It’s going to take me a few days to get a handle on it. I had new flooring installed and had to shut the entire system down for a couple days. My first impression yesterday came from listening to George Michael’s FAITH, which is a disc I almost gave away a while back, but decided to keep as one of my ‘torture’ discs= sounds crappy in my system.
A couple weeks ago I upgraded my coax cable and one power cord, both of which I placed on my Audiolab CDT6000 (but did not play Faith). I treated the coax and the XLRs from my Voyager to the Audio Alchemy DDP-1 preamp with the Hi Fidelity graphene sample. After a week or so I decided to move the now broken in PC to my Voyager, which sounds better and better with each upgrade/tweak, including moving the new PC to the Voyager.
So, before turning the system back on yesterday, I prepared to apply the Mad Scientist graphene, while reading the accompanying paperwork, it sounds like the exact same thing as the sample I got from Hi Fidelity, but at < 1/3 the price!
The Mad Scientist Contact Enhancer was applied to the speaker cables and all the associated wiring to my Open Baffle Emerald Physics 3.4 speakers (outboard XOs) and binding posts at the the base of the speakers and also to where the jumpers between those binding posts and the connections to coax drivers mid and tweeters= 7 sets per side... RPA!
I prepared to apply the Mad Scientist graphene, while reading the accompanying paperwork, it sounds like the exact same thing as the sample I got from Hi Fidelity, but at < 1/3 the price!
You are absolutely right about this. I wish I knew before I bought the HF NPS Q45t. a few months ago before they shut down. My guess is the Mad Scientist one is likely just as good at a fraction of the price. Just a guess.
Please keep this thread updated with your impressions
Just wait until you open all your components and speakers and apply it to everything in there.
Then, just when you think you've reached audiophool audiophile nirvana, you can do every wire in your house and have the blackest blacks ever blacked. Don't get me started on speaking to your local power company about treating the wires that run from wherever it is that power is generated to your house.
Snake oil, I really don't get how bored with life you have to be to find entertainment in spending money on magic pixie dust products like this, I guess even placebo can be highly addictive to some people.
Very good point about not worrying about the last 6 feet of passive power cord when the juice has already come through your house system, the house fuse, the supply line from the 8kv (in UK) substation, and the long lines from the power generation station that may be 50 miles long or more.
I have been making this point for years, but the guys still imagine they're hearing differences by changing the last 6 feet of passive power line.
As for 'contact enhancer', if you feel this way just hard-wire everything. A FAR better contact.
I know when I make a tweak my system sounds better. Then I find something new to tweak and it sounds better again. With enough tweaks, it might someday sound great.
For the haters: do you understand that a soldered connection will ALWAYS sound better than a metal push clip connection? Graphene comes very close to closing the gap (NPI) to soldered joints.
Just 24 hours in and the improvement is quite noticeable, especially for a mere $75, which should treat quite a few systems.
Hell Freezes Over (live recording) is a good place to start. WELL... the music is considerably more cohesive, clearer, sharper, BUT, much less edgy. Joe Walsh's guitar intro on Hotel California practically jumps out of the mix now
I’ve been back into listening to vinyl again going on three years, after about a 30 year hiatus. It was so much simpler back in the 1970’s through 1990’s.
after reading, reviewing many articles about specialty wires, then this recent fad of graphene additives and contact enhancers and all the rest.
I decided to return to what has, for the true cognoscenti, worked in the past, pyramid energy.
the Alan Parsons project referred to it in song- indeed, I still use the same razor blade I first treated and stored inside a model of a pyramid in 1976.
so after considering some of the more modern nostrums, “patent medicine” for what ails your audio.
just make a pyramid out of spaghetti and modeling clay proportional to the size of your system and hang it above your system. Further improvements can be had by making them out of more exotic materials like silver or gold wire, and augmenting energy flow with amethyst crystals… or tourmaline.
Spend my money??? How much money are you talking? it's a few dollars for the Mad Scientist product, this thread is about. Starting from $25. Twenty five US dollars for the smaller bottle. What the big fuss?
By the way, calling contact / connector hygiene & maintenance bull crap (to quote your words) is a bit of rich. Garbage? Why the anger dude? Listen, you don't have to spend any money at all on anything, that's fine, not my business. But taking care of my contacts is something that is always advisable, and, one does not have to spend too much money. I have done it for two decades, just using stuff from the hardware store. Dremel tool, Brasso metal polishing liquid, soft cloth, and then apply contact enhancing fluid such as Caig DeoxIT, deoxIT Gold, or Jena Labs fluid. All very cheap and they work. For a few dollars. How is this "garbage" and "bull crap"?? You guys are very funny
do you understand that a soldered connection will ALWAYS sound better than a metal push clip connection
Not all connections in components are soldered, and there's no proof soldered sounds better. Take 2 of the exact same amp, solder all connections in one and use crimp connectors in the other and tell which is which. No way.
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