Thank you, that was helpful. It’s nice that HQPlayer can hook into Roon like that. Makes for a very powerful tool.
I agree. I have been doing a bit of experimentation with this up to and including crossing streams. The BS5s were very sensitive to this. The BR02’s are as well. It’s been fun learning about this.
I run everything off a PC for my main headphone config (I don’t see it changing at this point).
My case is a older than I’d like to admit, it probably housed 3 or 4 different major configurations over the years. Even with occasional maintenance and thorough checks and bolt tightening, it developed a loud creak, particularly from its aging frame and the ambient noise became intolerable. Especially when listening to music.
So to combat that, I remembered I had some left over automotive sound deadening mats from when I installed new speakers in my car. I used different ones, but these are similar. I cut up smaller strips to apply to along smaller solid surface areas and large chunks on the side panel. It worked better than I thought it would. I don’t think I ever recall my PC being as quiet, but then again, maybe its placebo, lol.
Anyway that is my ambient noise trick to deal with a noisy PC. It changed my life.
Alright @M0N let’s here your best and worst recommendations to get the most out of your setup! I’m all in on Audio Poop
Good points. As with anything there is a point of diminishing returns. How much better is the music going to sound really by using that 7,000.00 power cable as opposed to the 500.00 cable? I honestly don’t know. But again, no judgment here. The fact that those things exist means folks are looking for them.
Bought a moon rock on the black market today. It works like an EQ. You place it one wavelength away from your gear and it reduces the frequency at that wavelength by 2db. Multiple moon rocks are like a multiband EQ. The main benefit is zero phase shift. Can’t wait for its arrival
Wait until NASA starts selling the rock samples they bring back from Mars!
And of course, the bigger question… will the Martian rocks have different sound qualities than the moon rocks? Which will be more desirable?
Well those moon rocks would last longer if they were cryogenically frozen. Plus you need a negative ion generator help with efficiency.
Well, Martian rocks will need quite a lot of break in to shake the rust off. But that leaves behind a fair bit of iron and magnesium that can mess with the magnetic field in the voice coils. So lots of care needs to be taken on placement. For moon rocks it depends on if they came from the light side of the moon or the dark side of the moon. Contrary to what many might think, light side rocks darken the sound signature and dark side rocks separate the sound rainbow into its individual frequencies a bit better. Watch out for @FBizzle’s cryo freezing recommendation. That only helps light side moon rocks that have been baking in the Sun. It’s redundant to freeze Martian or dark side of the moon rocks because it’s naturally very cold in those places, meaning the cryofreezing is just snake oil.
(that was too much fun, lol)
I agree somewhat…but if a person makes $500,000 a year, a $7,000 power cable is a drop in the bucket and probably considered worth it. As always, context means everything. Diminishing returns are heavily influenced by one’s purchase power and disposable income.
I don’t make good money like that, but I make a comfortable amount…so I don’t plan on going crazy with that kind of stuff. My power conditioner, audioquest rca cables and headphones cables all have been economical purchases. I personally think stuff like that makes a more noticeable difference with speakers versus headphones. So when I eventually address my speaker and turntable upgrades, I may spend a bit more.
However, there is definitely snake oil out there. A prime example of that is Audiophile Rocks…literally a bunch of crystals that you set on your gear…$10,000.00 a pop. No joke, this is a real thing, lol.
I see what you did there.
That’s the spirit! Although I’m concerned that we may need to implement some budget constraints on this thread, as lunar travel is certainly God-tier HiFi.
That said, YOU KNOW some crazy rich audiophile will take a SpaceX civilian trip into space, bring a portable tube amp, and come back telling us how great the impact of micro-gravity is on tube performance. Then we’ll all want to do it… sigh… better start saving up now…
That would make those “Pop Rocks”, then?
Seriously though with regards to the first part of your post - I am in complete alignment with what you said. There is definite economy of scale applied as to how far you take things, and when you do them.
ASR is working on a lunar listening test. Gonna setup a $1000 system and a $100000 system on the surface of the moon and show that when the 2 systems are perfectly volume matched, then at the listening position they both have completely flat frequency response, 0 distortion, unmeasurably high SINAD, etc. They will definitively prove that in those conditions the $1K system is just as good, happy pink panther pic.
On to the serious side of this thread…
Break in. The physical kind. This is real because materials become more flexible the more they flex. The best example I’ve heard are the Fostex 1.5T biodyna drivers. They definitely had audible changes over the first 60 hours of use. That wasn’t brain burn in either because I would let them play overnight, listening before bed and after waking up. They definitely changed after each overnight session. After 7 nights that sounded very smooth and detailed. They were harsh and crunchy to start.
Planars should need far less break in time. I can’t confirm tho because I’ve bought most of my planars used.
You know kph30i clears will sound better in micro gravity.
Hmm, I disagree. The clear cups will let in high-energy protons, which will spill over into the upper treble.