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

Showing 5 responses by mijostyn

Aj, I think you need to give yourself a little more credit. A point of note however is that your strike outs were predictable based on deductive reasoning. No synergy thing here just total BS. Hopefully your report will keep others from wasting money.
If you are thinking of spending more money you might want to upgrade your turntable. Really good ones do not care what you put them on. They start out life well isolated. 
The only synergy going on here is with the mind. Some of us are more open to suggestion and do not have the background to determine what is feasible vs total BS. It is the way things are and there is no getting away from it. Nature operates on a Bell curve.
@dwhess, I hate to be a stick in the mud but power cords and cables do not break-in. Mechanical devices do and perhaps tubes. Many manufacturers support the break-in myth because going against audiophile lore costs them business. The myth is an illusion caused by our central nervous system's ability to accommodate to various stimuli.
A good example is your cologne. When you put it on the smell initially is quite strong but after a while you do not smell it at all. Did it wear off? Not at all. You walk into the office and your secretary holds her nose. You simply accommodated to the smell. I remember walking into the coroner's "office" in Miami while he was doing a post on a decomposing body. The stench was overwhelming. I almost lost it before getting a mask laced with mint oil. The coroner laughed. He had no mask on at all. He was use to it. He called us "pansy a--ed medical students. Up against the ceiling he had a shelf that went around the entire room with his collection of smashed up and bloody motorcycle helmets. His suicide lecture was a favorite. He gave us a slide show of people who had blown their heads off. Quite a guy.  
@aj523,  

"on improving the hifi “brain to ear” experience in my existing audio" 

 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. I think audiophiles would save a lot of money if they were blind, not that I would wish that on anyone.
If I take two identical cables and just put a fancy jacket on one and jack the asking price many people are going to think the jacketed cable sounds better. I admire your experimental attitude and if you can afford it, experience is the best teacher. The hard part is knowing your own weaknesses and keeping them from biasing the results. 
I bought a Nobsound record clamp once. It was very disappointing.
Aj, a properly designed turntable with a proper suspension will TOTALLY ignore foot falls. You can hit a SOTA with a hammer and it won't care. Jumping jacks? No problem. SME's and Basis turntables will also ignore foot falls but you can not hit them with a hammer. Check out the Sota Cosmos Vacuum. It has vacuum clamping, a magnetic thrust bearing, a top motor management system and a hinged dust cover that will not alter sound when down. All this for 1/3rd the price of an SME 30/2.
@stringreen , watch the news first to get yourself really pissed off. Then if they sound better you are more likely to be onto something.