[Somatic]

I watched a video where several audiophiles tried the PSM156. They were all impressed with the improvements. Said the DAC connected to the device made the biggest performance difference. I feel if you are running off an LPS for the DAC it’s not needed but for every other device in your chain not powered by an LPS it’s a no brainer.

 

[Jake2]

Look what just arrived!

Let the burn in begin. I'll worry about anti-vibration tweaks and ground rods etc later but soon enough I'm sure...

 

[Jake2]

Some super preliminary but positive observations FWIW after only having had everything plugged in and playing for 3 hours:

• My system has never sounded this good, it has brought a new level of refinement to the midrange and treble in particular. Words like calm, sweet and velvety came to mind as I was first listening.
• I can listen louder more comfortably, longer
• Some problematic tracks previously where there was some umconfortable stridency in the upper midrange with my Focals (Florence in King when she hits her stride) are much more listenable
• A fairly loud toroidal tranformer buzz in my R26 DAC (alas not uncommon amongst R26 owners, somethings gotta give with a $1.5k overachiever) I've had since I got it has reduced by 95% - you have to almost put your ear to the case now to hear it - win!
• A long standing if innocuous hum via the speakers from my 20 year old but still classy LFD Integrated Zero LE amp has gone completely
• Tracks seem to start from more of a black background
• Dynamics and transients seem very good even though it's very early days, some nice bass slam already, increased attack on strings, but I feel with time they and soundstaging are going to free up/open up even further.

I have virtually everything in my speaker system hooked up to it: Mac Mini, both switches, R26, OCK-1 clock & LFD amp. I'm not going to bother unplugging or ABing anything to isolate what's improved most etc until it's run in for at least a week.

so far.

 

[LocalMotion]

Some super preliminary but positive observations FWIW after only having had everything plugged in and playing for 3 hours:

• My system has never sounded this good, it has brought a new level of refinement to the midrange and treble in particular. Words like calm, sweet and velvety came to mind as I was first listening.
• I can listen louder more comfortably, longer
• Some problematic tracks previously where there was some umconfortable stridency in the upper midrange with my Focals (Florence in King when she hits her stride) are much more listenable
• A fairly loud toroidal tranformer buzz in my R26 DAC (alas not uncommon amongst R26 owners, somethings gotta give with a $1.5k overachiever) I've had since I got it has reduced by 95% - you have to almost put your ear to the case now to hear it - win!
• A long standing if innocuous hum via the speakers from my 20 year old but still classy LFD Integrated Zero LE amp has gone completely
• Tracks seem to start from more of a black background
• Dynamics and transients seem very good even though it's very early days, some nice bass slam already, increased attack on strings, but I feel with time they and soundstaging are going to free up/open up even further.

I have virtually everything in my speaker system hooked up to it: Mac Mini, both switches, R26, OCK-1 clock & LFD amp. I'm not going to bother unplugging or ABing anything to isolate what's improved most etc until it's run in for at least a week.

so far.

Great feedback.. my experience was similar

 

[anyoldears]

Some super preliminary but positive observations FWIW after only having had everything plugged in and playing for 3 hours:

• My system has never sounded this good, it has brought a new level of refinement to the midrange and treble in particular. Words like calm, sweet and velvety came to mind as I was first listening.
• I can listen louder more comfortably, longer
• Some problematic tracks previously where there was some umconfortable stridency in the upper midrange with my Focals (Florence in King when she hits her stride) are much more listenable
• A fairly loud toroidal tranformer buzz in my R26 DAC (alas not uncommon amongst R26 owners, somethings gotta give with a $1.5k overachiever) I've had since I got it has reduced by 95% - you have to almost put your ear to the case now to hear it - win!
• A long standing if innocuous hum via the speakers from my 20 year old but still classy LFD Integrated Zero LE amp has gone completely
• Tracks seem to start from more of a black background
• Dynamics and transients seem very good even though it's very early days, some nice bass slam already, increased attack on strings, but I feel with time they and soundstaging are going to free up/open up even further.

I have virtually everything in my speaker system hooked up to it: Mac Mini, both switches, R26, OCK-1 clock & LFD amp. I'm not going to bother unplugging or ABing anything to isolate what's improved most etc until it's run in for at least a week.

so far.

Next step upgrade away from a MAc mini to a dedicated piece of kit.... Otherwise congrats, great to hear another satisfied customer

 

[Jake2]

Next step upgrade away from a MAc mini to a dedicated piece of kit.... Otherwise congrats, great to hear another satisfied customer

Cheers, and yes I do appreciate, judging by the standard of gear I see many folk using the PSMs have, that my more modest system has quite some room to grow with the PSM156. Re the Mac Mini, for what it is worth its (well the system's) sound is significantly improved by connecting a Quartz Acoustic grounding box to one of its USB sockets. Oh and connecting it to a good switch like the LHY SW-8. Same holds true with the R26 with a Quartz Acoustic box connected to unused s/pdif coax input. These signal grounding improvements (clarity, greater dynamics, less noise) are similar in character to but distinct from and additive to those recently added by the Puritan. I look forward to trying mains ground de-noising with the Puritan Ground Master in the near future.

 

[anyoldears]

Cheers, and yes I do appreciate, judging by the standard of gear I see many folk using the PSMs have, that my more modest system has quite some room to grow with the PSM156. Re the Mac Mini, for what it is worth its (well the system's) sound is significantly improved by connecting a Quartz Acoustic grounding box to one of its USB sockets. Oh and connecting it to a good switch like the LHY SW-8. Same holds true with the R26 with a Quartz Acoustic box connected to unused s/pdif coax input. These signal grounding improvements (clarity, greater dynamics, less noise) are similar in character to but distinct from and additive to those recently added by the Puritan. I look forward to trying mains ground de-noising with the Puritan Ground Master in the near future.

I personally would expect that if you already have a grounding solution you wont see much improvement with the ground master, but it will be an interesting experiment. Not because the groundmaster is no good, but I suspect the difference between no grounding and grounding solution is much larger than grounding solution A and grounding solution B. But lets see, Im just guessing really.

 

[Jake2]

FYI now en route to getting my ground master setup with the arrival of a 2m copper 'strip' from AliX that I'll use instead of a ground rod. Will keep you posted.

Not quite a cable, but this 0.8mm (31mil) thick × 50mm wide x 2m long pure copper strip arrived from AliX this week. It has the surface area equivalent to two typical ~2m grounding rods which it'll be used in lieu of with the Puritan Groundmaster 'mains/safety* earth decrapifier'. The GM will complement the signal grounding I've already done and will enhance over time per the recommendations in this thread.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004330910399.html



My thinking is this strip should deliver at least as good conductivity to the soil and effective grounding capability than one ground rod if perhaps not quite as good as two spaced apart rods. Main reason for it though is if buried relatively shallowly it'll be far easier to remove to relocate than a ground rod which would be damn near permanent in the hard clay beneath my topsoil.

Now just gotta get some cable... which I really ought to have ordered at the same time. Doh.

@cdacosta I think this 12 AWG Neotech OCC was one you recommended for grounding boxes - correct?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32801976760.html

Probably a bit pricey and overkill for the ~7-8m run I need for the GM. I’ll get some anyway for the ground boxes.

And maybe 10m of this silver plated 10AWG instead for the GM external run - thoughts? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000733451155.html

How would you attach such a cable to the copper strip in a manner to optimise conductivity / minimise resistance? Anything for this I should order on AliX while I’m about it?

*The GM has high pass filters to prevent it being used as the safety earth for mains frequency current. Can only be used in addition to a house’s existing safety earth.

 

[alvin sawdust]

FYI now en route to getting my ground master setup with the arrival of a 2m copper 'strip' from AliX that I'll use instead of a ground rod. Will keep you posted.

How will you go about putting the copper strip in the ground?

 

[TheAttorney]

Can anyone comment on how effective these conditioners are on A/V systems (mine includes an OLED TV)?

Also, anyone tried the simpler/smaller/cheaper PS106 strips? They have a reduced amount of filter components, but have the big advantage for me of being able to fit inside my A/V cabinet.

 

[Jake2]

How will you go about putting the copper strip in the ground?

I’ll dig a shallow trench in some looser earth in the garden or flowerbed and lay it in horizontally. I really do mean shallow… say 20cm deep. I’m aware deeper is likely better but that’s too hard work in my soil.

Yes, the effort to do this is likely greater than just using a mallet to drive a ground rod in.

Just an initial reversible experiment tbh. See how we go.

 

[alvin sawdust]

I’ll dig a shallow trench in some looser earth in the garden or flowerbed and lay it in horizontally. I really do mean shallow… say 20cm deep. I’m aware deeper is likely better but that’s too hard work in my soil.

Yes, the effort to do this is likely greater than just using a mallet to drive a ground rod in.

Just an initial reversible experiment tbh. See how we go.

That's probably not a bad idea. I know that where I drove my copper rod in there is a layer of topsoil, then clay and finally broken up stone and clay. The last foot took some heavy hitting.

 

[Jake2]

That's probably not a bad idea. I know that where I drove my copper rod in there is a layer of topsoil, then clay and finally broken up stone and clay. The last foot took some heavy hitting.

Did you use any particular cable / gauge with the Ground Master and your ground rod?

As there's a bunch of good and very specific recommendations over in the AliX cables thread in the context of signal-grounding boxes, but starts getting bit expensive when one talks longer runs to a grounding rod.

 

[alvin sawdust]

Did you use any particular cable / gauge with the Ground Master and your ground rod?

As there's a bunch of good and very specific recommendations over in the AliX cables thread in the context of signal-grounding boxes, but starts getting bit expensive when one talks longer runs to a grounding rod.

I had a roll of this in the shed and soldered a banana plug to the end of it.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/time-6491x-green-yellow-1-core-16mm-conduit-cable-10m-coil/398jy

 

[F208Frank]

Glad to see more and more psm156 users. Great value. OCD Mikey is a big fan of this product as well and SO FAR everything he has said holds weight. I hope he never changes and stays true to his opinions and not let sponsors or companies sway his opinion.