Hi guys, Mad Scientist Audio is giving away a free sample of their product called BlackDiscuss.  Even shipping is free so it doesn't cost you anything to try to see if they work for you in your system.

Click here for the product link...

Click here for the freebee link...

Positive Feedback Review of the BlackDiscus

I'm with Palomino.  I tried them in all sorts of different places/configurations and didn't hear any changes.  I was hoping for something, but nothing really panned out for me.

Yeah, I had the little cupcakes on my ICs on the Zen amp, and played with them for a few minutes with the ZMA - no difference at all. I even got a nice steel bin to put them in to do the With/Without test (since the directions say you need a Faraday cage to "remove them from the room"). I hear no difference at all. Not even a little bit.

I'm trying to get a friend of mine to request the bigger cupcake sized ones just to give them a better chance (since they are free after all), but I'm not trying too hard.

Just seems like snake oil to me. I'll concentrate on diffusers and absorbers which actually do make a huge difference for little money.

Well then ... looks like they aren't a hit around here.  I'll check them out and report back if I here anything beneficial.  Luckily they let you try before you buy, so that's at least one positive note about their company.

What I think these are made of is ferrite, like the ferrite chokes I have put on some of my DIY power cords.  They are supposed to reduce EMI and RFI.  You put them near the connection point on cables to reduce what gets picked up by the cable over its run to the amp, etc.

So, if that is what they are (or some other similar material), they could have some impact to the degree that they reduce the noise.

I think I paid $4 for a couple of these ferrite chokes from parts express.  Given that these are cupcake shaped, they are probably work 10X that

I got my BlackDiscus' the other day and I brought them into my listening area, placed them in the recommended spots on my components, etc.  And ...

Well at first I thought maybe I could hear something, but overall it is extremely subtle if anything and I doubt I could pick them out in a blind listening test.  But I can say that they did no harm either.

Anyways, I'm not the best person to notice these changes as I've noticed that even cables don't make a huge difference to me like they do with some guys here.  So I'm going to pass, but I give props to Mad Scientist Audio  for at least letting you try before you buy.

I have a set on the way. Will give them a run when they arrive. Ordered them with the cupcake size puck. The pucks work in some places but not others. The tubes come free with the puck order, so ok, why not?

Got the 'tubes' today. The composite inside the tubes doesn't appear to be anything like ferrite. Pretty powdery white substance. No, no, not THAT white, maybe more like white ash color. I'll get a couple of photos later. Directions say that the powder needs to be evenly dispersed inside the tube, and then it takes awhile for the property of the substance to 'settle', maybe magnetically speaking. Says that they act on the earth's magnetic poles. Will believe it when I hear it. More to come.

Yah, curiosity has sold a lot of products to me over the years. As fae as the tubes, I haven't really listened fir their effect, as I am messing around with other stuff in the system. The one MS product that I can't argue with are the long black and blue sticks. I cheated and put them close to the voice coil of the ZOB speakers. If ever there would be a place for a stronger product, that would be it. Sure enough, there are changes. Works good on the bass, but it's the midrange that impresses me. Pulls it back just a tad from forward. And that way, I don't have to flip the switch on the driver that pulls it back a tad too much. Picky eh?

I have worked a long time to get my setup revealing, a focus on improvements in spaciousness, inner clarity, and fine detail complexity carrying benefits across the spectrum. And a lot of this started with some EMF/RFI line filters years ago that seduced me into power experiments, some pretty quirky, but useful.

I worked at it, trying the little sample discus in multiple positions, but I heard enough to buy more. Then to place a number of bigger discus, it was more work to get everything "right" in balance, but to me worth the couple hundred I spent.

I agree that the Black Discus can be subtle enough to have little effect in some positions. Also in some positions or combinations here they were not so good making for a coolish leanness. But in positions where they work well, they accentuate the best qualities that were there before, presumably from reducing noise in a neutral fashion, improving the sound top to bottom. Subtle in some ways, but when we have many thousands in a system, what is the last few percent worth?

But then, if the system does not reveal benefits, no point is there? I can say they work here though.