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!
may I suggest you try 2 AAA’s on the ethernet to the streamer and the USB to the Dac? In my case it really worked"
My Dac is the Lumin X1 in which I use Fiber cable to it from a EtherRegen. Do you think it will have any effect on Fiber cable? I may try it anyway.
I do have a very short ethernet cable from my router to the EtherRegen and a usb from my external hard drive to the Lumin, so I’ll try them there also.
I tried it on my two pair of bi wired speaker cables for a total of 8 AAA batteries (4 per side) and the improvement is way better than I ever expected. In all honesty..I was not expecting anything!
What I'm hearing is a definite uptick in clarity with a fleshing out of notes in a more relaxed presentation across the board... Kinda hard to describe... but it is making for a definite sound quality improvement.
This actually sounds "reasonable" to me that this could work in some, but not all scenarios. William E Low andl Richard Vandersteen have successfully marketed a similar (distant cousin?) concept for many years. After I get a few things off my plate, I'd like to give it a try. Who knows, antigrunge2 might inducted into Audio Hall of Fame for introducing this concept?
I also find it iinteresting that posts like things extract the worst behaviors from the Technomutants and Neadertweaks who hide in the bushes waiting to ambush those who don't agree with them. They are terribly offended when someone doesn't ask their permission before experimenting with something new. They rush onto the scene posing as superheros protecting us from psuedoscience. But, I don't quite understand why they are so anxious to broadcast to the high end community that they have huge gaps in their knowledge base, and how little they actually know about high performance audio. Maybe trying posting how smart they are on the quilting forum, or ingrown toenail forum? I'll be they'd think they're really smart there. Sorry, we're just not buying it.
It's called "intellectual humility". Example: "Hey, I tried this thing and it seemed to make my system sound better. I'm not sure why it works, but I like it!" Antigrunge2 has intellectual humility. Give it a try sometime?
@ antigrunge2: Thanks for the post. It was a great representation of why we are here.
Ok I tried this crazy tweak on my less revealing second system placing the batteries “-“ to source on my AQ Carbon USB cable feeding my DAC. Hard to wrap my head around another illogical tweak but this made a significant improvement. Adding a pair of batteries at both ends improved it even more. Bass improved, more clarity, fuller sound stage? My Carbon cable is smelling like coffee now!
Is it just my brain messing with me? Even if it’s a placebo effect I’ll take it. Hard to explain but its working and those batteries aren’t going anywhere. I will try it on my main system to see if any improvement can be had. I’m wondering if your system is extremely revealing already if improvements are not noticed.
Glad I gave it a try....cheapest cable upgrade for sure.
Best I know the Zobel is for impedance matching. I use a SteinMusic Speaker Match for the same purpose. The litz has a weaker effect because of lesser skin effect. If you feel pesky, try on the ethernet connection on the streamer. Max effect after ca 2 h
I’m always game to experimenting with creative ideas.
Just so I understand for a speaker cable, I place one AAA on the positive wire with the positive battery side pointing toward the speaker connector binding post and the other AAA uses the negative end on the negative speaker wire pointing toward the speaker - binding post?
Hey @antigrunge2thanks for sharing! How many expensive tweaks get promoted here with dubious results? This one’s darn near free so if it helps at all it’s a huge return on investment. If not, take the battery off and use it somewhere else. I fail to see the harm or the need for the snide comments toward someone who seems to genuinely be trying to help and with no benefit to himself for doing so. Sheesh!
Can you imagine the guy sitting in a Roman bath, telling his friends that the world is round? There are some things we understand and some we don’t. If a battery isn’t electrical, what happens to the charge when a battery has been sitting in a drawer for a few years? It must be doing something. I think the post was fun, and have no idea if it makes any sense.
I don't care whether AQ's dbs works or not...I just like that it exists, lol...I'm not going to fret about it as I already bought a Thunder cable years ago and still in use...however, I must say that I think it made my system quieter....or maybe it's my imagination.
An electric field inside the battery builds up, pointing from the + terminal to the − terminal. This field opposes the motion of H+ ions — they cannot cross to the + terminal, and the reaction stops. When the terminals are connected by a conductor, on the other hand, electrons freely flow to the + terminal.
And there are quite some currents flowing through a loudspeaker cable. The dielectic shielding keeps these currents from acting as a capacitor. How should your "weak electric field" interfere with the signal throught the shields which are there to keep much stronger interference away from the signal?
There is no electromagnetic field (and certainly also no "electric field") if there is no current flowing. A battery per se is a chemical device, not an electrical device.
And there’s no general current flow direction with AC, it alternates, as the name implies.
And furthermore, an electromagnetic field that has an effect on an audio signal is known as an interference. It is important to keep an audio signal free from any electromagnetic interference, since this is always a distortion. Why should a signal that has been distorted by electromagnetic interference ever sound better than the undistorted original signal?
I think another inexpensive tweak is to stick some tubes (buy a couple of tube sockets) on top of any solid state gear...it's as useless as the battery thing but much better looking.
Amir attempted to test an AudioQuest Victoria Audio Cable with DBS Review and commented "How energizing an insulator traps RF works is based on principles above any known physics so don't know how to test that without alien technology. But we will test to see if noise is reduced in audio spectrum which is what we hear."
Just so I understand this correctly: you are attaching a 1.5V battery (or more) across the speakers' connectors -- is that correct? You are effectively sending a DC signal to the speakers?
@antigrunge2 thanks for sharing sounds fun will give it a go!
This is what I feel this hobby is all about. Experimenting with different products/tweaks makes for more sustainable enjoyment. I especially like cheap diy ideas but will spend moderate $’s for significant gain. Buying new components gets you in the right game but the fun is getting the most out of them especially on the cheap. Using some of these tweaks has gotten mind bending improvements out of my systems I didn’t think possible while saving thousands on component upgrade chasing. Not all are winners but my big winners have been: diy ground boxes for speakers and select components, fmc- optical cable- fmc between router and streamer, fuses from QSA and China made fuses filled with graphene/quartz crystals, AQ jitterbug on usb, diy VH audio power cables, 12TC speaker wire chinese copy of Kimber Kable, nobsound springs on speakers/ components, Nos ‘50-60’s ebay tubes, Nps 1260 3d contact enhancer, diy helmholtz resonator bottle array and diy argent room lens.
Fun stuff no matter what the naysayers throw out. Noticeable SQ improvement that builds along the journey.
Why all the ridicule? We all likely have freaking AAA batteries and electrical tape sitting around in our drawers not being used for anything! How about trying it out for yourself with an open mind and then responding with your experience after a sufficient period of time? It costs you nothing other than your time already being used to listen to music anyway. Instead, a bunch of supposed adults act like children pushing over other children on the playground until they fall in line with the herd! My god people it is so tiring!
Another thing, @jasonbourne52 why are you always in the mix of people ridiculing others? Why bother interacting at all when you spend so much of your time bagging on others! Try being open to thinking outside of the box once in a while. I’m sure interested in trying from time-to-time way out there, very low cost tweaks from @mahgister. Why not?
Make sure to store it to freezer for at a minimum of 10 hours before use. The freezing temperture will boost the superconductivity of the cable for audio fedelity enhancement.
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