Michael Larkin
Established Member
Here's my attempt to start a new thread that I know I'd find interesting, and hopefully others would too. I'll start with a few of my own favourite tweaks.
My system is built around a Dell Laptop containing all my ripped FLACs with some 320K MP3s, an Audiolab 6000A amplifier (£599), and Quad S2 speakers (also £599). The first sub-£100 worthwhile tweak came when I replaced my Behringer USB to Toslink convertor (£21) with a Douk Audio XMOS XU208 convertor (which I got for £49). My system is appreciably cleaner and better sounding as a result.
The second tweak I did quite recently was replace my AudioQuest FLX/SLiP 14/4 speaker cables (£37.71 inc p&p for a 2.5m pair) with Tellurium Q Blue II cables (£98.45 inc p&p for a 2.5m pair), both purchased from futureshop.
To say that this completely transformed my system would not be an exaggeration. It was like I'd bought amp and speakers at twice the price -- I kid you not. I'd more or less despaired of my classical collection (around 15% of the total) as they sounded so lacklustre. I put that down to the CDs they'd been ripped from being quite ancient, up to 35 years old. No, I don't think the digital data would have been any different then than now, but maybe, being early examples, they hadn't been particularly well recorded.
I soon discovered, after breaking the cables in for a few hours, that they significantly improved the sound of my popular tracks, so with trepidation I checked out my classical ones -- and lo and behold! They too sounded interesting and enjoyable again.
In what way? Well, first off, I was listening to music a good 3-4dB lower on the Audiolab display for the same perceived volume as before. But beyond that, everything seemed more spacious, richer, more engaging and dynamic. Once I start listening, I often find myself still there after several hours, finding great difficulty in tearing myself away from the music. You see, I start my listening every day when I put on the playlist for my Tai Chi routine, and then sit down and listen for a while. In the past, I would listen for maybe an average of 1.5 to 2 hours, but now it's often more. If you can afford it, I can heartily recommend them.
My final and cheapest tweak (£0.00) came when I discovered that the AIMP free software player for my laptop had a built-in equaliser and other facilities. I started by playing with the equaliser, but it was very hard to tweak the sound without messing it up. Then I stumbled across the enhancer facility: click the "options" menu button, followed by the "transform" item (yours might look a bit different if you use a different skin):
See the "Enhancer" button on the "Sound Effects" tab? It drags from 1.00 to 5.00, showing the value as you do so on a little pop-up. I've been playing with it and it seems to make the sound progressively more 3D in nature. Providing one doesn't take it too far, it can sound wonderful with old favourites such as 10cc tracks - Dreadlock holiday, Good morning judge, I'm Mandy, fly me, etc. Even with classical, with just a slight adjustment, it can add a wider soundstage without changing the overall quality of the timbres of instruments. I'm still experimenting, and maybe I will use it only for certain genres, but I think it's worth checking out. I'm not messing with the other options for now, but leaving them at their defaults. I might go looking for additional DSP plugins just for fun...
I hope some of you will find my suggested tweaks useful. I look forward to reading about other people's tweaks, with a bit of luck benefitting from them myself.
My system is built around a Dell Laptop containing all my ripped FLACs with some 320K MP3s, an Audiolab 6000A amplifier (£599), and Quad S2 speakers (also £599). The first sub-£100 worthwhile tweak came when I replaced my Behringer USB to Toslink convertor (£21) with a Douk Audio XMOS XU208 convertor (which I got for £49). My system is appreciably cleaner and better sounding as a result.
The second tweak I did quite recently was replace my AudioQuest FLX/SLiP 14/4 speaker cables (£37.71 inc p&p for a 2.5m pair) with Tellurium Q Blue II cables (£98.45 inc p&p for a 2.5m pair), both purchased from futureshop.
To say that this completely transformed my system would not be an exaggeration. It was like I'd bought amp and speakers at twice the price -- I kid you not. I'd more or less despaired of my classical collection (around 15% of the total) as they sounded so lacklustre. I put that down to the CDs they'd been ripped from being quite ancient, up to 35 years old. No, I don't think the digital data would have been any different then than now, but maybe, being early examples, they hadn't been particularly well recorded.
I soon discovered, after breaking the cables in for a few hours, that they significantly improved the sound of my popular tracks, so with trepidation I checked out my classical ones -- and lo and behold! They too sounded interesting and enjoyable again.
In what way? Well, first off, I was listening to music a good 3-4dB lower on the Audiolab display for the same perceived volume as before. But beyond that, everything seemed more spacious, richer, more engaging and dynamic. Once I start listening, I often find myself still there after several hours, finding great difficulty in tearing myself away from the music. You see, I start my listening every day when I put on the playlist for my Tai Chi routine, and then sit down and listen for a while. In the past, I would listen for maybe an average of 1.5 to 2 hours, but now it's often more. If you can afford it, I can heartily recommend them.
My final and cheapest tweak (£0.00) came when I discovered that the AIMP free software player for my laptop had a built-in equaliser and other facilities. I started by playing with the equaliser, but it was very hard to tweak the sound without messing it up. Then I stumbled across the enhancer facility: click the "options" menu button, followed by the "transform" item (yours might look a bit different if you use a different skin):
See the "Enhancer" button on the "Sound Effects" tab? It drags from 1.00 to 5.00, showing the value as you do so on a little pop-up. I've been playing with it and it seems to make the sound progressively more 3D in nature. Providing one doesn't take it too far, it can sound wonderful with old favourites such as 10cc tracks - Dreadlock holiday, Good morning judge, I'm Mandy, fly me, etc. Even with classical, with just a slight adjustment, it can add a wider soundstage without changing the overall quality of the timbres of instruments. I'm still experimenting, and maybe I will use it only for certain genres, but I think it's worth checking out. I'm not messing with the other options for now, but leaving them at their defaults. I might go looking for additional DSP plugins just for fun...
I hope some of you will find my suggested tweaks useful. I look forward to reading about other people's tweaks, with a bit of luck benefitting from them myself.