I’ve pretty much got everything covered and have no intention of changing anything in the system so am now looking at the small little details. Some of the accessories or tweaks I’ve tried are as follows;
Isoacoustics Gaia isolators for loudspeakers
Isolators for equipment
Cable (various kinds)
Cable holder (Furutech NCF booster)
Unswitched wall socket (Furutech)
Equipment rack designed specifically for the hifi
Subwoofer
Power conditioner (will be getting a better one soon)
I was wondering what I might have missed, something which may bring a worthwhile change or impact to the system. I would appreciate some suggestions, something that won’t break the bank. I’ve got the room covered - thick carpet, appropriately furnished etc. so treatments are not necessary.
I’m going to plug this (excuse the pun). I think it’s a remarkable little device. One of the guys at my dealers put me on to it. It slips in just before your switch and adds another layer of isolation. I thought it had as much impact as my EE8 switch. Called a DeLOCK 62619 it’s just pocket change on the big river.
Oh…one thing worth mentioning on the above is that it seems very sensitive to Ethernet cables and tends to like the same cable in as out i.e. your patch cable from the DeLOCK to your switch needs to be the same make/brand/model. I messed around with Catsnake and C-stream, neither of which sounded good - my main incoming cable is BJC, with a BJC patch it sounded incredible?
Do you have dedicated mains? It’s more fundamental than a mere tweak and will very likely do a lot more than a power conditioner, which frequently make things worse.
Thanks for all suggestions. I don’t have dedicated mains for the hifi and conditions do not permit for any alteration so a power strip/conditioner would be necessary. Currently only the streamer is plugged into the cheap power strip while the rest of the components go directly to the wall outlet.
I’m aware that a power conditioner will often make things worse so I’m wary of cheap or low quality power strips/conditioners. If I end up with a good quality design, it will only be used with low-powered components (streamer and DAC). The amp will go directly to the wall outlet.
As @Chocky said. Changes to the room / positioning are likely to make a bigger impact than anything else.
Next to that a great tweak is booze. Everything sounds so much better when the edge is taken off.
Oh, and if you ever play anything via USB and are worried about noise you could consider something like the Topping HS01. But I would exepect any decent DAC to already take care of that so probably unnecessary.
With recent experiences, I’m not sure I’d agree with this. I went from a shared space, it was furnished/finished with lots of soft surfaces, carpet, etc & even used five 3.5" thick acoustic panels, I thought the room was pretty good sounding.
I’m now in my dedicated listening space, basically all hard surfaces initially, vinyl plank floor but do have a soft love seat for listening. I have installed 10 acoustic panels that range from 5.5-7.5", & 4 large bass traps in the corners (including a couple ASC tube traps). As expected, the room sounded terrible at first (with just the love seat being the only soft item in the room) but the transformation with my so far treatments (will be adding more bass traps, some diffusor panels & maybe some ceiling treatments) is outstanding. I honestly was rather shocked by how much better the new space sounds with proper treatments applied vs what I thought was already a good listening space. If you’re not in a treated listening space you really aren’t hearing the actual potential of your kit. The ability to hear small changes has massively improved. I started my treatment with just using the basic rules, with the acoustic traps & panels made using best practice methods but the plan is next winter to take actual measurements of the room & tweak my treatments further.
Undecided at the moment but it can be either Chord M6 or Plixir Elite BAC. I’m not considering a linear PS for the Lumin U2 mini as it requires modification to the IEC inlet of the unit. Not sure about the etheregen switch but will check it out.
I agree and can relate since I used to have a dedicated room for the hifi with RPG Skylines and omniffusors complete with tubular bass traps about 15 years ago. We moved to a new place several years ago and the system is now in the living room so professional room treatment diffusor and absorption panels are not possible.
In that case, the only things I’d try is small position changes for speakers and your chair/ sofa.
You could also try a hydra power cable so that the Naim boxes (and perhaps your sources) are star-earthed together, but I would be surprised if the effect were dramatic.
I note tgat you say you have the room covered - including absorption or diffusion at first reflection points at sides? And, often forgotten, the ceiling?
Otherwise maybe ssessment with REW software to see if any bass absorption may be beneficial, to reduce any resonances or cancellations, and decrease decay time?
Just normal furnishing, sofa on the right and equipment rack on the left with some canvas paintings on both sides of the wall, thick curtains on front wall and thick carpet. As mentioned above, professional room treatment products are not possible in the living room.
Professional room treatment > Home furnishing > Unfurnished/bare room
It might not be the best sounding room but it’s reasonably good.
