First things first, I am one of THE biggest skeptics when it comes to those enhancement accessory products we all get bombarded with (No, I'm not talking about those XXX ones either). However, being the eternal merry-go-round audio upgrade person that I am, I find myself always wanting to try some of them. Rarely do I purchase any of them because they either dont do what they were advertised to do or their cost doesnt justify the small incremental change I might have heard. In this instant case, I figured what the heck because I didnt have to do anything. My friend wanted to try them too, so he ordered a set of five so we could both try them in two different settings with different systems.
The PS Audio Harvesters arrived last week and he plugged them into his system. After several hours of listening he unplugged them to listen again. And,
nadda
no noticeable changes. He keep doing a before and after and stated he may have noticed a slight change but chalked it up to psycho-acoustics because he couldnt tell when they were plugged in verses when they werent.
Fast forward to today. My friend arrives to give me an opportunity to listen to the Harvesters. He also had a Butler amp in tow as well. I told him lets listen to the Harvesters first to get that little trial out of the way and then we can move to the amp. We both were making fun of the Harvesters as I was plugging them in one in at a time around the first flour of my house (no disrespect towards you Paul McG). Something along the lines, oooh look at the light blink and can you hear it now? I sat down to listen critically and my friend picked up some magazines to read and be indifferent and dismissive towards this trial since they didnt work over at his place.
IMHO my system is a well-balanced one with good top to bottom tonal quality and a decent soundstage (wide and deep). Not the final word by any stretch of the imagination, but a system I listen to at relatively high volumes without getting fatigued. To my surprise, I noticed a difference right away since I was playing a cd I was very familiar with and had played just before he arrived. My friend had also used the same disc as part of several he had used and was very familiar with the sound of my system.
Needless to say, he put the magazine down and started to critically listen. I switched between having them plugged in and unplugged and each time the change was noticeable and significant.
The Harvesters seemed to fill the sound stage in more by separating the instruments and making the sound stage have more depth and 3D like. I always felt my speakers disappeared in the room but the Harvesters showed they could really disappear. One way to test this observation was I moved out of the center sweet spot and moved laterally to be directly in front of one channel. I listened with and without the Harvesters and could hear the sound stage open up wider and go deeper. It was like a plume of sound moved from the farthest channel towards the middle enlarging the sweet spot.
I dont know how these things work and perform their task (even after reading PS Audios propaganda), but they do work in my system. My friend left them for me to live with for a week and determine if there is a cost benefit factor to warrant keeping them. I am digging out all my familiar music to give them a workout. The final test is to use my secret weapon and number one critic -- my bride. Ill let her listen to they system with the Harvesters plugged in and unplugged. She is younger and has different peaks and valleys in her listening range than I do. I trust her opinion because she isnt afflicted with this audio sickness, or is it a hobby.
This certainly proves YMMV because my friend felt they were useless in his system, but in my system they did make a positive change. Go figure!
PS I hope the blue lights don't have an adverse affect on my eyesight due to wanting to stare at them for prolonged periods. Hahahahahaha!
