I was just curious to know how far people go in tweaking their systems. Things like using cable elevators, isolating components on racks by adding special isolation feet or platforms, using expensive specially plated mains sockets, that sort of thing. Where do you draw the line? Does anyone here ever just buy a system and just use it, without ever doing anything further?
Personally I add a few tweaks but I try hard to keep it to a minimum. What I’ve found over the years is that by heavily tweaking a system it’s possible to substantially raise it’s performance - BUT - in doing so it becomes hyper-sensitive to set-up. If anything goes slightly ‘out’ the whole performance collapses.
I hardly tweak at all - i.e. very rarely. I think the effect of many, maybe most, tweaks are highly exaggerated, such is the hyperbole used by forum members - whilst undoubtedly some things make a real noticeable difference, the difficulty is identifying which are worth bothering with, the terms ‘night and day difference’, ‘like a black box upgrade’ being used about almost everything, which if true would mean one could start with a low level system, and by applying every tweak mentioned have something that sounds like a Statement system!
In my case I really dislike the hassle of trying to compare different setups, finding it hard work, so not worth it for a trivial difference (and the sometimes quoted and apparently simple ‘tune dem’ system for comparing doesn’t do it for me, because not all aspects of sound quality important to my listening are caught that way.
My last ‘tweak’ was upgrading my active crossover in 2019. I keep meaning to try comparing my direct Mac Mini to Dave usb with the insertion of a usb to spdif or optical converter between the two, but have never found the time to do it (I would use my so. To assist with blind testing to compare).
Although Rob Watts suggests this is unnecessary, I use a Mutec USB reclocking device between Mac Mini and DAVE. I found the difference pronounced…I tested back and forth. Could be the noise generated by the Mac filtered…not sure and not savvy enough to be sure. But worth a listen if you can. I purchased before price rise but still think they’re reasonable.
Hi IB, a Singxer SU-6 could be a very good place to start if you ever want to give it a go. A quick on-line search of this produce will give an indication of why.
We’ve hit the maximum box count limit for your streamer but if I was using a mac mini as source, I’d give it a go.
If you do have a go, please do let me know how you get on.
I have to plead guilty. I have no tweaks whatsoever. Basic Quadraspire stand, basic Naim and Rega cables and NacA5. About 20 years ago one of my dealer’s staff encouraged be to try a Chord mains cable for the Cds 2. I listened for two weeks trying to hear differences. Eventually, I bought the cable thinking it might improve over time. Either Naim cables were very good or my ears weren’t up to hearing improvements. So I just don’t consider potential tweaking improvements and anyway I would always be worried that I might make the overall sound worse.
With cables, I have learnt that between Naim boxes, Naim’s cables give the sound that I want from my system. Third-party cables give a slightly different sound presentation which I find less pleasing, others might prefer this though. As for other tweaks, I am a haphazard tweaker, sometimes I will experiment but mostly I get the system sounding good and then just listen to music and not worry about tweaks.
If a rack is a tweak then my Fraim is about the only one.
Tweaking with cables (mains, power cords, speaker, ethernet etc.) is fine tuning as they all are tone controls in one way or the other. Just as the plugging order in a power strip and meticulous speaker positioning is tweaking.
Imo, it’s all too easy to slide down the rabbit hole of feet, plateaus, lifters, clamps, plug-ins and what not. You can easily ‘drift away’ from the original sound - not quality - of your system. A few small tweaks, successful in insolation, can cumulatively cause a big shift without noticing it as such. Unless you take them all away at once. I’ve had some sobering experiences like this in the past.
Virtually no tweaking at all. I’m old enough to remember the Peter Belt days, when sticking a bit of paper between books on your bookshelf or drawing green rings on your CDs or firing a Zerostat at your turntable was supposed to make a difference that could be easily heard.
My system sounds amazing, but you know what we hifi nuts are like, and I have to admit that I’ve just occasionally wasted good money on trying a few things… such buying additional Fraim for separating the two parts of my pair of 500 amps onto their own shelves. Didn’t make a scrap of difference to my ears.
I think, provided you are sensible when setting up a system… especially a multi-box system like mine, it’s just a case of doing things with care, like routing cables as best you can but not being obsessive about it. All I do these days is sit back and enjoy the music, which is what we buy the stuff for in the first place.
Ah yes - I remember those days well. Putting a square of paper under a chair leg so that only 3 were in contact with the floor was supposed to improve the sound. I once tried it many years ago with my girlfriend (the Peter Belt thing I mean), now my wife, and bizarrely we both thought it did actually sound better! A bit disconcerting actually as it really amounted to modern day witchcraft! Not wishing to be forever damned I refused to experiment further!
Anyone had any experience of Ringmat feet? I would put these firmly in the Peter Belt category. I once bought a set out of sheer curiosity and after reading some very positive magazine reviews. They looked like something from Poundland. Thin flimsy pieces of plastic stuck to equally thin pieces of cork. Placed under my equipment I could detect zero difference - they just made it look a lot worse! Even more bizarrely the set included a small clear piece of plastic film that appeared to be marked in ink with what looked like circuit board tracks. This was supposed to alter the electromagnetic field around anything it was placed by and all the surrounding area, so that the sound would be improved. The instructions claimed that even after removing this piece of plastic the EM field would remain altered for quite some time - perhaps even in the entire house. Again it amounted to little more than witchcraft - about as effective as hanging corn dollies above the front door.
All depends what is called a tweak. If an audiophile quality powerblock is a tweak, so I tweaked. If an audiophile switch like an Innuos PhoenixNet is considered as a tweak, so yes too. And if vibrations isolation devices are tweak, I am 3 times guilty. Even 4 times, as I have 2 sound panels.