Tweaks, Cables, and Filtration: Essential for World-Class Stereo Performance?
- Thread starter Ted Denney III
- Start date
In my experience, running my amp through the SR line conditioner creates better sound and doesn’t squash dynamics at all.
Ahhh Well , I would further your analogy … In that our Journeyman Fly Fisherman has , having overfished and possibly polluted his previous waters , River Audiogon , etcetera , has all of a sudden scouted out the Grand WBF Tributary of the Great Golden River and Has Opened his Fly and is casting it upon these waters for all he is worth !
I have tried a lot of the SR line and I have shared my thoughts here. Ted’s cables, conditioners, outlets, fuses, HFTs, grounding blocks, FEQ devices, and Tranquility bases, and MiG footers have all improved the sound in my 15x20 room.
I enjoy listening to the videos and think the SR approach of "try it for yourself" to be the correct one. That is how I ended up with the SR UEF switch. And that is why I will continue to try a few more SR products with an in-home demo (most of my setup is complete; just working improvements upstream of the streamer/DAC).
I wonder if the findings of those with vinyl only re "tweaks" is different from those of us who are digital only. Digital requires filtering out the various forms of noise and there are products that reduce noise without affecting what one hears as natural/convincing sound (done properly, these qualities are improved).
Anyone out there who has both vinyl and digital and cares to comment on the differences re tweaks?
Agreed. I like two things at SR does:
1. They often post hires audio files recorded in their reference listening room with the accessory in the system or out of the system (or shut off).
2. The money back guarantee. Don't like it? Send it back.
Hard to beat that for transparency.
As for analog accessories. I used the SR record weight on my older VPI Scoutmaster. Made a big difference. I was really surprised by that.
The magazines say its essential for performance , so who am i as just a stupid listener to doubt them
Lets skip over the sales patter and see what the experts I listen to says. As many believe that power cords are second only to speaker cables in sound quality, I humbly submit this for your enjoyment.
Power cords
skepticism is good. skepticism of one's skepticism is too.
Let the ears decide. As one is in this sport for a while, and has made mistakes along the way, a better sense of what is natural to our ears develops. Folks may disagree with individual choices, but the only informed opinion would be the impractical step of every doubter visiting us to listen to our setup.
I find @Ron Resnick 's willingness to do that to be laudable. It would truly interesting to learn about what other people hear. I have done that once with someone who was writing online reviews at the time, and found the experience fascinating. A week before that, I had traveled to his home with my DAC and we did a comparison. It is truly difficult to make that kind of comparison work. It takes time. Ideally, the DAC would be powered up and operating while the first DAC was being considered. It wasn't and my DAC didn't sound very good and not like its usual self.
The reviewer was very pleasantly surprised to hear it warmed up that day at my home. He loved the midrange, but also pointed out (politely and objectively) that the bass was a bit light. He was correct and that led me to changes in other gear. You cannot get that reading a review, of course, nor reading opinions here.
Let the ears decide. As one is in this sport for a while, and has made mistakes along the way, a better sense of what is natural to our ears develops. Folks may disagree with individual choices, but the only informed opinion would be the impractical step of every doubter visiting us to listen to our setup.
I find @Ron Resnick 's willingness to do that to be laudable. It would truly interesting to learn about what other people hear. I have done that once with someone who was writing online reviews at the time, and found the experience fascinating. A week before that, I had traveled to his home with my DAC and we did a comparison. It is truly difficult to make that kind of comparison work. It takes time. Ideally, the DAC would be powered up and operating while the first DAC was being considered. It wasn't and my DAC didn't sound very good and not like its usual self.
The reviewer was very pleasantly surprised to hear it warmed up that day at my home. He loved the midrange, but also pointed out (politely and objectively) that the bass was a bit light. He was correct and that led me to changes in other gear. You cannot get that reading a review, of course, nor reading opinions here.
You’re a skilled marketer, and while it’s true that every detail matters, not all elements contribute equally to the overall outcome.
From my experience, I’ve seen firsthand the power of resonators and understand what these small devices can achieve. That said, as effective as resonators and cables can be, nothing compares to what a well-designed acoustic environment can do. In fact, the acoustics of your room can account for at least 50% of your system final result.
Simply, while room acoustics results can be calculated and predicted, cable or resonance will effect differently in different system. As resonators work by tuning certain frequencies to either absorb or reflect sound waves, and their effectiveness depends on the specific acoustic “profile” of the room, you can’t predict the end result of a resonator influence any given room.
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I'm unclear about why I should prefer his opinion to what I hear in my own setup.
are you saying Gene does not employ sound engineering science ?
I have no opinion about Gene.
I do know that the audio designers that I respect and who have literally changed the market have said that they listen to the listeners. Meaning, users of their equipment. While they do not subscribe to the theories these listeners have about why they are hearing what they are hearing, they take these subjective opinions as valid. With that validity, they seek to find new measurements that may explain the subjective opinions. These same folks say you need to know what to measure and say what they measure has evolved over time. As one successful audio designer has said (paraphrasing): It is great if it measures well, but if it doesn't sound good to people there is no point in making the gear.
Nelson Pass, someone who knows a thing or two about amplifier design, made an amp with a dial for users to move to suit their listening preferences. He was able to assign percentages of preference to the kind of distortion folks liked (yes, distortion was the variable). What does this tell us?
My question remains: Why not trust my own ears? I trust my own tastebuds regarding what I like to eat. Is audio different? I'm not sure what Gene has for breakfast, but I'm sure it isn't relevant to me.
It is just as likely that one would like (or not) the sound of four (or maybe three) tea bags under their preamp just as much or even more than any “audiophile” device.
there might be a joke about tea bagging, but not from me on this family channel.
Is that true? If a cable brand is open and neutral, won’t that be the case in all systems?
Your question begets another set of considerations. If a cable (or component) delivers its characteristics across all systems, isn't that a homogenizing effect? The effect may be positive or not depending on the characteristic. Your examples of 'open and neutral' seem like positives whereas others such as 'warm' or 'faster' may be or not so much. Likewise for emphasis in some part of the frequency range.
I will speculate that the cable that has less characteristic sound allows more differences to be heard across recordings. One of the issues I have with audiophile cables is that they aim at their own characteristic sound to differentiate their brand from others.
