How best to arrange components on your rack

Everything Else Systems
1

So I recently rearranged the components on my rack and the sound has noticeably improved.
I have 4 components, BHK pre, BHK 250, DSD MkI, and PST, and only 3 shelves. I originally had the PST on the top shelf, DSD with the pre stacked on top on the middle shelf, and the amp on the bottom. I have now stacked the DSD on top of PST on the top shelf, pre on the middle shelf, and amp remains on the bottom. I’m guessing what may have helped to improve the sound is separating the digital gear from the analog gear, and mass loading the transport with the DSD. At any rate, I’m liking what I’m hearing now. The sound is more relaxed and liquid sounding, and the bass has gotten a lot tighter.

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2

Changing the placement of cables can have this effect. Keeping cables well away from each other, not just the power cables, improves the sound.

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3

Congrats on the better sound! It seems putting the DAC on top makes sense in terms of heat management, I think it runs warmer than the transport.

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4

Just realized another reason why the sound improved, which highlights the importance of footers.
I have two sets of four VeriFi Audio footers which are surprisingly affective, and made almost as much difference as the Puritan line conditioner. I found the footers most affective on gear that uses tubes, so one set went under the BHK 250, and the other set was under my DAC which had the pre amp stacked on top. Although ideally they belonged under the preamp, but didn’t want to stack the DAC on top of the pre amp.
In the new arrangement the second set of VeriFi footers went under the pre amp. I used ceramic cones under the PST and DAC, which is now stacked on top of of PST.

When I rearranged everything I had unplugged all the gear, which remained unplugged for a good bit of time, so when I turned everything back on again, the system definitely wasn’t fully warmed up. Listening now over a day later, the improvements are fully flushed out, and I’m taken back with how much more musical the system sounds.
Although these footers are very affective they’re a royal pain to set, especially under heavy gear like the BHK 250, but well worth the effort.

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