I agree with many of the comments that, yes, there can be too many tweaks.
I have a very dear friend who is constantly buying inexpensive "tweaks" that are supposed do a variety of things, from "blackening the background" to "widening the soundstage" and so on and so on. Often these things pile up and then he’ll call and say nothing sounds right, should he buy new speakers/amps/DAC etc. etc. I advise him to pull out all the tweaks, and he’ll say, "Oh, this sounds much better."
I also agree that you’re better off buying a better-made piece of equipment that doesn’t need a ton of tweaks to sound good. Anything from the power supply of an amplifier to the USB input of a DAC should be designed in such a way as to produce satisfactory results without a lot of junk surrounding it.
I’m generally agin power plants and conditioners and things like that, but with the increasing heat waves here in Southern Oregon, I’ve had to break down and buy a voltage regulator for my tube amplifiers. My wall voltage often drops to 114VAC in the summer and it really affects the amps’ performance. I got a Furman regulator which maintains the voltage at c. 120 volts. I found that it does more good than harm in my system so it has stayed in. Otherwise I really try to avoid a lot of add-ons.
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So many tweaks. So little time.
I experimented with various hairstyles over the years, and their effect on sound quality. Shaggy hippy. Marine bootcamp. Full blown college professor (hair pulled back into a tight ponytail). I settled into the "astute businessman" style with hair just long enough to touch the top of the ears. Also found that all hair gels failed miserably.
Now with thinning hair, I’m on to testing ballcaps. Would highly recommend wearing the cap "out of phase" with the bill pointing to the rear.
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Thanks for the awesome replies! Great great, insightful points all! I enjoyed reading every single one. Especially the ones referencing “spending more money” and “buying stuff”-still LOL on that one @mapman 😂
You know, it’s never ever that I’ve felt there was an issue or something didn’t sound right, it’s the disease of audiophilia, ‘could this gadget actually improve what I’m already hearing/loving’? So that’s what always tempts me. And in the cases of the Puron and the ADD Symphony, that would be an absolute YES!
But like I said originally, it just occurred to me that indeed @sgordon1 “is sometimes less is more in this case”…
Again loved all the responses. Thanks for taking the time to weigh in…
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The majority of power conditioners cause more harm than good - or for everything they do good, they do something else bad e.g reduce noise but limit current. stacking power conditioners only makes things worse. In some cases, just tightening the connections in the circuit breaker box and the sockets - with the mains disconnected of course - will make more of an improvement than a power conditioner.
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OP: Most of the tweaks that you mentioned are for cleaning up the AC power. I'm a firm believer in clean power as being the foundation for good SQ.
In my experience, too much AC filtration - or a mismatch of different types of filtration - can alter the SQ to be thin and analytical - perhaps even fatiguing. Sometimes, different types of filtration can work great together. Auditioning them is the only way to know. A money-back trial period is a wonderful thing.
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I use Roon DSP to tweak my sound in several rooms with acoustics ranging from not bad to problematic.
Turns out my toughest room is the family room that is open into the kitchen and the rest of the first floor. I’ve tried many gear combos over the years all not fully up to snuff. Currently run Bel Canto c5i to Sonus Faber Concerto Domus. Not bad, but I apply a convolution filter I created for room correction then an additional 5 eq corrections to get things just right. 3 deal with highest and lowest frequency adjustments. Then I like a touch of ‘pierce’ boost 4-6 kHz. Then a speaker adjustment for timing since I do not normally sit dead center. That does it!
So depending on need, assuming a single filter counts as 1 tweak, I do as many as needed. Have yet to not apply any.
Same for headphones. The canned convolution filters for each apply multiple filters in combo as well.
All in Roon DSP if you want to call that a single tweak. 😉
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Sometimes “less” is “more.” You hear how tweaks interact, by living with them over time. When you have listened enough to be familiar with the resulting sound, challenge your ears by removing or repositioning a tweak. The possibilities are endless. This exercise can also work when you are getting the itch to spend more money… frequently we can learn to improve the sound, and be content with the pieces we already have. The problem is that many are inclined to “throw money at a problem;” this may take less time and effort, but there is no assurance of success… is there?
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Someone once sold ear extenders that gave the wearer Dumbo ears that supposedly improved the listening experience. While it may have improved the sound, it probably did not help with getting a second date.
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Time to mention the #1 Class A tweak: Cup your hands behind your ears. Instant Class A amp sound! Very energy efficient! How did they do that?
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Yes, I have been through countless "tweaks", most did nothing, some did maybe something +/-, and a few are great! And mixing them can be a crapshoot.
I guess that is why you should try them if interested, you just never know. There are some very creative minds.
ozzy
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Yes. If something actually does alter the sound, it has the capacity to alter the sound in a way you might not like. It is not always the case that certain things one seeks to reduce, such as resonance, is bad at any level such that less is an improvement. One can go too far in that direction. I heard a demonstration of various platforms made by a particular company that were placed under a CD player. The lowest level platform did a very good job of improving the sound as compared to the stock shelf that came with the equipment rack. The next level up platform made a small improvement over the company's entry level platform. The all out maximum resonance draining platform was simply too much--the sound became thin, analytical and harmonically thread bare; even the manufacturers representative agreed that it was too much in this particular case.
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It’s very possible to get tweaks wrong rather than right. The actual number is irrelevant. Best approach: Keep tweaking as needed. Focus on high value tweaks like proper setup and component matching, DSP, room treatments, placement, shielding from external sources of noise. The actual gear used should matter less the better you are at “tweaking” effectively. Except in your head, of course.
If your tweaks consist of buying a lot of expensive and esoteric gadgets and devices you are not on the happy path most likely. Unless buying stuff alone makes you happy. That’s ok too. As long as it truly makes you happy. Have at it!
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Good question.
My experience is that, in general, getting better quality components (including conditioning) is preferable to more. But it is highly dependent on your situation. If it were me… using a power conditioner… I would not use two, I would upgrade the one. It is more a part of my design Philosophy than anything. Stringing things together the number of permutations goes through the roof quickly (add sequence dependent). Also, more connections… and difficulty in assessing the difference between a 2x more costly power conditioner (for instance) and stringing three things… just because stringing improves the sound doesn’t mean that the 2x component would not have been even better.
For instance, I have a great streamer and a Ethernet regenerator did not sound better… but added connections and powered equipment in a small space. So I got rid of it.
So, probably a generalization would be difficult. I try and keep things simple.
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At some point you may be just wasting money on hopes of more inprovement. It's part of the audiophile sickeness. There are tweaks that could be a step backwards.
If it sounds better to you and you think it's good, that's all that matters.
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