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What made the biggest, most noticeable improvement

My musical fidelity v-dac ii broke and is being repaired under warranty but while it is away it made me think that out of all the improvements I have made to my rig since this craziness started 9 months ago, my dac made the biggest, most noticeable improvement. Every other upgrade made slight improvents here and there but my dac (with upgraded power supply, of course) gave me far better imaging, tighter more defined bass, and more micro detail. I figure the dac in my denon dvd2900 is good and that the dac in the classe ssp 25 pre-amp is good (both sound the same to me) but the musical fidelity v-dac ii with upgraded power supply just blows them away, and I figure it's out classed by many other dacs. Anyhow, besides speaker placement and speakers, what made the biggest improvement in sound quality to your rig including acoustic panels, diffusors and bass traps?
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celtic66
990 posts
 
Quadraspire Sunoko Vent equipment stand. It brought under control all sorts of errant frequencies I didn't even know were so errant. It is truly wild and I'm a real cynic when it comes to most of this stuff. $5,000 for a powercord qualifies you for a lobotomy and head slap.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
4,382 posts
 
Going back to an old loom of Mapleshade cables did it for me. I had some equipment changes since taking them out and only tried them during a layoff period from work.

First up were the ICs and the improvement was abundantly clear for the better. Swapping in the speaker wire led to an improvement as well but not as dramatic. That led to the purchase of the next level up (Helix to Double Helix) and the improvement was on par with the IC swap.

I'm starting to think that something well made but simple is probably better than a complication of a proven idea. This type of thinking can be dangerous as I now have my eye on a gaincard amp (Clones 25i) for not much coin. If it proves out to be better than my present amp, it will only further strengthen my belief that not only is simpler, when well made, better, but that cost is not equal to performance.

If this all bears out, then I'll have to write an elegy for all my hard earned cash spent chasing the audio dragon.

All the best,
Nonoise
polk432
1,116 posts
 
Tube amp, power cords, tube preamp, speakers, IC's, speaker wire and rack. $5,000.00 for a powercord does not require a lobotomy, it simply shows you're not rich enough for the big leagues. Weather it works or not is a meaningless story as long as you've got the bucks.
jafant
10,525 posts
 
Equipment stand is no different from Power cord(s).
Either it will make an improvement or not...
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