Hello all,
As you probably read above, Zanash paid me a visit yesterday and we spent a few very enjoyable hours putting my new cables in place, trying them out and then trying some other interesting things out (no, I am not talking about the cake or the aspargus water... :newbie: ).
Zanash came over to install the two cables I got from him: a pair of silver 5mm speaker cables and an AuAg arm lead for my Morch. Together they lifted the performance of my system very significantly. The sound is now much more open and much more natural. You can see the review in a separate thread I published a little while ago.
(BTW, thanks for the kind words about my system, Zanash. Indeed, the Signums are not the last word in bass extension

and the sub is as well integrated as I have had patience to do... one can spend the rest of one's life tweaking those knobs... and I rather listen to some music!

but I am sure will fiddle with that a bit more at some point...

)
As I had been using a similar lead and a similar pair of speaker cables (loaned for testing), the new ones did not cause a major surprise. Nevertheless, the newer version of the speaker cables brought some noted improvement to the bass depth. The highs were also a little more forward but I believe this was because the cable has yet to run in. Sure enough as the day went on the highs started to settle.
Now, to the contention points: Zanash brought along the culprits of some heated debates in this forum and I was very intrigued to see what effect I could hear (if any!) in my system. I am usually quite sceptic about these "treatments" and such like, so much so that only very recently did I start hearing proper differences when changing cables (I think this has more to do with my equipment upgrades than with my hearing).
In order of appearance, here is what we tried and what my reactions were:
CD LATHE: Z. brought two identical cds, one lathed, the other not. He played one and then the other and I did not know which one was which. I clearly heard one being much more detailed on both freq. extremes than the other, almost as if the singer was more in the mood for singing... the silences a bit darker, the dinamics more present. This was, as it turned out, the lathed cd. It is NOT a subtle difference, it is very distinguishible!
WHALE SPERM: Next up was a spray treatment. I heard the same cd before and after the treatment. In this case I knew when the treatment was applied and therefore I could be said to be "influenced" by that. Nonetheless I heard a similar effect to the one described with the lathe, but less marked. There was a noticeable improvement, if not as much of a difference as with the lathe... but it cleans the cd!
BLUE LIGHT CRISTALS: This box is a complete mystery. I was prepared to not hear a single difference... and I was wrong. I still cannot believe that it made an effect, but it most certainly did! How is it possible, it beats me. But I kid you not, you could hear differences. In my opinion, it did two things that were very noticeable: it smoothed the sound, made it a bit more "silky", and, most noticeably of all, it made it all sound louder. As if you had turned the volume up. This was *really* noticeable.
The incense test was more of a joke... We were wondering if it was doing anything to the air and so decided to burn an incense stick and see if anything was different in the way the smoke dissipated/left the stick. The result: I never ever in my life (and I burn incense regularly as I quite like it) saw the smoke going up in a straight line as far up before fizzing as when the blue light thingie was on. My wife was just as surprised...). This is, of course, nothing to do with sound... but it sure makes one think that something is happening to the air around that thing. What, I would not know... but I sure saw it!
ZANASH POWER CORD: This I believe is a prototype. I swapped my Russ Andrews Powercord and slotted Zanash's instead. This was on the cd player (an MF A3.2) and there was a difference in bass extension (predominantly) and subjectively more air around the instruments. Not a world of difference but a small improvement over what was a tweaked cord already.
WOODEN CONES/BALLBEARINGS: we tried these under the turntable, sandwiched between the NAS plinth and the Base isolation platform I use. There was a change in sound, but I wasn't sure it was for the better. There was more bass and but the sound felt a little colder. The bits were definitely doing something. If I had more time to experiment with placement it is well possible that I would find an improvement I would like to keep... I don't know. I want to try them under my cd player at some point as that has no isolation platform at all.
For the cost, these are a no brainer, as there is no risk involved and there is potential there to get some improvement.
So all in all, a lovely afternoon, thank you Zanash for coming all the way down to my humble abode. It was a pleasure having you here.
For everyone else, I am not expecting you to change your opinion based on mine. I would suggest trying these before you comment on them, though. I didn't think they'd do anything before I tried them, and now I know they do something, and something audible. In some cases for the better, in others just different, but they do make a difference. Pretty real in my book.
Would I buy them? The lathe is potentially worthwhile but I am more into LPs. The whale sperm is fairly good value for money and it cleans the cd as well so if you are going to to get a cd cleaning solution, there's a good argument to get this one. The blue LED box I think is too expensive for the changes I heard, in my system.
The power cord is very good vfm and the cones/ballbearings are a no brainer, they can make a real difference for peanuts, and if you dont like the differences, you don't stand to lose much.
At the end of the day, YMMV as our systems all differ, but all I can say is try it out, it is at the very least interesting stuff! Isn't this why we all love this hobby?
Cheers everyone,
Jack.