"Andy Evans" wrote in message


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),

Oh, your memos from placebo-land?

I've found the same with the CD-Rom I'm now using.

....because your preconceived notions haven't changed.

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.

Constructor's ear.

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".

You'd have a lot to think about if you did any reasonble testing, subjective
or technical.

This after seeing the Flatfish which is exactly that.

Monkey see, monkey do.

It's sitting on the carpet as I write - haven't tried any fancy feet yet!

Audio jewelry.

Well, the sound is very noticeably clearer.

In your dreams, but whatever.

A CD-Rom vibrates quite a
bit in your hand, so I guess this is dampening it usefully.

You'd have a lot to think about if you did any reasonble testing, subjective
or technical.

The most
noticeable thing is that louder passages are less congested and
shouty - they have soothed out audibly.

You'd have a lot to think about if you did any reasonble testing, subjective
or technical.

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.

No, you're hearing your preconceived notions which are BTW, faulty.

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?

Anybody with the time to waste...

I wonder if
the measurements would be different on any parameters.

I could tell you how to easily do a representative set of measurements, but
it would be a cosmic waste of my time because you're so far gone on your
radical subjectivism that you'd never stop mentally masturbating long enough
to do them.