Tweaks you got rid of because they were not effective (enough)?


There are some audiophiles for whom cost is no object; they buy what they wish and every single tweak and gadget which promises to improve the sound. And the industry is all too happy to produce such tweaks -- often made of expensive materials with elaborate engineering explanations. Those who question the value of these tweaks are frequently accused of being "naysayers" who are either too ignorant or insensate to realize that "everything matters."

Of course, money spent one place cannot be spent elsewhere; expenditures on tweaks take the place of other more central factors affecting the sound. In some cases, those tweaks are worth it; you can hear the difference, and that $400 (or whatever) really could not have improved your speakers or sub or amp, etc.

So, the question here is simple: Which tweak have you tried which, after some experience and reflection, you realized was either *not* effective or not the most effective way to improve your system? 
128x128hilde45
A word about the "alleged" or "disproved" effect of a tweak...

The audible effect of "tweak" will vary greatly if the tweak is implemented in an already controlled environment or not...

I will not discuss here the relative hability in each of us relative to our listening experience and possibility that may impact also the alleged absence or presence of audibles effects...

I will only speak about the big difference the addition of a device control or of a tweak in a controlled environment OR in a non controlled one...

I will give an example about the acoustic room embedding....
A single piece of aluminum paper 1 feet 1/2 feet by 3 feet long, placed at the right spot in a controlled acoustical embedding may change drastically the S.Q. of a specific room, I know because i just do that today for the better in my room....

But if someone glued the same piece of aluminum paper in a non controlled acoustical environment, a nude room, the perceived positive or negative effect audible effect will probably be negligible...It will be the samething if the sheet is glued to a different treated room or to a different spot....I*n these cases the effect can be negative or negligible  also...

The same thing is true if the audio system three embeddings are controlled in some way, the addition of some new device or tweak or materials will be more easily audible negatively or positively....

Then before formulating definitive judgment about a product, ask yourself why the product produce this or that effect in YOUR audio system first, before condemning it at all and definitively....




Another example: i bought springs boxes (chinese version of Nobsound one)
At first it seems a very good improvement from my own multi-layered sandwich platform and it was....But it is a positive improvement only if you adjust the compressing force on the springs very precisely... I do it...

But after few days i realized that this isolation device dont adress the problem of internal resonance of the speaker and that the springs boxes also imply a kind of trade off... I decide to make something new with these springs...I put another set of springs on top of my speakers under the load (75 pounds) that damp the speakers...That create an asymmetry in the compressing force of the 2 set of boxes, those under the speakers and those on top... The compressing force is greater on the springs boxes directly under the speaker because the speaker weight is added to them.... Then this asymmetry help to decrease the powerful negative unsuspected effect of internal resonance of the speaker.... The results were astounding, it was not only the bass frequencies and high frequencies that were better now, it was the naturalness of the timbre and the 3-d imaging power....

Then any addition of a device or of a "tweak" is perceived differently in different controlled or non controlled environment, and judge differently.... And most tweaks are not a perfect solution but give us a trade-off, then to increase the positive effect, it is necessary to create a better controlled environment making us able to DETECT first the positive or negative nature of any change and make us able to MANAGE the trade-off....And tweak are there to be modified and improved also....

This is my experience...

My best to all....
One thing that has always worked in improving the sound has been buying more expensive equipment.

I have not tried as many things as some here, but aside from changing the room (furniture placement and numbers, rugs, etc.) nothing else made a difference. Cables (power, USB, speaker) did nothing for sound, but surely made it neater, once appropriate lengths were chosen.
No comment on Vibrapods’ efficacy, but the nasty residue can be prevented by placing a piece of plastic sandwich baggie between the Vibrapod and surface. Same with sorbothane. Perhaps Vibrapods are made of sorbothane?

I have sorbothane hemisphere rubber bumpers under my speakers. They are sticky and would leave a residue.  Just wrap them in clear plastic food wrap!
Post removed 
@hilde45...

@duckworp, for the feet under the speakers, what worked for you? I have some spikes but have not tried them out, yet. Came with the speaker stands.

Spikes were OK but the big improvement happened by placing cheap granite kitchen chopping boards under the speakers and then Isoacoustic Gaia feet under the speakers, resting on the granite. This made a massive improvement to bass and the overall sound image.