My favs

Remember these? A 20mm tungsten block. Tungsten is known to have a powerful damping property and is very heavy.



I remember using one to great effect in my BG7TBL clock, glued to the OXCO oven controlled clock module.

I've ordered one to try in my 2nd AfterDark clock, the critical one driving the Gustard DDC and DAC combo.
I'll report back with findings. If it's successful, I'll put one in my 1st AD clock, too.

A reminder (in my old BG7TBL clock)...

Stuck.

Safe?

It could if it came loose, but it won't as I shall Araldite it in place as I did with the BG7TBL.  The solid connection provides the damping effect.

As for safe, it's a 12VDC powered clock, so there is no mains power anywhere near it.

While I'm waiting for the tungsten block to arrive, I've been playing music with the new firmware v2.9 for the Sig Rendu SE. The sound quality uplift is certainly more than I had expected - which was only something very small or not at all.

The reality is that the uplift is significant enough to be rather surprising with noticeable improvements in dynamics (slam) and fine detail in the treble. This new $29 firmware on an SD card has upgraded my streamer. Very pleasing!

Played two of my all-time favourite-but-compromised test tracks just to determine how much the v2.9 firmware has improved things.

First one: Godless by the Dandy Warhols has always been a bit of a 'dirty' track, fairly compressed with a replaygain of -8.44dB. It sounds quite a lot cleaner now, less dirty if still a rather hot recording.

Second one: Undiscovered First by Feist has the hottest treble energy of anything I know and like. This one has an even higher replaygain of -10dB. The bass in the intro is more substantial, the colouration in her voice remains but the overall effect is a lot more listenable now. When the high energy section starts at 3:37 it no longer wants to rip my ears off.

bencat In the early 1990's I had a friend who was the owner of a well known brand of car sound systems, I used to help him test  new products & go to big venues like Olympia, NEC etc.

I bought David Chesky Jazz sampler/test CD'S volumes 1 & 2, one track has a noise that went up vertically to about 6' then across then down another described an arc across as well as tracks indicating L,R.C as well as half left  half right plus extreme left & extreme right. 

One amazing track has people making noise enter a long hall or church via a door on the right , walk towards the listener banging tambourine's &  making strange short vocalisations they then walk around the listeners head 3 times then back down the hall out through the  door which slams behind them. 

With my car with a rather good sound system with a parametric graphic equaliser, seven amplifier channels  & 17 speakers, i.e. front left & right + centre front with rear time aligned fill in speakers & 2 boxed 12" subwoofers this effect was relatively easy to achieve. 

Until fairly recently I  could only get an approximation with my domestic stereo system i.e. Valve pre & power amps low inductance TNT DIY UBYTE 2 low inductance cross linked coaxial speaker cable with 2 x OTA Quad 57's on Rupert stands topped with super tweeters.   With the use of 120  clip on ferrites on digital & power cables to remove RF & the purchase of a Caiman SEG 50 DAC &  Dorado 3 fed by my Cambridge  CD4se  used as a transport.  Nearly, very close  then replacing all 9 pin valves ECC83/12AX7 & ECC82/12AU7 with  8 pin ones 6SL7 & 6SN7.  lastly  squaring up the quads  to virtually 90 degrees to the side walls minimal toe in,  at last the effect works on a 2 speaker system as it was intended to.

David Chesky is punctilious with regard to simple mike placement, recording,  particularly phasing, as I understand it the height, width, depth  information is already there  on recordings but gets lost in the mix though not always.

I have gone to great lengths to achieve phase coherence with the system which together with speaker placement has had this result. On Lou Reed  Transformer  the coloured girls on a Walk on the Wild Side  used to come to the centre of the room now they almost brush my nose, further, bass has more depth than some Stacked Quads I have heard  & there is improved mids & treble as well.


 

MartinT  I m not a Jazz lover but the Ana Caram track – "Viola Fora De Moda" is spacious & eye opening stereo, the late Kenny Rankin singing  "Always" moving & clicking his fingers in a reverberant room with no musical accompaniment perfect clean diction & the natural reverb oh boy,  both tracks have become favourites of mine.  
 
For me on WOTWS  the use of overlaid bass guitar & double bass by Herbie Flowers is key, a suggestion he made to double his union session fee I believe,  that subtle supporting thread that runs through the whole track  is divine.