Tried them as part of the cable loaner program with The Cable Company. Didn’t buy.
SR Tuning Discs, Psychoacoustic Bias and Listening Fatigue
By the way the SR Tuning Discs are snake oil. They don’t make a damned bit of difference. Careful about psychoacoustic bias. Fresher ears hear small differences greater than fatigued ears. At first listen, again A-B ing instantaneously with streamer cable plus Disc against exact same master and material on CD player transport digitally into same Bryston DAC, the two sources about 5 seconds apart to hear “phrase” of that duration in instant back to back repetition, I THOUGHT I heard a shocking large difference. But it was the first listen of the day. Then removed Disc from cable and did same thing. A LITTLE less dramatic difference. Ok. Then put Disc back onto cable. About the SAME as last. Hmmm. Then repeated this whole process about 6 more times to be sure. Then left room for hour. Came back in and did test once WITHOUT Disc. BIG DIFFERENCE. Like first test of the day with Disc ON cable.
CONCLUSION : THE DIFFERENCES I HEARD WHICH I INITIALLY ATTRIBUTED TO THE SR TUNING DISCS WERE PSYCHOACOUSTIC AND LISTENING FATIGUE BIAS. SYNERGISTIC RESEARCH TUNING DISCS MAKE ZERO DIFFERENCE.
But that’s my opinion. You can take it with a grain of salt if you so desire.
Showing 10 responses by tlcocks
@coralkong , just was sharing my experience and my method. I recommend instead of getting upset just take what I said with a grain of salt. |
My gear is Bryson B135 SST2 Integrated Amp with respectable onboard DAC (see Mike Lavorgna of Twittering Machines comments), Auralic Aries Dual Femto streamer connected to integrated with Shunyata Theta digital cable, Martin Logan Montage with Transparent Music Link Plus speaker cable. The integrated has a tape loop where I connect a Charter Oak PEQ-1 studio analog EQ via Cardas Clear Sky ‘round trip’ cabling. I cut that loop in and out to taste and mood and depending upon the material listened to by simply toggling the monitor button on the Bryston remote from the listening position. |
And I don’t want to mock. I really don’t. So I did take the task seriously and really really tried to hear a benefit. But didn’t. Either straight signal or with a high end studio analog mastering EQ with W shaped curve in signal path. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It simply means I didn’t hear it. It MIGHT mean it doesn’t exist however… To the mocking part…c’mon folks!! This is HIGH END AUDIO! We are paying thousands for gear all the time! SR wants to use sticky PUTTY to attach the tiny disc to the cable! They and others have said it’s best at or near the terminal source end. Just incorporate it into cable design, so it’s aesthetically pleasing! It’s ridiculous! Sheesh, SR could REALLY rake in big bucks by doing exactly that but offering different location options on the cable. Which undoubtedly invite many enthusiastic souls to spend inordinate amounts of money buying many more cables than they need. Wouldn’t SR love THAT boost in profits. Regarding loaner batch of three, I bought Shunyata Theta. Sounded best. With or without disc and putty!
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Yes. Understood. Thanks. I am open minded, despite that I don’t sound that way with these SR discs. Couldn’t help but poke a little fun at the whole “just use the sticky putty to affix the Tuning Disc to your [fancy] cable” thing. 😁. As a dedicated audiophile though, I took the listening experiment deadly serious though. As I always do when critically listening. |