Andy Evans wrote:

Following on from previous posts where I found that various damping
materials affected the sound of my Pioneer CDP used as transport only (I
have an outboard DAC), I've found the same with the CD-Rom I'm now using.
I went over to the CD-Rom because the build was more sturdy and there
seemed to be a better sound in it, which started to happen when I swapped
the switch-mode power supply for a normal toroid PSU. That's the story so
far Latest step was to bolt the CD-Rom down to a 10mm slab of aluminium
9.5" by 6.5". This after seeing the Flatfish which is exactly that. It's
sitting on the carpet as I write - haven't tried any fancy feet yet!
Well, the sound is very noticeably clearer. A CD-Rom vibrates quite a bit
in your hand, so I guess this is dampening it usefully. The most
noticeable thing is that louder passages are less congested and shouty -
they have soothed out audibly.
Now I have no idea why resonances affect CD transports, but this is
without any doubt what I'm hearing - change the damping, change the sound.
I suppose this is back to the debate whether 'bits are bits' or whether
the signal is complex and affected by other factors.
Since it isn't hard to try, maybe somebody else would like to replicate
bolting a CD-rom down to a 10mm slab of alu? I wonder if the measurements
would be different on any parameters. Andy


No doubt these will be available soon from all good snake oil outlets.

IAn

--
Ian Bell