Is this kind of thing sustainable???

It makes me ashamed to be "into" hifi when I read stuff like this...


Along with the sets of Stillpoints came what I thought would be a lifetime supply of ERS paper in a variety of sheets and strips. (I was wrong again, and requested a second batch). Unlike the Stillpoints, the ERS paper is a more subtle product. The Stillpoints focus and improve the sound that you do hear. The ERS paper eliminates the deleterious effects of RFI and EMI, so you have to listen for what's missing, rather than listen for what's improved. Granted, one hand washes the other here, but the improvements wrought by the Stillpoints are much more easily picked up than the elimination of RFI/EMI by the ERS paper. Once you shift your perceptual gears, you will begin to have that "Oh, my G-d" reaction as you spread this paper around in your system.





The first place I tried it was on top of the power supply of my CAT preamplifier, using little spacers so as not to restrict the air flow through the vents. Since the CAT has tubes, I was reluctant to place any ERS inside the main chassis. It is, after all, paper. The background became a little quieter, I thought, and I could hear more inner detail in the music. Next, I slid sheets above and below my CD player (transport) and DAC. Better still, but being relatively cool, solid-state components, why not put the ERS paper directly inside the chassis? Much better! In fact, the DAC fell off my list of candidates for future upgrades-not bad results from a $20 sheet of paper. Next up was my tuner, which I use to listen to New-Age music on Hearts of Space on NPR . Huge gains here, too! This was really fun! Throw a sheet or two of ERS paper into your component, and feel like you just saved yourself a thousand, or two, or three thousand dollars in a major component upgrade! Man, this stuff is dangerous! It could put hundreds of American craftspeople and thousands of Chinese out of work if audiophiles started using this stuff instead of buying newer, more expensive products.

I resisted the urge to slide some sheets into my Plinius amplifier because in Class A mode, the big guy really cooks, and all that vinyl in my house is really flammable. But I took a long look at the Mahi monoblocks and carefully slid a small sheet between the transformers and the tube deck. I also isolated the input interconnect from the speaker cables, and slid another small piece between the two speaker cable leads--likewise, at the loudspeaker end of the cable. With the un-shielded Mil-Spec interconnects, I wrapped the ends with the smaller strips of ERS for several inches, and made little sleeves that I could push up over the RCA connection once the locking RCA connectors had been tightened down. These ERS treated $40 home-brew cables halved the distance between the untreated cable and the $700 per pair Kharma Matrix Neo interconnects I was using for review. At the junction box where four ac power cords connect with my JPS AC In-Wall dedicated line, I wrapped the power cords with a long thin strip.





This leads me to the one anomaly I encountered. Every application of the ERS paper I tried seemed to provide some degree of improvement in the background noise of the system-except one. At Allan's suggestion, I taped a sheet of ERS over the circuit breakers in my mains box. Not a bad idea in my mind, either. But when I did this early on in my experimentation, it made the whole system sound worse. When I repeated the trial after mummifying all my components and cables with ERS, covering the breakers with a sheet made no difference. So again, as with the Stillpoints, you have to play around with this stuff, and find the balance of application that best suits your ears and your system. Overall, by using the ERS paper judiciously, for perhaps a hundred dollars, you could treat and transform your entire system. At that price, the ERS has to rate right up there with the HAL-O tube dampers and the None-Felt turntable mat, as among the highest values in high-end audio. For those of you who might begrudge the look of this stuff cluttering up your expensive components, I suggest "Turn off the lights and enjoy the music!"

Manufacturers should also note that the ERS paper is available with an adhesive backing that is especially tenacious. This should lend itself to OEM applications that might catapult components into the next, or even higher, category of recommended components. I didn't test the adhesive backing personally, for when I ultimately swap out a component, I want to keep the ERS paper for its successor. I regret that I did not have enough time to test the ERS paper in my DVD player and other mid-fi components in other systems in my home. When I do, I will try and mention it in future reviews.







No i've never heard it but then I wouldn't pay 20 quid for a sheet of paper....

 

:duck:

 

Surely the forum believers aren't going to dismiss this out of hand? I mean, don't knock it til you've tried it, right?

 

Quite a few of your brethren on ZG are using it Jools.

 

I am at a loss for words....

 

Indeed.....

Cheers

 

well luckily, a few other cheeky chappies have a bit more to say about it....

https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?s=&threadid=892

https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1265

i'm sure that by the time you have digested that lot, the opposing armies will have taken their positions, stones, scissors, and ERS at the ready.......

 

Jools, i can tell you that we use a similar material (made by texas instruments i believe) here at work. It is used to reduce RFI/EMF problems in data storage devices.
Believe me, if it didnt work the company wouldnt spend on it!

 

My 850 just wouldn't sing the way it does without it, never mind Jools, just don't worry about it, I'm sure the pink fish will laugh with you on this one

 

Well that's me told.... Has anyone double blind tested the stuff for the sake of science? I struggle with this stuff it all sounds a bit Peter Belt to me...

 

Exhaustively........ here

 

What a delight to see that some of the members of this esteemed forum have seemingly become even more anal over the past couple of weeks.

After two weeks with an iPod and Sony CD discman, I have to re-evaluate I feel. Of course, I did find that wrapping the caselogic in ERS resulted in a truly massive increase in performance.

 

Merlin, didn't you get a jump while away then did have a good time?, the island nice and tranquill ?, lots of sun & doing bugger all, sounds just what the doctor ordered, I've just booked mine, welcome back Mike

 

Does that mean we can look forward to another merlin fire sale?

Michael.

 

Merlins gonna join Team Micro.

whoooo!whoooo!

 

I'm not trawling through all that just to find that half of the forumites think it's cobblers and the other half don't.

 

Go on Michael - up the budget and get yourself a real amp! you know you want to and mine will have to go sooner or later.

Excellent time thanks Tony, must admit, the Sony 815 with good phones was capable of shaking an audiophile out of bed whilst sleeping in smug city!

Thailand was, as ever, great, although seem to be going down with a nasty dose of the flu since my return. Still looking forward to visiting Julian's soon!

ERS works - no question. It does make a difference, although it is possible that the difference might be considered both subtle and deletorious. But it's far less of a snake oil product than Mpingo wood and Sukar lubricants.

 

FUNNY you should bring that up (in jest I assume?)...

My Panasonic discman is HORRIFICALLY prone to interference from taxi/bus CBs - you get this horrid tearing/shrieking noise through the phones when using it... Do you reckon if I covered the inside of my Case Logic bag (or even the outside of the discman) with it - it'd work?

It bugs me that much that I'm tempted to upgrade the whole damn discman; I'd like another Panny though as they groove better than Sony IME.

 

Cookie, i think there's a certain lack of Tact in that there accusation....

Sorry couldn't resisit

Cheers

 

Go on Dom, get an iPod .

:duck: