An all metal water pipe system is a much better 'ground' than a stake in the garden. But many cities are replacing metal with plastic, same goes for inside homes.
Preliminary DIY Grounding Box Result
I live in a big, downtown high rise building. Our grounding is crap. I just took a 12 awg sliver stranded wire and stripped both ends. One end went straight into the center of a 3 pound bag of magnetite, and the other stripped end was wrapped around a spare coax rca input (outside negative) on my DAC.
Result: Highly noticeable "analogue-ing" of the sound, along with more dramatically more pronounced soundstaging. Space between the instruments seems like it tripled. Smoother, detailed highs and warmer, dynamic vocals.
I have some quartz coming and will mix it in. Plus I’ll run to other components and report back. Just wanted to try this for a quick test.
Result: Highly noticeable "analogue-ing" of the sound, along with more dramatically more pronounced soundstaging. Space between the instruments seems like it tripled. Smoother, detailed highs and warmer, dynamic vocals.
I have some quartz coming and will mix it in. Plus I’ll run to other components and report back. Just wanted to try this for a quick test.