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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
360 posts
 
Thanks mijostyn but this thread isn’t really about my component choices but just my experience with various types of audio tweaks over the past few months and their impact, if any, on improving the hifi “brain to ear” experience in my existing audio room; being as objective and transparent as humanly possible. 

Cheers :)
kenmason
13 posts
 
Total approximate cost of the above mentioned tweaks?
aj523 OP
360 posts
 
I just bought 4 of the Nobsound branded Schumann generators from Amazon so I’ll get them Tuesday and they are returnable if they don’t work for me.    
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,175 posts
 
@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.
aj523 OP
360 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.
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