Just ordered 2 pieces of Herbie’s Mat too. I suppose to wait for almost a couple of weeks, here in Italy, to receive them. So I would appreciate so much your opinion about new mats as soon as you can spin some CDs with them into a PST in particular.
very happy with Herbie’s mat on Rega Apollo and Marantz CD6006, will go into PST later today
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Initial impression on PST is very positive…maybe not as significant as on the Rega, but to me on a highly resolving system, I’m hearing improvements after maybe 12 hours burn in on other machines…thinking more fullness and space…definitely buying myself another and one for a friend…
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What does “burn in” do for a mat?
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not a clue, but Herbie’s says “up to 20 hours of burn in may be required for peak performance”
Maybe Herbie’s has a 19 hour return policy.
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My comment earlier was tongue-in-cheek that a mat would require break-in. I like and use Herbie’s stuff and they seem to do their homework or have successfully applied known quantifiable vibration science. Silly of me to think that even a mat isn’t just plug-and-play.
Yep, same here. Not hearing much if any difference with Herbie’s Super Black Hole CD mat with the PST. Also noticed there isn’t much adhesive properties to the mat. The original Black Hole mat initially stuck much better.
Same here, no improvements at all on PST with this mat. And quite scared about mat inside the PST because it is not enough adherent on CD, at risk of issues.
I have stopped using the various Herbie’s mats long time ago and strictly using the Acoustic Revive RD-3 CD demagnetizer alone. The PST still benefit from it a lot.
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After doing more AB comparisons with and without Herbie’s Black Hole CD mat, I’m starting to detect a subtle but detectable improvement when using the mat. The music has a slightly more liquid and natural sound to it. Reading the literature that came with it, it says it may take some time to break in. Not sure what it would be that needs breaking in, or if that’s what’s happening, or I’m just starting to tune in to the subtle improvements, but I’ve decided to keep and continue using it.
If you are hearing a difference with the mat proves my point about the difference in the way the PST, and DMP play the disk on the fly as opposed to the disk extraction of the PWT. The PWT will not be affected by a mat as the data is taken off the disk at high speed and stored in a large buffer which prevents the data from being affected by the physical operation of the transport.
I don’t see it that way. The data is read by the transport and stored in the buffer. How is that reading of the data not influenced by the transport?
Anyway I have had the PWT, the DMP (still do in a headphone only system) and now the PST. There’s a clear progression of improvement from one of these to the next; they’re all quite good transports.
I have been using the Black Hole in my PST and notice a subtle difference. I just keep using it. I have had no issue with its adhesive nature or lack of same.
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The difference being the PWT does digital audio extraction at a high speed where as the other two pull the data off as it is needed to create the audio. The second method allows the power supply changes caused by the laser focus and disk spinning mechanisms to have an effect on the sound being produced. I currently own a PST and a PWT. I like both. The DMP was just too quirky for me and I gladly traded it in for the PST. I really miss all the features that the touch screen display allowed. That is why I picked up the PWT again.
Okay. . . I’m not entirely convinced that eliminates the effects of the transport altogether. Peace.
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Question, do you know if there’s a clamping mechanism in the PST that’s engaged when the disk starts to spin? I was definitely a little concerned about the adhesive qualities of the mat, or the lack there of, and the mat coming loose and mucking things up.
I don’t know for sure but I have zero worries about the mat coming loose. In the case of the black hole it’s just a small 2" or so donut and not a full mat. I have seen zero evidence from probably a 1000 plays that there’s any danger of it coming loose.
Okay good to know you’ve been using it for quite a while with no issues.
I have to retract my earlier statement. This morning I put it on a disc as always and there was an odd sound and I ejected the disc. . . and the Black Hole is somewhere in the PWT, not on the disc. So far everything plays well and there’s no repercussion and I hope (think it will) that continues. But it may not be wise to use it with the PWT. Worked fine for hundreds of uses. . . but. . . .
Thanks for the heads up. Does make me a little nervous using it with the PST now.
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