Listening

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With 4 Audiophile Rocks to assess as well as the shorting plug I tried to keep this as simple for myself as I could and thus I started with the amplifier alone, then a source. However after doing this I also introduced using two rocks on the source and amplifier.

What I am not going to do here is examine every option in detail, as I think that would lead to an unwieldy review and for some readers a boring one, instead I will focus in detail on some aspects and more generally on others.

Volcano

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First up was the Volcano, as Audiophile Rocks state it was the replacement for the Vibradome Blue Star.

The difference the Volcano brought to the track was a wider soundstage, extra clarity to the space and air of the musics acoustic. There was also a greater sense of instruments and Brendan Perry’s voice being more dimensional and a greater sense of layering within the music.

These improvements were right the way across the treble, mid-range and bass. I would say there was no tonal change, no shift in focus or spotlighting music was simply appearing to be reproduced with improvements in the areas mentioned.

This wasn’t a subtle improvement and yet I did a fair few Volcano on, Volcano off comparisons before I could really accept what I was hearing. In all honesty despite hearing the positive effects the Vibradome Blue star had made to my other system I was still shocked and surprised this item could make such a difference by just sitting on the amps case. Its not heavy enough to damp it and yet it was making a difference and a positive one – frankly I don’t know how.

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I also tried it on the source but felt that it gave more benefit on the amplifier, but there was an improvement while sitting on the top of the Sony HAPZ1, just not as large a one as there was while on top of the amplifier.

Next up was the Glo.

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Placing the Glo on top of the BAT VK300se brought a difference to the presentation and a very slight shift in focus. There was a smidge more detail and definition in the mid and treble and a very slight shift in the soundstage coming forward, with a little more depth to the image.

Using the Glo on the Sony didn’t bring the same degree of benefit as the Volcano had but there was still an improvement, and one worth having.

Rockwood V6

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I did a number of on, off comparisons, and to the Volcano and was left speechless as to how this could possibly do what it was doing.

Trying the track Birds also off Into The Labyrinth by Dead was very useful regarding how the Rockwood altered the soundstage. At the beginning there is an intro with numerous bird sounds and to the far right of the soundstage a number of bird calls appear. With the Rockwood on top of the BAT there was an extra realism to these calls that helped create the illusion that the bird making them was half way out into the room. Swapping back to the Volcano saw the bird call shrink slightly back to the right speaker.

Percussion, and drum sounds had extra impact, decay and nuance, the strikes on skin and subsequent trail off into the acoustic was breathtakingly real sounding.

Black Hole

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The Black Hole had a similar effect to the Rockwood V6 but I felt that I just preferred the Rockwood in that I felt there was a very slight forwardness to the way the Black Hole worked in the system. In saying that this was pretty subtle and during the blind testing part of the review period the blind listener was not always able to discern whether it was the Black Hole or Rockwood, but could always hear the effect of the tweaks sitting on the amplifier.

The Noise Terminator

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My methodology re this was to use it in a source, Marantz CD7 digital output and an unused RCA input on my Balanced Audio Technology VK300se integrated amplifier.

I started with track four on Dead Can Dance’s album Into the Labyrinth, The Carnival is Over with the Noise Terminator not in place and then with it in the BAT VK300se.

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It was immediately obvious that there was a change, the harp at the beginning of the track had more space, and air round it, detail of the strings being plucked were much more obvious and within the soundscape of the track the harp was more 3 dimensional than it had been. The swirling keyboards also benefited from the same change as did Brendan Perry’s vocals.

Separation of the various elements within the track was improved with every aspect now clearer. The drum which beats like a heart in parts of the track was also so much more clear and defined as was the percussion elements towards the end. Another aspect that was better was the fade out where Brendan speaks. With the Noise Terminator in place his voice stood out more even as the track fades away to nothing.

I then placed the Noise Terminator in one of the digital outputs of the Marantz CD7 and had another listen. This was better than without but not as marked a difference as in place in the amplifier.

Switching back again to no Terminator in the amp, just to recheck my listening experience and then back to the Terminator in place really was an expletive moment, I swore. This time round I was able to concentrate on other aspects of how this track sounded, and the increase in soundstage width and depth, and the track appearing to sound a smidge louder (volume setting were not changed) stood out more. I think it important to do several back and forward comparisons and this was revealing.

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Next I tried Stimela (The Coal Train) by Hugh Masekela and listening today was tinged with sadness at his very recent death, but also in awe of his great talent. First I listened with the Terminator in place and then with and I had another expletive moment. The clarity of the drum at the opening, cow bell and far right soundstage keyboard with the Noise Terminator in place was impressive and had all the same types of improvement there had been with the Dead Can Dance track.

The soundstage width and depth were improved and audience sounds had much more clarity and detail, individual voices more real than the slightly more homogenised non Terminator presentation, within the also improved acoustic of the club venue.

Hugh’s vocal had also gained greater clarity and detail as had the nuances of his trumpet playing.

I remember hearing a similar effect the first time I had placed Telos Caps on the unused RCA sockets of my system at that tine, but this improvement was brought about by just one item, not all the sockets being covered by caps. Where I originally lived the environment was much more noise filled than where I am now, I lived near a busy airport, with all its electronic devices, radar etc so to find this degree of improvement in my current environment begs the question what noise is the Terminator dealing with now ? I am not sure, but its effect, that of just one was big enough that I am very impressed with what the Noise Terminator was doing to reproduced music within my system.

Blind Testing

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As with the previous blind listening tests conducted at the time of the Vibradome Blue Star original review I did not tell the experienced listener what I was doing but simply played the same piece of music several times, both on a short comparison and over a slightly longer period of time. I know some favour these sorts of comparisons to be done over longer time periods than I allowed but I was fairly confident that the comparison methodology I adopted would identify differences in presentation, detail retrieval, tonal changes, and general improvements.

With the Volcano the blind listener was able to hear improvements in imaging, clarity and there were also tonal improvements. Glo brought about increased clarity in the treble, midrange and vocals. There was also an increase in soundstage width. Rockwood, and Blackhole improvements were audible but as mentioned above the blind listener was not always able to discern which was which as he felt the improvements were broadly similar. After exploring this further he felt the Black Hole’s soundstage was slightly bigger than the Rockwood V6, but there wasn’t much in it between the two, with both improving the soundstage by revealing more air in the acoustic, greater dimensionality, and subtle nuances in the music also became clearer.

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My own listening experience roughly paralleled, the blind listener with a few differences in description, and interpretation of what we heard, but the main point is both of us heard these items improve and make a difference to the equipment they were placed on, be it the BAT VK300se integrated amplifier, the Sony HAPz1, Passlabs Xono or the Marantz SA7 and later on during my own follow up listening to a Marantz CD7.

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