My description of the sound initially referred to the Epplugs termination plugs. However, the sound is only slightly improved. This is probably due to the optimizations that have already been made. I had already tried the Epluggs USB plugs about 3 years ago. But I had a clear change in mind. Now it’s just small things. Is it worth buying? An Ethernet cable or fuse will make a more noticeable change. I glued the 3M absorber to the Audioquest RJ45 caps and an HDMI cap. The caps are made of zinc injection molding and are conductive with low resistance. I could be wrong, it sounds a bit brighter with the HDMI cap. Like I said, it’s not earth-shattering.On the RJ45 I glued the 3M material on the inside and on the HDMI cap on the outside. Maybe it makes a difference.
I came up with the idea of the 3M because Vortex also uses an absorber material in its termination plugs. In addition to the obsidian and programming whatever they’re doing.
Before my MK2 was sent to JR for transformer mod, I did try the AQ RJ45 caps on MK2 and LHY SW-10 switch. I’m not sure I heard an improvement. In fact, I took them out and liked it better. I have tried the XLR/RCA caps before and they had more impact than RJ45 caps, but in a negetive way. They reduced the dynamic a bit. The Akiko USB stick is doing a better job than these caps in my system. It makes the SQ even smoother without changing anything else.
But the RJ45 caps are more effective when I placed them on Orbi router and the satellite. I had them on for only one day before I shipped MK2 out. So, by no means this is the final verdict. My MK2 is due back on Thusday, and it needs a week min of break in. Then my cable orders should arrive in a week or two. So I will not be able to try these caps with 3M absorbent in them. I also need to try the absorbents again on gears to see if any adjustment is needed (After Massive update I needed to).
I also read that you should close all ports on the modem/router. I think this made the sound more calm. I have now installed the Epluggs rj45 on the modem downstairs in the house. It makes me feel good. And the modem seems to be a strong place of noise.
Epluggs RJ45 are interesting. On their official website I can’t find prices and infos (in English). Can you point me in the right direction to find more infos?
I’d like to understand if plugged in a router and a switch (PhoenixNET in my case) they worth the money.
I have a lot of Furutech Booster…
Actually I’m still using a few of them mainly for speaker cables. Or just to dampen IEC PCs plugs. Don’t abuse, they tend to have a coloration effect I don’t like, need to use small quantities in my system.
Luca, you are too modest, a few boosters.
Epplugs, Phonosophie, Vortex, Akiko and a few more have such products. My RCA epplugs have the most impact. USB, HDMI and Rj45 also have an effect, but it is smaller. The tones are a little more clearly defined and it sounds more pleasant and structured. These are small effects that are noticeable, but are not as significant as switching to a master backup.
Basic 40€, Reference 80€, Highpower 120€, Highend 180€ for RJ45 according to the information on the web. My dealer tells me the price I should pay if I like it.
Testing
I reinforced the fuse I have from my Cambridge with a 3M absorber. The SR Master looks similar on the outside, with a white ceramic body and nickel caps. I put them in the power plant instead of the purple one. And how does it sound? Not much different at all. Spatial representation, dynamics, everything is there. It is different from the Purple sound. The Bastel fuse has more bass punch and attack than the Purple. The slight sharpness in the treble of the standard fuse also seems to have disappeared due to the 3M material. A comparison with the SR Master follows. If you still have a piece of 3M absorber left, you should give it a try. QSA shows us how the snippets are glued on. I still need to try a few different sizes.
The effects of the Epluggs USB, HDMI and Rj45 are minor. With my system, voices are pushed deeper into the background. Maybe it’s something more structured. I can’t give a clear purchase recommendation because the effect is simply too small for the price. I can’t judge whether it’s better or just slightly different with a certain placebo effect. Perhaps different plugs with their mass and electronic properties have similar effects on open inputs.
Back to the Epplugs.
I plug the rj45 Epluggs in and out of my devolo powerline and wonder how it sounds right. When I insert the Epluggs, voices subtly recede further into the background and sound more compact and more localizable. It’s like the singers are standing on a stage and I’m sitting in the audience. Without Epluggs, voices sound more open, wider and closer to my face. With the Epluggs it somehow sounds with more spatial depth, more structured and more selective sounds. The action moves further behind the speakers.
Careful with this. It isn’tmagic, and ferrite and like RF absorbers are RESONANT filters and are resistive, which turns RF to heat) over a narrow frequency range. They are NOT wide band filters. Why do we see them? The FCC has RF ermissiins tests, and if a device is ugly down the exterior cables, carefully, really carefully, tuned Ferrite beads and like “tuning” is set to work at the worst leakage RF.
An alternate but far more expensive and thus less used approach is shielded cable. But again the shields transfer impedance and SEED, Shield Effectiveness Evaluation numbers are frequency dependent and MUST be understood to actually shield the right frequencies and the right amount. Ferrite beads and the like are even more critical as simple as they look. They are NOT even remotely the same so don’t grab a few and think that they are tunes to be resistive at the same frequencies. They mostly are reactive except across the critical frequency. That’s not a problem if the energy either side of the RF spike is low. Do you know what frequency that even is?
If the device, like a PC monitor, needs Shields and or Ferrite rings and such to pass FCC testing, the impacted cord is required to be “captive”. You can’t remove it or excessive RF EGRESS, not INGRESS is the result. Notice that most quality devices don’t have captive but IEC sockets and open I/O ports. Why? They pass the ingress and egress tests as designed to.
Few devices use RF tuning ferrite for ingress as the power supply and ground traces have low-impedance high pass filters built-in that ARE wide band, anything above the filters critical frequency slope gets shunted to ground, unlike narrow band ferrite beads (the metal composition alters the reactance and when they go “resistive”).
A RF “filter” that is tuned wrong will amplify the interference, not go resistive at the critical frequency and tune it out. The filter will be REACTIVE and by definition energy is stored and released again and again until it damps out. This stuff is a pro’s only, and tested with highly specialized equipment and open field antenna tests at UL or like test labs. It isn’t to be taken lightly and that we are improving things, odds are, we are making it worse.
The RF spikes with poorly tuned “enhancements” can manifest themselves down into the circuit block and create seemingly unrelated problems. We now have an issue we try to fix and is one we made unintentionally.
Best,
Galen