I have recently been playing with a very cheap upgrade of signal carrying cables: Attach one or two 1.5V AAA batteries with the ‘-‘ pole in the direction of the signal’s source. Simple strapping on with electrical tape) suffices, no need to connect anything. The benefits are very audible. The weak electric field conditions the outer layer of the conductor to improve electron flow, resulting in a strong increase in transparency and dimensionality. This works particularly well on the digital cable going into the router and streamer as well as the speaker cables (on the latter ‘+’ alligns with plus and ‘-‘ with minus, i.e. two batteries per single post speaker.
@antigrunge2 Thank you for sharing this suggestion. Ok mind blown again…I tried this tweak on my main system and got similar results that I got on my second system prior. Better bass, clarity and definition.
Placed battery pairs on the following:
Ethernet cable from router to FMC (2 batteries)
Ethernet cable from FMC feeding my Bricasti M5 network streamer (2 batteries)
USB cable from M5 to my DAC (2 batteries)
Speaker wires both + and - (8 batteries)
Interconnects from DAC to amp (4 batteries)
Not really able to determine which batteries make the most impact
but the sum of all batteries definitely improves the SQ. All batteries are staying in place. Crazy simple inexpensive tweak…much appreciated!
I just tried 16 AAA’s total on my speaker bi wire pairs... 8 per side...have to report that that many batteries closed in the sound way to much...Back to 8 total and it sounds like I posted earlier. More does not necessarily mean better.
For speaker wire, the red, +positive side from amp to the speaker would have the positive end toward the speaker and -neg toward the amp..
For the negative side terminal (same speaker) wire, is the + pos side oriented toward the speaker as well or is the - neg side toward the speaker and the +pos toward the amp? Can you post a speaker wire picture?
I'm dubious of the effect but I agree with those who defend the suggestion. Look, it's one thing to make sure noobs don't spend their money buying a $750 dongle that won't do anything, but these DIY tweaks are what the hobby is about - it's not snake oil if effectively free.
That said, I'd like a cogent scientific explanation...
Dear all, on RCA, digital and ethernet: batteries close to the signal target with battery ‘-‘ to the source. On speakers: close to the speaker withsignal side with ‘-‘ to the amp, return with ‘-‘ to the speaker
It looks like mine is going in the opposite direction, that is, the positive pointing in the direction of the signal flow. It seems like that should be the correct way.
my mid-fi has daily battles with stray electrons in my electrical system and these little buggers like to backfeed low voltage thru my Amazon USB cable that carries signa lfrom my MacBook Pro to my SU8 DAC, so I wasn't expecting much. I started by strapping on a battery, maybe dead I didn't check- near the USB end that goes into my Re-Clocker on the SU8 DAC. hmmmm.... it does sound a bit more defined and separated... found another battery and velcro-ed that missing link to the speaker end of an XLR...hmmm.... by the way do these batteries have to be charged? ima gonna follow up on this...
I'm still a little confused on the orientation for the batteries (it seems like I'm not the only one). If a key part of this tweak is to orient the weak electromagnetic field from the batteries to mirror the current flow in the signal cable shouldn't the Negative "-" terminal on the battery point towards the destination? I thought that electrons have negative polarity and flow from - to +, However, for whatever reason way-back-in-the-day the labeling convention was established that depicted the flow as being + to -, hence the markings on batteries today. Can someone clear that up for me?
So, I just reversed the batteries. Now I have the negative end of the battery facing towards the input. In this direction, I (think) I can detect a bit more articulation (but still not quite sure).
All of my batteries have the - facing the source flowing from - to + for my digital and interconnect cables and they sound great! On my speaker the batteries + is facing the + post on speaker and - battery facing - post. (My batteries are as close to source plug end as possible and close to the speaker posts). Significant improvement for my systems.
Out of curiosity,I will more than likely try this. The only thing I just struggle to understand is, how folks can pass judgment on a tweak that takes minutes,and almost no extra cost.
So, I just reversed the batteries. Now I have the negative end of the battery facing towards the input. In this direction, I (think) I can detect a bit more articulation (but still not quite sure).
The obvious next iteration would be to strap a potato to your speaker cables. But only special Mqingo potatos work and only I have them. For $1400 each I will ship you all you want. A tie wrap works fine. The transparency and dynamics will amaze you. And when they rot, just order more!
OK. I tried it. Although, I did make an XLR cable change at the same time.
If Steve (@williewonka) is following this one, I have a couple good data points. We have a Tesla solar roof and when I push battery power the audio experience is so much better. Maybe because (PG&E) is so screwed up...
Sorry. Battery scenario didn't work for me. KISS....keep it simple stupid...
@juanmanuelfangioii- I tried connecting the positive and negative terminals of the battery together to improve the current flow. That really did blow my mind and more besides...
I put like 6 AAA on my XLR speaker connections and the sound became too bright and compressed. I can only deduce that doing so angers the Time-Space Continuum Gawds. I scaled back to only my AirPlulse A200 and the DAC input...
Well, there is no conventional basis for this idea. For me, perhaps the fact that batteries contain a metal case. When placed close to the cable conducting a high-frequency signal creates a sort of ferrite-like choke that can have an effect on some high-frequency signals (including digital audio carrier range) and have a low-pass filter effect on them. As I think was mentioned before here, batteries are not static electricity devices (so there is no static electric field influence) nor they are creating any other field since there is no current flowing (except the one discharging disconnected batteries in time).
Regardless, I used (3) AAA batteries, and fixed them with a rubber band evenly around the end of a silver-conductor USB cable (which is typically considered the "harshest: sounding, so I could expect most of the sound "smoothing" mentioned here) with the polarity-oriented as advised here. In short, I had no audibly distinguishable result from it so far. I am almost afraid to mention here that in my setup I hear differences between almost all USB cables I try.
Please notice that this idea is interesting not because I can explain or discredit it, but because I have an interest in phenomena that exist which do not have a good explanation, at least for now. For now, let's face it. no conclusion can be achieved, not certainly here (except through a formal double-blind study). It's certainly worth mentioning that how batteries work is still being investigated today, including their mysterious self-oscillation property mentioned here, which may or may not have anything to do with this topic: Dynamical theory for the battery's electromotive force - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (RSC Publishing)
tksteingraber's post motivated me to try this. A single battery was placed on the ends of all cables, including the power cord of the network switch. First thing I noticed was a reduced noise floor. Secondly, the system gravitated towards how it sounds well after midnight. Yes, when your system can sound intoxicating. I was surprised by all of this, as I was expecting nothing.
So a big thank you to antigrunge2!!!!
This is indeed the "cheapest cable upgrade ever".
Finally got around trying this on my BNC clock cables as well: works! having done all signal and clock cables now I feel I get much better impulse and spatial rendition
i took all of these batteries off my speaker cables and just one AAA battery on my USB cable into the DAC. sound was too compressed and too much high end and edge
@tweakmenowGlad you had an open mind to try it and it made an improvement. So simple and cheap. Interesting how it affects some systems and not others. I did a blind test just to verify it was legit and confirmed these batteries were making a SQ improvement. Cheers!
For the people who have experienced an impact with this tweak, how close is the battery to any connector? Is it just before it, like 1-2” away? In the case of speaker cables, is there any benefit if the battery’s poles are in direct contact with the binding post?
This tweak seems to be a bit different from a physics standpoint from the AQ DBS system which I believe applies more of an electrostatic field to the entire dielectric of a cable, where this battery tweak might generate weaker electromagnetic fields around areas bound for leakage (at connection points). As such, this reminds me more of what Synergistic Research is doing with their Carbon Tuning Discs.
Great question. Personally I believe a battery or magnet is going to be better than a carbon disc. What would/could a thin carbon disc achieve even when treated with a unique UEF compound that interacts with EM fields, other than a justification placebo effect.
@pedroebIf you have not heard them, probably best not to assume the worst about them. I have tried a huge amount of Synergistic Research’s portfolio of goods and most made an audible improvement.
Your statement is reminiscent of “bigger is better”, not that that’s what you said by any means. But this is not always the case. If that compound helps promote flow in a more optimized way despite creating a smaller electromagnetic field than a 1.5V battery, that’s all that matters.
Likewise, synergy is everything. All it takes sometimes to remove the magic from my whole system is to switch a few of the tuning bullets in my Synergistic Research cables or move my speakers a 1/4”.
I have the batteries about 2 inches away from my spade connectors that attach to my speaker binding posts...No direct contact... On my rca cables...the battery on those are a bit closer to the connectors...1 inch or less. Best bang for the buck in tweakland that I have ever come across... Strange but true!
I tried this idea on both my USB cable and then my speaker cables. Tried both independently and together. Unfortunately after extended listening it became apparent that the music was a bit too forced and constrained sounding at the same time. The tweak led to increased listener fatigue. Remove them and after about a minute the sound became more relaxed and engaging. My speaker cables are solid core copper as an FYI.
I have tried them in every way imaginable and sometimes I thought that I might have heard an improvement. But, in the end, I decided to remove them all.
And I am a big time tweaker! Thanks for the challenge, anyway.
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