av Patrick82 » 2007-08-21 20:13
I am listening to albums I haven't heard since my 2nd audio system. The improvement was much bigger than I expected.
Ever since I first wrapped my system in ERS Paper 10 months ago I have had real life as reference, when I improved my system my ears were forced to improve as well. It made me hear more subtle sounds in real life. I could hear ants running on the ground and other stuff. It was because of the ERS Paper. Real life was always one step ahead of my system, I made blind tests and couldn't tell real life and audio apart, but that was only when comparing sounds that came from outside my window, they were distorted from traveling through the gap of the window.
With my 2nd audio system I was listening to real life, but I found out that if I didn't listen for two days it sounded dry and closed in, it didn't sound like real life until after a few days of adjustment of my ears. I thought my system was complete because it couldn't get any better once my ears had adjusted. The synergy with my brain speed was perfect.
But now with my 3rd audio system it doesn't sound dry and closed in if I haven't listened for two days. It sounds clean like real life. It came from removing the daisy chained P300 Power Plant and using only the Premier Power Plant for my gear. The low-level detail is pulled up to the surface and it's much clearer than the P300. But the problem was it sounded like the low-level detail was cut off too early, even when there was more low-level detail than with the P300. I found the problem and it was Nordost Valhalla interconnect, it pulled everything up to the surface but it sacrificed low-level detail and bass, after I replaced the Valhalla interconnect with Valkyrja speaker wiring I got more low-level detail and bass. But it wasn't enough, there was still some oomph missing. After I added Feet of Silence + wooden board under the Magix levitation feet I got more dynamics, speed and new worlds of low-level detail. But little bass was still missing, it was subtle but it started to bother me after a couple of weeks. When I did mass damping with books on top of my equipment I got way more bass than I ever wanted, the bass became emphasized because I had become used to the empty bass.
The low-level detail which used to be cut off too early is now audible, the decay continues properly now, it is very quiet and clear, I need to control my breathing in order to hear it, just like in real life.
Since the lowest level ambient details are now audible it makes the soundstage bigger. The space of the soundstage is clean like real life. I don't even hear much of the soundstage envelope because the low-level detail isn't cut off anymore, it blends into real life which makes it harder to detect.
Going from my 2nd audio system to my 3rd audio system made the biggest improvement I have ever heard in my whole life, and it costs only a fraction of the price and uses less electricity too. I took my whole system apart and built it around the Premier Power Plant, and then I realized that P300 was slowing down the sound, it was just a band-aid for brightness and tone control for bass, I had to use the colored Valhalla interconnect to compensate for it. Adding two of the opposite colorations gives synergy but sacrifices low-level detail.
The best way is to use tweaks that don't add any colorations, it should have no weaknesses, it shouldn't just tone down the brightness to give an illusion of real life because it is smoother, it should increase low-level detail in the process. The tweak that does it is ERS Paper. It's the best tweak in audio because it isn't in the signal path or in contact with the audio system. It does nothing wrong unless you have it too close to the component you are shielding. I found that it needs to be separated at least 1cm from the cable. When it was separated less than 1cm it sounded muddy and dull, but the more layers I added the less dull it sounded like, it was because most of the EMI didn't reach the inner layer.
When using ERS Paper for the power cord of the DAC it gave more dynamics and low-level detail. The frequencies were less rolled off, there was more low and high frequency information. Extra vibration isolation and mass damping gave these same improvements for the DAC, it made it sound blacker and whiter, the lack of rolled off frequencies were fatiguing.
When using ERS Paper for the amp and transport it made it smoother with more low-level detail. Before ERS Paper there was too much brightness, but ERS Paper didn't tone down that brightness, it kept the brightness on the top of the sound and revealed transients of the brightness around it, it made it more relaxing to listen. It gives the same surface detail with more low-level detail. The transients can be heard separately instead of all at once. It's like bright mud, when you remove the water you get tiny pieces of sand, that's what ERS Paper does. The more I wrapped the system the more sand I could hear.
Now all the sounds are built up from tiny transients, there aren't any smooth sounds anywhere except for the ambient sounds around me, the smooth ambient sounds give an unlimited soundstage size because they are clear without any harshness. The reason it isn't harsh is because of Nordost Valhalla power cord, it removes the lowest level noise from the recordings which makes it sound clean, open and smooth. It's more subtle than tubes but instead of sacrificing speed it also increases it. The original Valhalla with 3 conductors per signal had a sound signature that was both heavier and faster than neutral. But the extra body was covering up low-level details, after I modified it into 1 conductor per signal I got the most low-level detail because the extra body was gone, there was more transient speed but it was edgy and bright. Wrapping ERS Paper around the Valhalla changed the edginess into transients and more low-level detail, it also gave almost the same heaviness as the original Valhalla. It sounded more neutral. The step up from the original Valhalla to the modded Valhalla was bigger than stock to original Valhalla.
ERS Paper is the best tweak in audio, next comes Magix levitation feet... Magix sounds even better when placing Feet of Silence under them, it increased dynamics. I also found that using 4 instead of 3 Magix gives a fuller sound with more low-level detail, it's because Magix need to be perfectly balanced and 3 isn't enough, when I compared 8 vs 4 Magix I didn't hear a difference, but 3 vs 4 Magix was easy to hear. Magix has an open, flat and smooth sound signature. When placing books on top of the component it gave more dynamics and low-level detail, everything becomes more revealing which is fatiguing, but more ERS Paper fixes that and increases the performance even more.
ERS Paper + Magix levitation feet don't add any weaknesses when they are added to the system properly, they are almost perfect tweaks. If a tweak reduces a problem without adding any weaknesses of its own, then how can it get any better than that? The only weaknesses (safety and aesthetics) are those that don't have anything to do with the audio quality.
My audiophilia hobby is complete because I wanted it to sound like real life and with these tweaks it does. There is a limit of how much resolution the brain can handle, eventually you can't tell audio and real life apart even if you train your brain to your potential.
Vill inte vara elak, men är mycket fundersam...
