Snake oil and tweaks that work!

@tommylion 

Do you find the Bybees and Gutwire to have similar effects? I am using the Gutwire now.

jaybe,

Yes, I would say the effects are similar. They both lower the noise floor, and work well together. I found the iQSEs work best when placed close to a power transformer. Inside the chassis, if possible/practical, but they still work well placed on the outside. I currently have 6 in my system. I added them one by one, and heard further improvements each time, so be prepared, if you go down that road 😉

I have a tweak no one else uses..
Back years ago in Stereophile a fellow mentioned trying antistatic foam inside digital components.
I first used it in a DAC and it helped. I transferred the stuff to another DAC I still use.
I bought Radio Shack 6" sheets of black antistatic foam.
Later I bought large sheets from a manufacturer.
The foam has to be insulated from the circuit board.. And best if the foam is grounded to the chassis. I use little baggies and inserted the foam into them. And used a wire to ground the foam. Just stuck the bare end into the foam poked through the baggie.

I have mentioned this tweak for YEARS.. no one has tried it (or at least reported back on it?)

Another tweak, (and also mentioned in Stereophile some time back) but requires a special device. Is to raise the incoming AC frequency going into the components.
This works too. I use a PS Audio P-600 with the optional board to change the frequency. I run it at 110Hz instead of 60Hz and just use it on my digital equipment.

@elizabeth - Am interested in knowing more about this antistatic tweak. Specifically, how large a piece do use and what sonic benefits did you realize?  Thanks

The basic idea is to fully stuff the innards of the case with the foam, and make certain to ground the foam to the case.
Alternatives would be to cover the circuit board..
I used small baggies and cut up the foam the most fully conform to the topology of the interior, using more than one baggie if needed.
Particularly trying to get foam on top of any chips on the boards, layering the foam kind of inverted pyramid style in the baggies, filling up the space, And then connecting all the baggies with thin wire to ground to the chassis.
The idea is to soak up the stray RFI EMF emanating from the chips so it cannot affect the other parts of the electronics.
On the first DAC I took the board off and placed a thin layer of carboard (the wires sticking under poking the baggies would short, so I used a paper card stock and put antistatic foam under. The second DAC the circuits were too much to lift, so i skipped that part, and it did not much matter anyway. So do just the top side and it works fine.

I have used this in both DAC and CD player. the CD player was not so effective.
The DAC well worth the time to do.
The player does not seem any hotter for it either.
I have some even in my SP-15 preamp around, and I tried a bit in a VAC Standard. Does not do a lot there. So mainly DACs.

If you find blue foam or the pink stuff, that is not good. (lots of white stuff around now, I have no idea if it will work well) Use the dark grey or black antistatic foam Originally I used Radio Shack 6" squares 1/4" thick. Then I found an industrial supply and bought 3 sheets 36" by 24" 1/4" thick. From fooling around I used that all up! (sadly to not much good. So I say stick to the DAC as the most effective use)
But for one project i would go with Amazon or eBay. Best to Google the words "black antistatic foam" at Google site to find a seller, Amazon search engine sucks.. So use Google.