It's certainly not inexpensive, but one might call it a "tweak" until you hear the difference and that's using balanced AC power. A proper balanced transformer/power conditioner will be expensive and HEAVY, but in every system where I've used one, balanced AC drops the background noise by at least 10-15 dB. That's typically been enough to take the perceptible system noise to complete, black silence. Worth every penny...
The Most Cost Effective Tweak
What is the most cost effective upgrade or tweak? What yields the largest return on investment (ROI)? What if you could spend no money and no time and yield significant performance increases? Theoretically, that would result in an infinite ROI!
So how do you make that happen? Stop tweaking. What happens when you stop tweaking and messing with your audio system constantly is that you let everything burn in and settle down. Go read one of the many threads on this website that talks about how long it takes for components and cables to break in. The answers range from a few hours to several days. If you are suffering from constant upgrade-itis, you never let your audio system fully burn in. You’re robbing yourself of free, infinite ROI. And you never truly hear what your system is capable of. I’m not saying don’t upgrade your system. That’s a lot of the fun. Just give it some time and let your system burn in and open up. Reassess where you are at and where you want to go next.
Due to reasons I won’t go into depth on right now (mainly power issues), I am temporarily using a relatively cheap, high power, class D amp. I wasn’t thrilled with this setup and wasn’t sure if I could even call it’s sound signature high end. Due to a busy schedule, I have not had time to upgrade anything or even pursue simple tweaks. As a result of that, I have witnessed how the amp and my system have burned-in/settled down - whatever you want to call it. The sound was initially on the thin side and had harsh treble. Now the soundstage has become huge and the sound has become very smooth - smoother than I thought class D was capable of - especially from a class D amp that isn’t really something to write home about.
My point is that I realized significant performance increases by doing literally nothing. And now that I am hearing what I believe is the true sound of my system, my next tweak or upgrade will be more effective because I can clearly recognize where the weaknesses are at instead of making judgements while things are still burning in, which is often the case with upgrade-itis.
So how do you make that happen? Stop tweaking. What happens when you stop tweaking and messing with your audio system constantly is that you let everything burn in and settle down. Go read one of the many threads on this website that talks about how long it takes for components and cables to break in. The answers range from a few hours to several days. If you are suffering from constant upgrade-itis, you never let your audio system fully burn in. You’re robbing yourself of free, infinite ROI. And you never truly hear what your system is capable of. I’m not saying don’t upgrade your system. That’s a lot of the fun. Just give it some time and let your system burn in and open up. Reassess where you are at and where you want to go next.
Due to reasons I won’t go into depth on right now (mainly power issues), I am temporarily using a relatively cheap, high power, class D amp. I wasn’t thrilled with this setup and wasn’t sure if I could even call it’s sound signature high end. Due to a busy schedule, I have not had time to upgrade anything or even pursue simple tweaks. As a result of that, I have witnessed how the amp and my system have burned-in/settled down - whatever you want to call it. The sound was initially on the thin side and had harsh treble. Now the soundstage has become huge and the sound has become very smooth - smoother than I thought class D was capable of - especially from a class D amp that isn’t really something to write home about.
My point is that I realized significant performance increases by doing literally nothing. And now that I am hearing what I believe is the true sound of my system, my next tweak or upgrade will be more effective because I can clearly recognize where the weaknesses are at instead of making judgements while things are still burning in, which is often the case with upgrade-itis.
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- 92 posts total
I recently got Ayre Acoustics Irrational But Efficacious (IBE) Burn-in CD online. It cost me $20 plus a little less than $4 for shipping. It has 7 tracks and total length is 19 minutes. I just put it in the CD player, press play button and take a walk for 20 minutes. So easy and so effective. The difference between before and after is astounding. The best 20 some dollar I’ve spent on audio! |
Hi! It is my personal opinion that the cheapest cost-effective tweak is to tweak the very room in which you listen your music. Find the best place for your Hi-Fi equipment, and don’t touch it any more. Then go to Install Tube Bass Traps, Sound diffusers, Flat bass trap panels Remember that soundtrack record is always the same, but room acoustic allows to that sound to be played realistically on your Hi-Fi system. There are lots of these things on market and the result is astonishing. Check on these: https://ssteu.com/acoustic-tube-bass-trap-copy-2E_AUvgHRMDR4S77zrTGl https://www.tubetrap.com/ https://gikacoustics.eu/?gclid=CjwKCAjw2bmLBhBREiwAZ6ugo1RbmpnwRS-zLwQNjv2m4nTbi-IpfeNpWfzFQdS-TBI68... Regards DS |
- 92 posts total