Isotek Full System Enhancer CD

From May Belt -

"We are as interested as anyone else in finding a comprehensive theory to explain our discoveries and will happily respond to ideas that help us think harder about why our products work. We are equally interested in finding out more about instances where our products fail to deliver what we say they do. No cost need be involved, since many of our suggested 'treatments' are free or, alternatively, we will supply a sample of our Rainbow Foil free for anyone to experiment with.

All we ask in return, is that failing experiments are reported to us carefully, and yes, controlled conditions—'double-blind testing' and statistical data for example—would be useful in these circumstances. We have often done these ourselves (though 'Buddha' and others like him, may happily believe otherwise) and we are certainly concerned about accuracy in our reporting."

Huge posted:

Looked up the Nordost page...

"Nordost’s System Set-Up & Tuning Disc, which provides a track specifically designed to produces a range of tones that stress the cables".
Really?
The only way I know to stress a cable is to exceed its designed mechanical limits, voltage, current or temperature rating; and none of these practices would I recommend at all!
Furthermore this is a disk for playback so if my HiFi system was capable of stressing its cable I'd now be getting very worried as the system's currently playing and I don't want an electrical fire in my living room.

"By using extremely wide bandwidth signal as well as a range of both ultra-low and high frequency sweeps, the Vidar stresses the conductors, neutralizes charges, improves the way that signals pass through metal and  ultrasonically conditions the surface of the conductors. It is these changes in both the conductor and insulation material that refines performance in audio cables."
How?  That's not an explanation, that's merely an unsupported assertion.  Again stressing the conductors can only be achieved mechanically or by excess current.

"If cables are left unused for a prolonged period of time they become stagnant. And even through everyday cable use, electrical equipment experiences current leakage, imparting a charge onto your cables."
How?  That's not an explanation, that's merely an unsupported assertion.   "Imparting a charge" requires energy transfer, the exact opposite of stagnation - the claim they make is an oxymoron.

These outrageous obviously flawed "scientific" explanations are doing a great disservice to our hobby.

Huge, Every brand of cable maker takes an approach which suits them. Since Nordost make cables worth more than Naim kit I believe they are very happy with their products, as I assume are the many other brands. You failed to mention a couple of points about their approach, but I guess in your haste to debunk me you missed it. Cryo treatment is favoured by some not others, as are various approaches by others like Synergistic Research, they sell and highly trained audio experts along with the public agree. Hint you are not repeat NOT an electrical engineer, and as I have found you find it necessary (along with a couple others) to try and harass me and dominate some threads. You have a moderate system, and since Naim's marketing strategy is based upon upgraditis usually based upon reviews here selling for them, there is NO evidence (published) to support the need for very expensive SL cables or hilines. This is a hifi forum, nothing more, nothing less. At the end of the day, the stuff sells and is used by the vast majority of ultra high end makers. Your opinion is only that.......

I had no intention to harass you or any other forum member, or to cause you any distress.

Commercial concerns, however, I do consider legitimate targets when they publish incomplete, dubious or possibly misleading information such as Nordost have done, whilst doing so with an implied air of authority.  My criticism was specifically of Nordost not of you.

I am not an electrical engineer, however I have professionally designed electronic instrumentation, and I have also studied materials science.  And on that point there are known effects from cryo treatment - I have never claimed otherwise.  I also don't in any way rule out that these material changes can affect electrical transmission and hence sound.

jon honeyball postedr to have the honesty and integrity to say "we have no idea how this works, but we have found, to our ears, that it does"

 

By coincidence Jon the system warm up disk I have which was handed out as a freebie at the Whittlebury show several years ago - I won't mention the purveyor by name - actually says in the accompanying leaflet that there is no proven scientific evidence (words to that effect) as to why this thing should work but to their ears it does.  Leave me in the uncommitted camp.

All the best.

Lindsay

I put a Peter Belt holostrip on my isotek burn in and system enhancer cd when I ripped it.  When it's played the system gets a double dipped special attention to everything.

A few years ago on a Naim factory tour, I asked these disks (Densen DeMagic) worked and to my great surprise I was told they do. I was also told the fuse in the power supplies is directional. I'm not sure which is more amazing.

I have a disk from years ago. I might give it a try tonight. Why not?

Keith

I have just ripped it on the Unitiserve, which has identified it as a Kylie Minogue CD.

To be honest I've always found Kylies music just as difficult to listen to!!

KRM posted:

I have just ripped it on the Unitiserve, which has identified it as a Kylie Minogue CD.

It couldn't get any worse....

Perhaps I should do an A/B comparison? Which improves the system more, the Densen DeMagic or Kylie?

wenger2015 posted:

KRM posted:

I have just ripped it on the Unitiserve, which has identified it as a Kylie Minogue CD.

It couldn't get any worse....

I just can't get you out of my head *sings*

Finkfan posted:

To be honest I've always found Kylies music just as difficult to listen to!!

Well her music does span a wide range of styles and genres ... her 80's oeuvre is very different from her 90s work, and then her 2010s return have been different again...

Of course Kylie is one of those artists that it's trendy to put down usually based on her Stock Aitken and Waterman period...

Huge posted:

Looked up the Nordost page...

"Nordost’s System Set-Up & Tuning Disc, which provides a track specifically designed to produces a range of tones that stress the cables".
Really?
The only way I know to stress a cable is to exceed its designed mechanical limits, voltage, current or temperature rating; and none of these practices would I recommend at all!
Furthermore this is a disk for playback so if my HiFi system was capable of stressing its cable I'd now be getting very worried as the system's currently playing and I don't want an electrical fire in my living room.

No need to exceed or get anywhere near a cables mechanical design limit to stress it. In fact, uncoupling an interconnect from your hifi, holding one end and letting the other dangle free will induce tensional stress in it.

 Not a lot of stress, certainly not enough to damage an interconnect, unless in error the dangling end was still connected to a NAP500.

Would an increase in temp and subsequent expansion induce stress?

Would increased voltage or current increase temp?

jon honeyball posted:

"The disc can also demagnetise audio and audio-visual components."

I wonder just how excited Trading Standards could get over that claim.

 

Not as exited as they are about Naim calling their new power lead “Powerline Lite”

 They’re having a laugh

Eloise posted:

Finkfan posted:

To be honest I've always found Kylies music just as difficult to listen to!!

Well her music does span a wide range of styles and genres ... her 80's oeuvre is very different from her 90s work, and then her 2010s return have been different again...

Of course Kylie is one of those artists that it's trendy to put down usually based on her Stock Aitken and Waterman period...

I accidentally put a Kylie cd in and the message came up err.....enough said .

After saying that the Kylie cd's work very well as Coffee coasters 

My wife bought a Kylie video years ago, the budgie dresses up and dances with plenty of flash and dazzle yet sounded dreadful. I turned the picture off and asked my wife to just listen not look, she smiled and agreed she sounded dreadful. I am just grateful she left for the UK 25 years ago, she is your problem now.

Gee thanks! 

Love the Australian humour, I'd forgotten about the "singing budgie" nickname - made me laugh again.  

Cheers Huge, the Budgie sings all right. Thank you for your response last night. I know you are highly trained and your advice is always welcome and interesting. One of my first posts here on the forum when I first bought Naim was about my frustration that the hifi world seems full of companies which make claims that seem to be dubious, even to me. I asked why there were not some form of standard from which products can be seriously evaluated, like engineering standards, since all of it involves physics. Blind A/B testing seems great, but since every ear is different it seems vague. I was told there are so many variables it makes it difficult, and as it appears each company takes a different approach to say one cable or amp design over another, designs vary. I honestly don't really get that, aren't physical laws absolute? I have always said I'm not an engineers big toe, I am fascinated by it though and since building my room and spending months trying to understand the voodoo art of acoustics and vibration control, it really has sucked me in.  I wrote to Isotek early on to ask about their products, and they were so gracious to take the time to educate me on how and why they build their power cords as they do it was interesting. I also spent a bit of time in Japan awhile back and spoke to some seriously hard core horn speaker owners and a tube gear maker and found that as a novice they were quite fanatical about the miniscule elements of it all, as Naim are. That's one reason why I love JBL, every professional speaker or their top tier models have every bit of technical spec available, so much so I can look up the complete list of design, manufacture and testing that it took to build it. I have full schematics on crossover design and parts, transducer modelling and testing and of course all the graphs from anechoic testing at their facility. I also find that when I have had a question, I speak directly with a transducer engineer who sends me stuff. They have patents of course and the R&D is off limits but all else is transparent, I guess I became used to that. I have no desire to ruffle feathers here on the forum, if my communications in the past have caused anyone to get offended I absolutely didn't mean to. Life is short, hifi is cool, as I mentioned my frustration has always been that people sell very expensive stuff, yet supply little verifiable evidence so that someone like I or indeed yourself can decipher and quantify as verifiable and legit. Marketing seems to have done more harm than good, which is a shame.

All the best, Steve

Oh really - aren't we a bunch of self appointed music aficionados?  I woul suggest that alongside Coltrane, Hendrix and Bach there is a place for our and out popular music - even if out of choice I choose not to listen.    

But what I didn't realise was that Kylie was a fan of system enhancing technology