Made my own 10+ kg brilliant pebble! Mass damping to the extreme! - Page 13

Wow, Marc et Claude? I used your album (You Own The Sound) for my first impression of Nordost Valhalla power cord 2+ years ago! I plugged the Valhalla into my Cary 303/300 CD player, inserted your CD and got crazy bass!



Yes, that's why I'm using the colored Valhalla cables to compensate for it. They add edginess and fake transparency to the sound, I have modified them thinner and got more transparency and speed! Transients with modded Valhalla + ERS Paper sound amazing.

I want to make the transients so fast that nobody will be able to hear them!

Magix makes bigger difference

I compared Magix against Feet of Silence here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showpo...7&postcount=70

I can't have any books on top of DAC1 anymore because I have only 3 Magix under my amp and they can't carry all of that weight, before I had 4 Magix. Even without books the amp is touching ground vibrations a little (few grams too heavy). I removed 3 Magix under my Cary CD transport and put 2 Magix under my amp, then I added 9 books on top. There was a big difference but not as huge as keeping Magix under the transport.

Mass damping makes smaller differences than isolation feet.

I had it covered 5 months ago but I removed it because I want to use everything for my main system.

Mass damping with books = Best tweak ever!

I built up my system from scratch. I wanted to save electricity so I removed my P300 Power Plant and used only the Premier Power Plant.
But I was complaining of lack of bass again, I was going to daisy chain a few P300 Power Plants to boost up the bass with MWave4 tone control. But I didn't like the sacrifice of midrange that would come from it, so I tried one last tweak and it seems like it did it! HUGE boost of bass without any sacrifices, and it didn't cost a thing!

Ever since my pre-amp broke I could never get the correct volume even when fine tuning with Foobar. With my Cary transport the problem was much bigger. The pre-amp of DAC1 has a too big gap between the volume steps. The difference between 6th and 7th step was at least 3dB. 6th step was 1dB too quiet, and 7th step was 2dB too loud.
But then I put books on top of my gear, and now it sounds little too loud. So the volume increase was about 1.5dB. I checked the volume many times to confirm, I couldn't believe it!


First impressions: Huge sharp bass that sounds stronger because of more bass information and weight. The added oomph to the music is crazy. I'm hearing sounds I never heard before, it is scary. I need to keep pausing the music to confirm if the sounds come from real life or the recording. The improvement in dynamics is the biggest I have heard, it's similar to daisy chaining power plants but without the lack of speed. There is true blackness of the background.

This is one of the biggest improvements I have ever heard, and it didn't cost a thing.









First impressions 2: Bass used to be little empty but it is now emphasized, but it doesn't interfere with the rest of the music. Everything still is more distinct than before. There is a new world of low-level detail, but it isn't dull, it is clear. This makes everything sound more open too. The soundstage is both blacker and more open, the best of both worlds. Clarity is what improved the most, it used to sound too warm and smooth but now it just sounds blacker and whiter, everything is sharp instead of smooth. It sounds like the edgy Feet of Silence sound signature but instead of sacrificing low-level detail, it also improves it! Amazing!

The improvement from books on top of DAC1 was similar to triple wrapping DAC1's Valhalla power cord with ERS Paper. It got better in every way, no weaknesses at all.



Next day: The dynamics and boost of volume is little fatiguing now. It reminds me of when I wrapped my headphone cable in toilet paper rolls and ERS Paper. Both tweaks gave almost identical improvements.