Always looking for tweaks. It’s a habit of mine… Has anyone tried Herbie’s Super Black Hole CD Mat on their PST. If so, what is your opinion of its use? Thanks!
I’ve been using it for a year, first with a NAD 515DEE and for the last 6 weeks or so with a PST. My initial impressions were every disc sounded better with the Black Hole. Some improved a lot, some less so. The improvement is a heightened clarity—less smearing of individual notes, cleaner bass, and an overall boost of fine detail. I likened it to listening to a person talk without their COVID-19 mask on!
I have not done comparisons with/without it on my PST.
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It will be interesting to hear your results of the cd mat in the PST. Many years back there were adhesive dampening rings you could put on cds. It seemed to help a little but I could not get over the potential drawback of adding weight or imbalance to a spinning disk.
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Some significant improvements, may be worth a try.
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Just to make sure I’m understanding, you’ve been using the mat for a few weeks with the PST, but just haven’t done comparison tests with and without? Just wanted to make sure. I’m willing to take a chance on buying one, but didn’t want to be the first to put it in the PST. 
Yup, that is correct. Lazy bum that I am!
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Just dug into my shoebox of retired tweaks, and found these two mats. Is the Super Black Hole different than the small black disc that I have? Haven’t tried either of these discs with the PST yet.
The website just says the “super” is improved, but it is not clear how it was improved over the now discontinued “non-super” version. Looking at the differences in the instructions, I’m guessing it has to do with the silicone treatment of the super.
Am I the only person here who thinks the PST sounds incredible? Can this really make that significant a difference? I’m not doubting anyone’s experience but this just seems far out (says the cable-loving guy about to upgrade his fuses).
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According to their section (archived) of the AudioCircle forum, the original Black Hole had to be discontinued when they lost the supplier of the adhesive that bonded the silicone to the carbon fiber. They’ve apparently resolved that problem. Maybe the changeover to the new supplier might have been a good place to insert the descriptor “improved.”
By the way, according to that same forum, customers can get a 5% discount with the code AudioCircle. It’s old, but it still works. I just used it to order one.
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We’re all somewhere on the spectrum, aren’t we?
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The PST is truly amazing. The blackhole made a night/day difference when used on my old NAD CD player. It was apparent after the first few seconds of familiar music. With the PST I have not noticed such an immediate and obvious improvement and I think it is because the transport is so good. Some day I’ll test it.
did you notice any improvement? maybe you were disappointed in no dramatic improvement…interesting stuff, I just ordered one, and if it doesn’t work in my PST, sounds like it will still help one of my lesser players…Thanks all
I’d made major changes to my system over the last 7 -8 months that I didn’t feel ready to assess a tweak to a new transport. If there were any affects, positive or negative, they have not been apparent in my casual listening.
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I hear that. With major system changes it’s sometimes hard to decipher the effects of the little ones. I try to be disciplined as well and wait for a “clean slate” moment.
It’s hard enough refraining from getting on the upgrade train. How many colors do those new fuses come in?
my Herbie’s just arrived, put it in my Marantz and Primare, and seems good right away…curious about the 20 hour burn in…tomorrow goes in the PST…
Mine’s on its way. Not sure when it’s supposed to get here.
mine arrived 8 days after I ordered it…
Nice to hear you guys are trying the mat tweak on the PST. I am thinking of upgrading the fuse from an
SR Orange to Purple. Do these “enhancements” ever end? We probably wouldn’t want them to. Let me know how long it takes to break in the mat .
Looks like I have a FedEx delivery coming today. I suspect it’ll be the Herbie’s mat.
Edit: wrong, it was an LP and an SACD of a Bob James recording from Acoustic Sounds.