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
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....
@aj523 bought the Furutech Clear Line "things" at recommendation by dealer at just over $200. Best tweak in a long time. Not only blacker background but everything just sounded a bit more round and fuller. Thought initially in my mind but left it out for a few days then replaced and clearly a very nice improvement. 
@rsf507 
Very cool!  I have not taken it out of the system since I was done experimenting maybe 2-3 months ago. I guess I should!!  Btw when I told my dealer I wasn’t sure if I heard a difference or an improvement, he said buy another, but two more lol . Gotta love it 
Love the naysayers when they have never even gave it a shot.

Kinda like all those people who told Columbus he would sail off the edge of the earth. Or the ones that told Chuck Yeager his controls would reverse and he would die when he hit Mach 1.

Take your tinfoil hats and hold them between your knees.

Cheers naysayers.


@aj523 I actually tried a 2nd Clear Line but just was too much so dealer took back. Although I tried it on my OLED TV and seemed to give me slightly better color but didn't think it was worth the 200.