Both are used
Regarding the ECTs, once you have the ideal location how do you attach them permanently? Isn’t there a concern if the unit needs to be serviced?
I believe they come with a tacky material like Blue Tack to keep them in position.
can you re-attach the top of the DS without turning it over?
Yes, by hanging each corner over the edge of a table one at a time and placing the screws in.
One can also just replace the top and not replace the screws. The top is not going anywhere.
Just want to share that I tried ozzymilton’s suggestion above, specifically to place a HFT on the silver thing, right beside where the ribbon connector plugs in from the digital board. It worked very well. Now I’m wondering why so, and where else I should try putting more HFTs. Appreciate any advice.
To clarify my curiosity, anyone knows what exactly is the “silver thing” and any similar components in the DS so that I can narrow down where to try more HFTs on?
The silver thing is the VCXO and there’s only one component like it in the DS.
FWIW I wouldn’t have tried one there because I’d expect that to be one place that adding a filter would add jitter which isn’t a good thing. Still I’d never tell anyone that what they hear is wrong or right.
assisi, I totally agree with you on not placing a ect on the transformers, it did indeed dull the sound.
I now have 13 ects and 1 hft inside the Direct Stream.
1- flanking both fuses
12- on the digital IC’s
1 hft on the little silver thing Ted calls the VCXO.
Ted, I think I have 3 ects on the FPGA but I’m not sure. Is that the bigger black thing sort of in the middle on the digital board?
I’ll try to post some pictures.
Yep, the bigger black thing is the FPGA: The “Xilinx” and “Spartan 6” labels on it are dead give aways 
I have had great success lowering the noise floor with ects inside and outside of the DS. Inside I placed 1 on the XMOS, 1 on the FPGA and 1 on each of the four inductors. Externally I placed one on each of the RCA cables immediately exiting the DS to my amp and one on the digital cable exiting the PWT. The change was not subtle, adding air and space to the presentation IMO.
would it be possible to post a photo of the positions within the DS? Overall, this seems like an easy tweak.
Thanks.
-
Could this treatment affect the needed heat dissipation from a component?
-
Is it glued on?
-
Is it conductive, i.e. if it fall off can it short circuit the copper lanes on the PCB?
They are made of aluminum, could affect heat dissipation, are conductive, and come with Blu-Tak and also two sided adhesive strips. They appear to be milled aluminum rod stock with typical red anodizing.
According to the manufacturer, they are “fast becoming the most exciting development in High End Audio in over a generation.”
Gosh
As with all tweaks, it is good to live with them for a while.
Now that time has passed, have anyone removed or changed the placement of the ECTs?
Still working for you?
this an interesting tweak because, as others have reported, you can “tune” the sound a bit based on the position of the ECTs. The two most notable effects, to my ears, are increased HF transparency and more three dimensional soundstage.
in my system, changing the fuse had a larger overall impact (additional transparency, which among other things, translates to cleaner HF and more nuanced bass; additional depth), and the ECTs further clean up the HF and add a more enveloping depth.
two placements mentioned by Ted were the first two placements I tried and these made the largest difference: the XMOS chip (near the USB connector) and the FPGA chip (marked Spartan, or some such). When an additional ECT was placed on the FPGA, the sound became a bit too polite (I’m using the pre-PP OS). Current placements (if my understanding of what is what is correct), are three on the digital board and two on the analog board.
not sure how these work, but wonder if a wide/broad placement within the equipment provides the best sound. At least a good theory to test in your own system.
Wanted to add my positive results with ECT.
Mounted 1 set (5 units) inside the DS, according to the recommendations in this topic.
Played around in different places, finally my best results were as shown in the attached picture.
Significant lower noise, more 3D (like others), more focus everywhere.
One comment, I started with mounting 3 units on the FPGA and the signal became very detailed but very thin and analytical. I finished with 1 on the chip.
I am not sure if I will purchase 5 more or stop here. More of these may take the sound to an unwanted direction.
Have fun with the tweaks, this VOODOO certainly 
works !!
Thanks. I’m a little surprised that the voltage regulators make that kind of a difference, but the only way to know for sure is to try.
Any updates about the Synergetics ECT?