, and which type do you use. Thanks.
hiendmuse
sbayne's avatar
sbayne
493 posts
 
The point is there is no "listener bias" when you can return the item for a full refund. Like I did with the SR RED fuses. This is true for any product you buy that can be returned. If I bought a vacuum at Target and decided it didn't work as claimed then I simply return it. There is no bias there. I would only try to rationalize the purchase if "I'm stuck with it." My other comments are directed towards the fact I own the PHT. Nothing personal, but its easy to dismiss something you have never tried.
hiendmuse OP
257 posts
 
Sbayne, do you have the Blue Velvet or the Purple Haze version, and how does it improve performance versus listening to the same cart without it?
lewm
13,527 posts
 
Sbayne, I am not dismissing the PHT. In fact, I wrote above that since one can have a 30-day trial period, I'd support the decision to give it a shot. Glad your happy with the PHT; as I also said in my first post, I do know that others besides yourself are also pleased with it. I am a skeptic by nature, when it comes to accepting anything on faith alone.

Oh, and not to beat a dead horse, but I do not agree that there is no listener bias, if one can return the item under review. There is ALWAYS subconscious bias of one kind or another in any subjective judgement. Someone like me is probably biased against hearing a beneficial effect, in fact. I did not think power cords could possibly make any difference to the sound of an electrostatic speaker (connecting the ESL bias supply to AC), until I finally did a listening test in my own system; I was wrong. However, what I found was that sonics only poorly correlated, if at all, with cost of the AC cord.
dev's avatar
dev
832 posts
 
Sbayne, how is it attached - did you check to see how much it added in weight and did you make adjustments for such.
sbayne's avatar
sbayne
493 posts
 
Hiendmuse - I have both the Blue and the Purple. I've used them on my ZuAudio 103 and various Grado Statement and Reference cartridges. The Blue is more to my liking since it presents a more fluid and spacious soundstage. The Purple is more defined and focused which may sound better in a different system or to a person looking for a different presentation. They do slightly change the tracking force of your cartridge so you will want to check that after application.

Lewm - Fair enough and thanks for the cordial response.
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