yoby,
I hear ya, and that may be the end results too. But for now, I'm really enjoying them.
ozzy
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Hi ozzy: The "more presence " that you're referring to translates into a more aggressive and in your face presentaion in my audio system. I've removed all of them. Initially, there was a WOW factor when these chips are installed, but listening fatigue eventually became obvious. Tnank you for all the audio tweakery you've done over the years. You've been a great inspiration for me to expermient with new ideas. Good listening. Jeff
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Totally agree. i have had good results from the signal and power cabples as well as fuse and capacitor stickers. Particularly usefull in the fusebox
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I only had one cable chip sticker and I wanted to try them on my speaker cables. VH Audio still has them for sale, so I ordered one more. Just received it today! Very fast shipping VH Audio seems to be a quality company that I will have to remember when I need some more stuff.
BTW, the cable chips are just as impressive as the speaker and power chips.
ozzy
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I know this post is now 10 years old (155,000+ views) and many of the users have moved on. But I have got to say that after reapplying the stickers (Speaker, Power) I can definitely hear the original attraction. There is a more solid bass and more presence.
Still hard to believe that these stickers do something.
Any others out there still have these?
ozzy
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So, just after I last posted, I went ahead and reapplied the WA speaker chips and son of a gun, there does seem to be better sound staging.
ozzy
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Its amazing how we can change our minds about a product. I haven't used these stickers for years.
ozzy
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No result for me with some of them, but...SR Blue Fuse= Just Wow ! |
Just for the record, I had excellent results using the WA chip on my Audio Magic nano liquid fuse. I also had good results on headphones near the transducers with the inductor WA chips, on the breaker box with cable WA chips, and on various other things. Ironically the cable WA chip did not work for my cables. The secret ingredient is obviously mixed in with the adhesive backing of the chips, which leads me to still think it’s another application of ye olde quantum dots. What else could it be? I actually don’t believe the WA Quantum Chip maker is HIFI Tuning, but another German company, hence the relationship between HiFi Tuning and WA Quantum Chip. I also seriously doubt WA would interfere with Black fuse operation, as long as the chip did not cover the little black dot of you know what on the body of the Black fuse. And even if it did, so what. It's only a small number of atoms in there. Hel-loo!
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My two cents worth. I tried the fuse chips 2 in my amp and one in my dac, both are W4S products. I felt the chips definitely made things clearer and w/ more detail, but at a cost.There seemed to be a frequency boost, which made the system kinda holler. If you speak and than speak w/ a megaphone you certainly hear more of everything, but do you want to listen to it all day. I applied the chips to my SR black fuses, and it is obvious the chips are designed to be used w/ the Hifi fuses. Both HIFI fuses and WA are owned by the same company. Perhaps, the chips work well w/ the Hifi fuse, but I found the sound grading to my ears. Perhaps they would sound better in a system that needs a high end boost. Just my opinion. |
Heheh that presumes of course there's electrons in there ;-) Me too in not knowing how they work tho there's too many credible positive posts and reviews to nay-say em off-the-cuff. That said I'm also a little skeptical there's really any element of 'programming' going on. I'll be the first to admit I could be wrong but I suspect huge sheets of this are offset printed, screen-printed, laminated and then die-cut or CAD cut via a plotter for a specific application.
I'm definitely gonna try em in an A/B test against 5mm fuse-specific chips at least punched from a comparatively HUGE speaker size chip. I doubt using a single hole punch one time in each of the speaker chips will affect that speakers performance in any way I can hear. But I'm sure I'll be able to notice any difference on a 5mm 'dot' as I was able to determine SUCH a difference initially two ways, ie; when they were oriented at leading/trailing fuse ends. I get two shots at determining their efficacy on fuses which was the biggest difference I could hear of all the chips I installed, ie; fuses, cables & speakers. |
They're very likely like the Intelligent Chip, specifically "programmed" to produce photons with specific wavelengths depending on where they're placed. Intelligent chips, not the Orange ones, but ones programmed differently, can be used on cables just like WA chips. That's the beauty of quantum physics, the active ingredient in chips are grown in the lab according a specification, what output you wish. |
Salinas212, I think once you cut them the electrons will leak out.
Just kidding.
I doubt if there is much difference in the products. Perhaps some are a little more powerful than others. But, to be honest I don't know what they are made of or how they work. Give it a try, I'd be interested. |
I know the manufacturer says they are all different chips, ie; different programming. But I'm curious what I'd do if I found something that worked and wanted to make them proprietary and as application specific as possible via surface area. Ya know, try to throw people off from using scissors or a hole punch on a speaker chip to make dozens & dozens of fuse chips and hawking em for two bucks a pop. Or cut larger chips into smaller ones or rectangles into circles. I'm curious if anyone's actually tried making smaller chips from larger chip sheets and using them in place of application specific sizes. I wonder if the recipe is the same across the board but the appropriate dosage is in the chip size or shape rather than 'programming.' Just a thought. |
Unconscious, I forgot to add that I don't have HFC phono cables at present as I need XLRs to input into my BMC MCCI phono stage. I can try them on pcs, ics and speaker wires. |
Is anyone using a transformer chip in a tube amp or tube preamp? |
Unconscious, you reminded me. No, as yet, I have not tried them. Next week, I will give them a try. Of course, I have no idea where to place them, so there will be a good deal of trial and error. |
Tgb, I have Rick's HF cables (phono), you think the Chips will make a difference? Have you already tried them? Any updates will be most welcome! |
I have yet to try the WA Quantum Chips on High Fidelity cables. Has anybody done so? |
Tbg, as a manufacturer of products involving crystals, actually the first if you don't count the Shakti thing which almost doesn't count, before anyone had a gleam in his eye about such things, I agree about trial and error. However, as fate would have it some things are repeatable. It helps to know where to put them, you know, acting as they do like resonators. |
Geoffkait, yes how it sounds in trial and error tests is all that guides their use. In my interviews with the AR folks their sound is all that mattered. |
Jade is typically Na(Al,Fe+3)Si2O6 - Jadeite. Quartz is typically siO2. A lot if crystal are somewhat similar in chemical structure yet not similar in terms of physical characteristics when it comes to audio applications. For example Acoustic Revive selected smokey quartz over clear quartz based on how it sounds. |
Jade is chemically defined and is typically Oriental. Quartz is typically European.
Yes, I have used and continue to use AR QR-8 quartz but usually Zilplexes are much more effective. |
Never heard of jade quartz. I've heard of jade and I've heard of quartz. Have you tried Acoustic Revive's small beads of smokey quartz for room walls? Myself, I'm rather fond of topaz, sapphire, onyx, aquamarine, carnelian and others. |
Geoffkait, as a scientist, I'm always seeking a theory that would suggest where something might work best. With jade quartz I have largely given up. Isolation devices, however, cannot be ignored. |
Tbg, I suspect WA Chips are an excellent illustration that audio is a hands-on hobby. It's not really for the reluctant couch potato who just wants to plug and play. Experimentation is the order of the day for everything from speaker placement to tube trap and diffuser panel placement, to placement of acoustic resonators, Mpingo discs, coloring CDs, CD fluids, cones and Isolators, crystals, etc. Noone promised you a rose garden. Lol |
Geoffkait, yes trial and error is about the only way to proceed. I might add that things change. I used to find the cable Chips worked but with new cables this is no longer true.
This is much like pieces of jade. In some places the have great benefit while in others they do great harm. |
Glory, what is going on with you? All this negativity. |
I have quite a few WA chips now, lots if semiconductor chips, capacitor chips, a few Cable chips and a few inductor/transformer chips. What it all comes down to is one needs to try a WA chip one at a time and see if it improves the sound. If it doesn't improve the sound try to find another location for that particular chip. For example the transformer chip did not work on my amp's toroidal transformer but it worked on the coils for the AC filter in my Oppo and next to the transducers in my headphones. The Cable chip did not work on my interconnects or power cords but works nicely on the circuit coming into the breaker box. On banks of capacitors I can use one large capacitor chip to cover four caps. |
I have chips everywhere and hear almost nothing from their effect. |
I'm about done with chips for now. I just bought several Furutech IEC inlets for the back of amps and am moving to Furutech GTX-D(Rhodium) outlets, after which I will then try some chips again. |
No, we built RPG like professional diffusors like shown in the Handbook.
All that I can say is google zilplex. |
Ozzy, I hadn't thought of putting a Power chip inside my PS Audio Power Plant, but thanks for the suggestion! I'm sure that'll improve it as well! I'm going to swap out the outlets on my older PS Audio for the Synergistic Research outlets on one duplex and a PS Audio outlet (current version) on the other duplex. I have the older orange outlets on my Power Plant P300 and I'm sure they dull the sound a bit: when I had a Power Plant before, it had blue outlets on them, not the orange ones (which are older - and, I think, softer-sounding). One would assume PS Audio's thinking on outlets has changed as they're in their 3rd generation of power outlets, so I'm guessing that improving the outlets will improve the sound on top of putting the Power chip in there.
Did it seem to any of you that the sound got louder, even though you hadn't touched the volume button? I looked at the position of the volume control, even though I hadn't come near it (I thought perhaps I brushed against it while moving the CD player placement slightly, but i hadn't). The sound was unambiguously louder or perhaps I should say it was signal-to-noise volume that made it seem louder. But it seemed like the actual volume went up.
Tbg...WOW. You built your tube traps?!?!?!?!? You GO, man!!! But what are "Ziplex" bowls? |
I just went full monty on my new PS Audio P10 power plant.
I used a transformer chip, Power chip, 8 large cap and 4 small cap chips along with a HIFI Supreme fuse with a fuse chip.
Wow, it's only been a few moments, but wow, what dynamics! The stage seems to have deepened immensely. |
Gbmcleod, I will have to put the Power Supply Chip on the main cable rather than the box. This is difficult as the breaker box is in my wife's closet.
I have a copy of Master Handbook of Acoustics and had built 14 of the 16" deep diffusors. I have a large 28 by 18 by 11.5 listening room but these babies took up lots of room. Ultimately, all prior room treatments were replaced by 11 Zilplex 1/2 silver bowls and got a major improvement. Don't ask me how these things work, but they are Tibetan bowls but ring beyond our hearing. There are minor tweaking that one might do with the Zilplexes, but in reality just following the recommendations they give to the letter, yields great results. |
Geoff and Tbg:
I agree with both of you: the chips are a crapshot - in certain applications.
I think we can ALL agree that fuses are easily heard as the most obvious improvement.
Just tonight, the chip (more like a wrapper!) arrived for the breaker box. It was instantly obvious that the grain in the soundfield had lessened to the point where rows of players separated out, akin to an accordion when it's folded up and then when it's full extended out to the sides. My eyebrows went up to Jupiter at how easily heard it is.
I think there is a caveat - but it is not the chips themselves. It is the room. If your room is not acoustically treated in some way to deflect first reflections or simply large enough that the sound bouncing off walls, ceiling and floors don't matter, you hear less of the effect. As Alton Everest says in his book "Master Handbook of Acoustics," larger is better. I doubt anyone reading this with a small room wants to read this, but reality doesn't really care what the hell we think. It's just there. I've heard my Arcam FMJ 23 sound better in the 30 x 47 room of the Meow Meow jingles writer (with awful speaker cable, poor placement of speakers - right next to the grand piano - and mediocre speakers - than it will EVER sound in my 13 x 20 room).
Having heard several speaker systems in my basement, I know they could equal Mr. Meow Meow's room ( my basement being 23 x 45 with tube traps every 3 feet, which I have enough of to do that - stacked, even), but his room had NO treatment. I was disgusted and thrilled in nearly the same moment. Point is, the room - as REG wrote in an old issue of TAS, which I was reading recently - is everything.
Nonetheless, the effect of Quantums on the (master) breaker box cable (which Quantum themselves said was better than putting it on the [breaker] box itself)was obvious. I didn't have to strain, no "you hear it because you want to" (who ARE these dopes?!?!) effect. I had to pull myself away long enough from being mesmerized, to come in to type this!
I have yet to put these on the large fuses in my Hurricanes, and I need to hurry: time's running out. I'll give myself until the weekend withOUT them on the Hurricane's large fuses. They're already on the small ones in the back of the amps, and they're a WOW if ever I heard one, but that was months ago. I have to say that the Synergistic fuses have, finally - to my ears - turned out to be the best ones for the Quantum chips. Bargain is hardly the word: $7.95 for an improvement akin to going from a $300 power cord to a $900 one?!?!?
I haven't had much luck with the capacitor chips in the Hurricanes: a kind of grain inserted itself between me and the music, and the Hurricanes, whatever anyone might say about their (supposed) lack of resolution, will instantly reflect changes ahead of them (as Scot Markwell wrote in TAS in issue 140 in the sidebar). I have the 2nd Mercury Living Presence Boxed Set CDs. There's a CD, #37, which was recorded by the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra: cuts 12 and 14 (by Bernard Rogers and called "Once Upon a Time: Five Fairy Tales") have simple instrumentation: cymbals, woodblocks and a few other instruments - I forget which ones. The sound, on my reasonably-good system, leaves me cross-eyed. (You really should get this while it's there. The first boxed set, which cost $100, is selling on Amazon for anywhere from $250 - $400 a set. And it's worth it if you love the Mercury Sound) The cymbals shimmer as they clearly did not do prior to the breaker box chip installation, and the sense of clarity - the sense of a "fog" lifting, allowing you to hear straight through to the cymbal itself, shimmering into empty space around it, is fan-TAS-tic. Afterwards...Oh, never mind, people will read this, shake their head and say, "hyperbole. Or that apple martini he's drinking." Let them.(Anyways, I had the apple martini AFTER I heard the effect, the way a man gives out cigars after the birth of his first child. Jubilant!! Well, not quite the same, but you get my point...)
These are great devices, but one does have to remain skeptical on certain applications, because it IS possible to think: waaaaay better, but then - for me, anyway - hours later, it's: no, it's NOT better. I hear grain covering up the harmonics on the piccolo and it wasn't like that before.
And it doesn't change by day 3 or day 10. So yes, negative effects Do happen. But I think, if one uses voice recordings instead of instruments, one will hear the effect much, much faster whether the effect is positive or negative.
But these are still stunningly good on fuses, the breaker box (who'da thunk it?!?) and maybe even DAC chips (which you guys have had more luck than I have). Capacitors? Well, on come components, a crap shoot, but still, one DOES have 30 days to try them out, so what's the loss (besides shipping costs)? Besides, they clear enough grain out of your system that when you buy your next component, you'll know pretty quickly if you want it. That puzzle you (how could they possibley do what they're doing?), but they Do work. And damned, damned well, at that. |
Geoffkait, the WA Quantum Chips remind me of Acoustic Revive jade tweaks. Since there is no real theory for why they work, everything is trial and error. I think their effects vary greatly as does their breakin period. My most extensive experiences are with the Fuse Chips. Even there the impact varies how long it takes to have its fullest effect. Generally, it is very quick. Overall, the Chips may even have a negative effect as did AR Jade. |
Gbmcleod, tweaks are a real crapshoot. Trial and error is all we have going for us. I put a Syn. Res. Quantum fuse in a new preamp and was amazed. Then the next day it was better, as on the third day. I got suspicious and took it out. It was not as good but still it was considerably better than before I put the SR in.
Finally, I put the SR back in with a major improvement. Was I happy? Yes, but not satisfied. I put a WA Quantum fuse Chip on the SR fuse yesterday and last night listened critically-wow!
I cannot be absolutely in praise of the WA Quantums, however. The Line and speaker Chips only work IMO on some wires and speakers. The SR Quantums are directional and in all cases I found, their writing goes the wrong was, which guides me to how to initially put them in, once I check with the manufacturer, if they even know. You can check by putting your meter on the hot blade of the IEC and find which internal wire shows continuity. This is with the switch of the unit off. |
Gbmcleod, I agree, the chips don't always work, but I also think sometimes the effect can be subtle, so until the system gets more resolved the effects might not show up. It's also not clear how long these chips take to "settle in," if at all. I have heard different stories, ranging from zero to one hour to one week. After all is said and done I'm getting very good results with one Cable chip on the wire coming into the breaker box, transducer/coil chips on headphones and AC filter inductors inside electronics. I have quite a few small and large capacitor chips, and quite a few semiconductor chips on DAC and other ICs, of which there are at least 10 in the Oppo. |
Nope, Geoffkait, not this time. I know to do it, but not right now. I'm going to live with it in one direction for two weeks and then I'll change it and play the same music again. Sometimes, something like the change in voltage coming in thru the wall can throw off the sound as well. I opt -these days- for a longer "trial run" and then change. Besides, the only thing to change is the fuses. I had the Capacitor chips on my Hurricanes, and found that using four of them reduced the realism on CDs that have that capability. When I took them off both amps, the realism was reduced again, which meant I could use two, but not four. My experience is that the chips (as many of us know) don't work in every application, no matter what the manufacturer thinks (or even individuals). There's enough examples on this thread alone to show that the chips DO work, just not in every spot. I'm exceedingly curious about the chip that one puts on the breaker box (that one's on its way). If it works, Great! If it doesn't, well, back it goes to the place I bought it from.
I wish they worked on every single thing you put them on, but I just haven't found that to be the case, although the Synergistic fuses, with the WA Quantum chips wrapped around them, have yet to fail to make noticeable differences.Good ones (more transparency, more air around instruments and a fuller timbre), but I think part of that is Synergistic, which is similar to Shunyata in that they also have a fuller timbre, no matter WHAT the product is. They're probably pretty powerful in the midbass, which gives an instrument its "body." I was playing Malcom Arnold Cornish Dances tonight, and I thought, hmmm...the sound is clearer, and timbres better, but the CD itself remained "light"- sounding as in, say, the difference between Nordost,which is lean in timbre (although very fast) and Shunyata,which has more tonal color. (And I have both: Valhalla, Tyr and Shunyata's Cobra line so I can hear the difference between them).
The fuse was a good thing, since, if putting the Synergistic fuse in the system made the Arnold CD sound "thicker" I would have known it was a coloration. I've heard the Arnold in enough systems to know that it isn't ever going to sound as though it has a "presence" to it.
But back to the Quantums. In some applications, they shine. In others - where you're sitting back going, Oh MAN, this is gonna be great - it doesn't pan out that way. I still think they're fantastic on fuses, which is where they show the most immediate improvements. |
Did you happen to try the fuse both ways? |
I've had several interesting experiences with the Quantum chips since I last posted.
I got a shipment two days ago, and put a semi-conductor on the Ring DAC module. And...it didn't improve it. Indeed,it seemed to remove some of the palpability and focus on the piano. So I took it off this morning, and found the sound had improved.
Now, being a scientific type, I found, when I opened the Arcam, that it had a fuse in it! I never knew that (I'd never opened it)! So, naturally I got a Synergistic fuse for it, which arrived yesterday, along with large capacitor chips and a fuse chip.
I had put the fuse in last night, but wasn't satisfied with the sound. So, I moved a few Tube Traps around, on the theory that I had compensated a bit to get more air and transient information back into it. I should point out that 3 weeks ago, before I had the semidconductor chip OR the fuse, that the sound was pretty emotionally involving and the piano playing (off the 2nd Mercury box set, CD55 with John Corigliano, the composer and Hilde Sumer, the pianist) was extremely dynamic and transients were fast, clear and percussive.
So, back to last night. I went to see the opening of the Man of Steel, giving the fuse time to warm up. Oh, and I had put large Capacitors on the CJ Classic SE preamp as well. I already had one capacitor on the really big capacitor in there, but put two more on the capacitors on the right and left channels (they fit, so I assume the large size didn't hurt).
For one of the few times, I wasn't impressed AT ALL. It sounded good, but when I put on the latest CD I got, the Julliard Quartet, it sounded "dead." Now, I remember when it arrived a week ago, and although a little bright, it had a real "live" feel to it. So I backtracked and decided to remove anything that hadn't been in the system last week, including the exact placement of the Walker Large Brass cones on the preamp and CD player (and believe me, placement is ALL with the Walkers). 1/8" movement, right or left, forward or backward, makes the difference between sound that is mildly foggy (or grainy) and sound that is clears and restores ambience retrieval - and therefore the placement of instruments improves, because when you lose ambience, the distance, front to back, of instruments becomes compressed because there's no "air" in between the different rows of the players.
So, I took off the semiconductor chip (but left the fuse in there [ I did all this an hour ago: my job can wait!!! I'm trying to discover a new neutron star in my mind. The job's tedious]) and turned it on.
Cold, with the capacitors on the CJ removed, but the fuse in placed and the semi-conductor chip removed from the Ring DAC module, the sound moved closer to realism (as I hear it in Carnegie Hall, my reference Hall). The wood blocks had more snap, and the pianist, Ms. Somer, sounded like she was on a manic binge, and the music had all the drama the composition had before I made these changes. (And the system is still warming up, since the Arcam had to be turned off). I'm going to put the Quantum capacitor chips on my Hurricane amps, since I now have 4 of them. So, two on the right amp, and two on the left. We'll see what that does.
A question, though, gentleman. Which chip do you put on your breaker box? I know the answer's in here somewhere and I'll look, but in case I miss it, can you guys remind me which chip goes on the breaker box and make suggestions as to other places to put the chips?
Thanks, I appreciate the sharing that goes on in here when we find a product that works.
Oh, by the way, this isn't germaine to this forum, but do try the Shakti Online stabilizers on transformers on your amps, speaker cable (midlength of the speaker cable, which I can't do, since I got some MG Audio design AG interconnects and the Planus 2 speaker cable (and it's a ribbon, and the speaker cables on my Shunyata Dark Elevators - the V2 version (waaaaaaaaaaaay superior to the version 1). So the cable are thin - like Nordost's Valhalla speaker cables, and on their side, so there's no way to balance the Shakti's on there. But they do work. I put them on power cords and the difference is obvious, especially if you listen to instruments in the back of the orchestra. Their placement loses a mild haziness and the inner detail increases.
Thanks again for the sharing. |
I use the Cap chips on the end of the Caps.
I am also using a combo of a power chip and a cable chip 0n my circuit breaker panel. |
There are lots of capacitors and lots of semiconductors, all of which should get Capacitor chips and Semiconductor chips, respectively. Coils and inductors and transformers should get the transformer/coil/inductor chip. When I say End I mean Top of capacitor. |
Didn't someone in here suggest putting them on top of the capacitors? My CJ Teflons lie on their sides, and I'd read to put them on the TOP of the capacitor, in contrast to attaching them to the sides. And there are quite a few capacitors in my unit (FMJ 23) not to mention I tried getting to the Ring DAC and the bloody boards are all but welded on, so nothing moves easily.
Actually, I have Arcam's number and am calling them in an hour (they're at lunch, although it's only 8:30 am here!) |
I have had very good results with one cable chip wrapped around the copper wire, the one for my audio system, as it comes into the circuit breaker. That operation usually requires removing the panel cover. I have had additional improvements by sticking a second cable chip directly on the front of the line of breakers. Small capacitor chips should be attached to the ends of physically small caps, large capacitor chips to the ends of large caps. |
Guys, a question:
My home has a standard 200 amp breaker box. Where, EXACTLY, would I be placing a chip, and what type of chip? The small cable chips, are those the ones we place on fuses or are they different ones?
I have Hurricane amps, which have 8 capacitors in each one. I don't know if that would require a large capacitor or a small one. But I AM fascinated by putting them on the breaker box. Is it placed directly on the on/off switch, or on something else? Pardon the question, but I'm not getting a clear picture.
And, do you have to be electrically knowledgeable to remove the metal breaker box cover? I'm all for being turned on, but not when fooling with electricity |
Geoff
Just trying to explore the inside of my brain with this stuff. Thinking out loud and writing it down. Looking for input from others. One way to find out is with a one way speaker and maybe one that has an open baffle so the Chip can be easily moved from front to back and to the driver basket itself. Will a powerful magnetic field interfere with the chip? Tom |
Theaudiotweak wrote,
"So then the speaker magnet and its moving coil somehow modulate the material contained in the quantum chip? Then placement on the cabinet would change the affect of the chip and the chip may vary in attitude placed near or far from the moving coil."
There is already a WA Quantum Chip for Transformers coils and inductors. Not sure if it makes sense to have two WA Chips that address the same issue. If the WA Speaker Chip is being "modulated" by the speaker magnet and coil wouldn't the best location for a chip be on the dust cover of the woofer or on the front speaker baffle, you know, in proximity to the magnet and coil as opposed to being attached to the speaker cabinet? There is also the sticky issue that most speakers have multiple drivers, so wouldn't a WA Speaker Chip be required for each driver if the issue is the magnet/coil? |
Has anyone tried any of these chips on a laptop? |
