When you look at it, we have improved the r26 and x26pro without having to get a soldering iron out (well apart from Damien with the toroidal move) and the possibility of us fecking things up...happy days

It's exciting times Clifford, and getting the soldering iron out is always squeaky bum time for myself,and yes... l have broken stuff in the past.

l still believe this is a golden age of digital audio,the discoveries by diyers on forums has given a lot of us set ups that was thought impossible or unaffordable, this does present a issue for designers, where diyers are obtaining a superior sound than there own flag ship models.
How long before we see a company start adding compounds like Graphene, Graphite, Rochelle Salt and magnetite, frankly it's only a matter of time.

So been settling in the new sound of my R26 this weekend. Today it was time to experiment with Rochelle Salt.

Just a brief recap, and the credit goes to Headfi forum and cdacosta, he been playing with ground boxes and different minerals etc.

His latest discovery has been tested by a number of Headfi forum members, all with positive feedback.

ln a nutshell it's very cheap and simple tweek,that almost seems to be to good to be true.
All that's needed from RS is some small plastic zip bags, and l suggest a jewellery weighing scales,rather that a kitchen scales, as most kitchen scales,won't display 0.5 grams.

As you can see by the photo below, l have put 14 grams of RS in a bag, tape it to the inside of my power breaker, when the door closed it sits near the trip switches. l have a bit of a strange setup at my house,l have 3 power boxes,this one is my second box,that feeds to my listening room,where there is another power box, l have repeated the process on that one as well.

Rochelle Salt 14grams by Damien Read, on Flickr

So what does RS do? RS isn't conductive,so you can breathe a sigh of relief, as the worse case,if you spill some,you just get the vacuum out.

RS is a very potent at absorbing EMF noise. cdacosta recommends only small amounts, so 1gram to a 0.5grams ,you can wrap them around powered and unpowered light and mains switches RJ45 cables, place some inside equipment....Honestly you can go as far as you feel. The reason cdacosta suggests small amounts, as addong too much, and it can tilt the sound from being to bright and increase low,end to much, by using small amounts, it seems to clean the AC power line, but reduce the influence on the sound, allowing you to hear micro elements,you may have picked up on. All for peanuts really. Of course this will vary from user to user, if you don't run any power conditioners, this is a must.
From cdacosta experiments, he believes that all of your houses wiring, being used or not, acts like a giant antenna for noise, so by placing small amounts,at as many accessible points helps things.

Now l have explained, hopefully your still awake Zzzzzz 🤣
How does it sound at my end, l have used RS already in my R26, so l was wondering what effect it would have ,just on my two power breakers using 14grams.This amount of,14grams is only recommended for your powerbreakers only!

l have to admit, very positive... lt's hard to express using all the cliques, but it resulted into smoother,but more controlled sound,definitely lowering the noise floor further.
lt was when l revisited Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler track "For All Or Days...."
l had never heard it sound so good, harshness totally gone, dynamics brilliant, and more importantly when the chorus hits, everything is controlled and where it should be, on my previous set up,this wasn't the case, when the chorus would come in, there would be that harshness,lack of control.

Okay hope l haven't bored you all this week, next week l will be testing the small amounts on sockets etc..

Damien

l am hoping for another TAS member to give it a try. l think of all the progress that l have made with my set up, and it's mainly been done to the reduction in noise.

Damien, you are bonkers and I claim my £5

Well done for putting in yet another crazy idea that works

It's not a huge distance on the madness scale from grounding boxes, and there are plenty who simply won't accept those.

For me, they are as essential as the components themselves if you are chasing digital high end.

lndeed Martin, they do make a difference... Thankfully we don't seem to have any ASR fan boys on TAS.

BTW Jake has been playing with Graphite sheets on his ground boxes,with positive comments, Graphite is the same stuff in Rustins G Shield... lt's seems that we are all getting a better understanding of how to use these minerals...based on real world experience, which is great.

Great work Damien.
I had a chuckle at the oxo cube and the little zip bag of white powder with accompanying weighing scales.

Now that's what you call a county lines operation!