BREAKTHROUGH ALERT
Introducing the ferrite bead improvement! These are nothing new, but new to me and I have found a few good uses for it, always making a positive difference and in slightly different ways on different components. So I have these 8 beads sitting around I got for like $6 five years ago to quell buzzing sound on an external anode wire for tubes. The incoming BNC cable from Wave High Fidelity that uses ferrite beads / chokes got me to thinking how these may be of use elsewhere.
Initially I tried these on my 6V AC cable leading to the Schiit Wyrd which is a USB purifier that goes between my PC and DDC / audio interface before feeding a super pure digital stream into the Qutest DAC. Here are my results with it after meticulous testing in different positions and A/B'ing with & without over two days:
- Ferrite beads on Schiit Wyrd cable
Instant transformation: treble is smoother and more detailed without added fatigue, overall more natural / organic sound, improved instrument separation with a more holographic soundstage to boot! Bass is faster and especially now drums hit harder!
After trying all 8, 4 then 3 I actually settled with just 3. All 8 to me resulted in a somewhat overbaked job akin to clinical sonic reproduction, but the 3 combined with the 4 mentioned below were 'just the ticket' for me. I've found them to perhaps sound best when spaced approx. 6-8" (inches) from the source on either side, and 1 in the middle.
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- Ferrite beads on aftermarket silver HD-600 cable
While hearing more similar improvements on a headphone cable with generally improved resolution all around, this way is especially effecting the 'vividness' of the recording as well as harder hitting drums AKA dynamics. I heard decent improvement with two beads, but settled on four and I'm hooked for life!
The combination of ferrite chokes on USB purifier and headphone cable resulted in a total metamorphosis of sound, almost leaving me to question whether the same song is still playing, and hearing a new detail I've yet to hear on a same trusty test song I've heard 100's of times over the years. Numerous comparisons yielded unwavering and repeatable night / day improvements, making my system sound fairly 'smeared' and dull without, as if sounds are more in one blob not separated as well and with softer drums - oh yes this system can perform better with the chokes!
- Ferrite beads on the Qutest stock PSU cable
Although I already have a spectacular LPS, I thought I'd do this comparison 'for the team'. On this one, the sound was affected quite different than above. I did another comparison of the Qutest stock DC wall-wart (PSU cable) to my LPS with thick aftermarket DC cable (both without any ferrite beads) and noticed a much more vivid sound, with robust dynamics, smoother treble & more detail with the LPS. Next attaching all 8 ferrite beads to the Qutest stock PSU cable, I was actually pleasantly taken aback. It's a very coherent sound with some improvements: bass definition improved a bit, things seems more forward and I'm hearing a bit more details.
A few A/B's however made me realize the ferrite beads are no match for a good LPS, maybe sounding 1/3rd as good - yet still better than 'stock'. The stereo image seemed to suffer from a bit of 'congestion' and instrument placements seemed a bit 'smeared'. I do suppose however if one were to get a large pack of these beads / chokes... say 20 on the Qutest cable and 4-8 more for your headphone cable and any other components as desired, you just may have the 'smoking gun' for a dirt cheap hack that doesn't involve a LPS replacement. For me though having only 8 I was unable to test beads on all 3 cables simultaneously.
Ferrite beads on both the USB purifier cable and headphones for me were PURE magic dust, with a heightened sense of realism unlike I've experienced before at home, with substantial improvement on transient response (drums / dynamics) etc. and is what finally put a smile on my face. Not everybody's results will be identical but I encourage you to experiment to your liking, and these are cheap too.
On my system in particular something that made a huge difference was the Kenwood VR-406 A/V receiver I came across for free - a semi-vintage 5.1 channel solid-state speaker amp that happens to have a m-a-r-v-e-l-o-u-s headphone output to boot (in "source direct" mode), for me comparing very well with the Rangarok v1.
For my LPS, it's a custom prototype that is similar to one which compared favorably to the Allo Shanti by some. For anyone with that LPS, I recommend trying the beads on its' thin cable and see how much things may improve. Though it also helps on other parts of the system perhaps even more.
