Hello Richard and Ed. Very inventive and cost conscious. It appears you have crystals installed in the grill. Could you elaborate? Right now I'm just being VERY careful with my 400s. I was listening to Bob Dylan Highway 61 and Free Wheeling and it sounded like he was 4 feet away from me. Same with Steve Earle The Low Highway.
Chrismini, dont begin with crystals in your he-400 grill... Put agate, and amethyst quartz on top of the power transformer of your amp, only that will give you a great impact for almost no money, and no installation problem...
The most impactful results on the headphone will be with crystals and minerals placement on the electrical breaker, amp, dac. interconnect etc, hence no need to begin with the crystals grill mod. where the impact is less...only go with the grill at the end...
i listen my speakers now and the agate minerals (banded madagascar one) i have bought on Ebay are on top of my speakers, on my speakers cable, on top of my dac, with some other crystals and minerals, but the impact of the agate was spectacular...
The greatest transformation imaginable of my speakers now...I dont recognize any of my musical cd...What i can say more? it seems no one dare to try a few bucks trick that some company sells for thousand dollars... The snake oil is not so much with the crystals or minerals use but with the price asked by some sellers and with the pseudo-scientific explanations they give to justify the product... trust me with a few bucks the results are amazing...It is not necessary to pay much...
Best regards to you Chris...
P.S.
experimenting is the key
no crystals or minerals act the same...the placement for example play a great role, if you put some crystals in the rear or in the front of your speakers for example, that would not give the same result, even few inches of displacement gives difference...Same on top or at the base..It is mandatory to try many locations...
Any placement or change is immediately audible for the better or the worse but it takes approx.12 hours to settle correctly for your adapting brain and ears ...
all crystals and minerals correct themselves if added together... but you must experiment to discover the right mix and synergy...Your ears will guide you by trials and errors...After 2 month of experiment, i have reach an optimal peak of natural unbelievable natural musicality with my system...
I now use
agate, topaz, amethyst, tourmaline different species of quartz,
fluorite octahedral crystals,kyanite minerals (but dont buy these last 2 for beginning i use them mostly to equilibrate the imaging) etc (Banded agate are my favorite minerals but it is necessary to place some other crystals to equilibrate them and for optimal results)
all that reach at the end a new level for the most extraordinary upgrade in my system i have ever experimented...If you have already a
good dac, a
good amp, a
good set of speakers, and a
good headphone, forget any upgrade tentation to spend on a so call newer better gear, rather crystals and minerals will transform your actual good gear to a new level...You will discover that you had never listen before to your system at his optimal maximum quality level... Totl for a few bucks, and if not totl, very good upgrading effect, law of diminushing returns will apply...
A last remark : like my experiment with sorbothane have teach me already, remember to damp your gear before buying other product for the so-call upgrading urge...After sorbothane and crystals, upgrading really will cost me above 5 thousands...
The miracle is: i dont fell that necessary anymore...
This is only one of my big agate on top of my speakers ( i have others smaller one for other locations and also agate peebles mix in bags)
this is the other big one on top of the other speaker...