No, not that they don’t work… but my musical enjoyment does not change with a 1% increase in fidelity. It just doesn’t get more better.
The biggest issues of caring besides getting basic equipment and matching correct, is acoustics and speaker placement… and a “base level” quality of cables. Done… no more.
I owned a pair of Magnepan 20s… I think one of finest, musical speakers I have ever heard and any price… and a pair of 2.5R years before… and some Martin Logans in between… planars are a nightmare to get right. After shoving these things around forever, tweaking some wall treatments … like books and such… placing a cable on a cryogenic frozen milk carton is …well pfft! when it comes to increasing fidelity.
I had a local store who had a big inventory of used stuff… gave me about 9 or 10 speaker cables to take home… prices all over the map… once I hit a certain level… oh a few hundred buck for a pair… there were differences, but none of them made my experience “better”.
I put my efforts in the the things that make the biggest difference… like a tube amp… or a PS Audio Junior… and then I stop, crack a Pilsner Urquell… and go to the moon. A megabuck cable ain’t getting me there sooner, faster, or better.
Agree whole heartedly. I’m sitting on my deck, it’s 60 with brilliant sunshine. Shorts and a t-shirt perfect. I have a pair of $500 Definitive Technology speakers, mounted up high on a wall, driven by a 60 watt Music Hall integrated. Music is every bit as enjoyable out here as inside on the big rig: often times more enjoyable.
It is all relative though, I do have a $6000 DS DAC and $9000 list pre-amp driving everything. Friends and family think I’m nuts.
I am finding power and isolation are very important. Tweaking without first addressing these two fundamental things I think can make people go in circles.
I like futzing and some tweaks really are substantial and I have fun with it and it helps me understand my system. Bt I can certainly understand why others might not want to spend time this way!
I haven’t met an audiophile / enthusiast that hasn’t tweaked. Like many I find there’s a point you reach where your setup is as optimal as it gets. This is when you simply enjoy the music and look for new music to enjoy. It’s a great place to be.
The only reason I’m in this hobby is because I love music. But I love the sound of my system and I love tweaking too.
In fact, I have two (not terribly expensive) amps, one a 25 watt oddball ss and another oddball 2 watt tube. I go back and forth; they both sound great in their own way. I consider them tweaks too.
Not really that many options that fit my interest criteria.
Magico only make 2 vibration devices, so I bought both. I have no interest in any other brand.
Stabilant is the only MILSPEC electrical contact enhancer that I’m aware of, so I bought that.
HiFi Tuning fuses, a set of various ratings, bought many years ago on special offer pricing which I pass from component to component as the hardware comes and goes.
I used to do a lot of experiments with tweaks. If I thought I understood their principles and they made sense to me I’d consider them. For the others if I (personally) heard it make a difference in someone’s system I’d consider it. I found that some tweaks I could easily hear just didn’t seem worth the effort (e.g. using Tourmaline electrostatic zap guns or Tourmaline hair dryers every 20 or so minutes.) Some everyone else seemed to hear but I didn’t so I wasn’t too interested in them.
One local audio club meeting we tried a large number of tweaks for CDs (green markers, mats, edge lathe, zapping with “degausser” and so on.) The only one I couldn’t hear a difference on was holding the CD up to a fluorescent light for a little while before playing it. That night I had a little tinnitus and it’s level was changing with each tweak experiment so I closed my eyes and voted depending on whether it got better or worse. I thought it was interesting that I almost always ended up voting with the vinylphiles and the opposite of the CD fans.
I don’t normally do any of those tweaks to my CDs tho, I’d rather listen to music.
I avoid expensive tweaks (tho what’s expensive is “in the eye of the beholder”) and would rather spend money on making some part of my system technically better. Often I could get more bang for my buck upgrading some part of my system.