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Alfred Kainz at high-end electronics carries these adapters, though out of stock right now. He has been a good guy to deal with and ask questions of for me. He also has a straight up return policy, and at least in my experience, it can "grow a bit" in time if needed.
I would be interested to hear about what they do with your system if you end up trying them.
As to the phenomena of skeptics in audio...
"skeptic |ˈskeptik| (Brit. sceptic)
noun
1 a person inclined to question or doubt all accepted opinions.
• a person who doubts the truth of Christianity and other religions; an atheist or agnostic.
2 Philosophy an ancient or modern philosopher who denies the possibility of knowledge, or even rational belief, in some sphere.”
Quantum is a world-class audio skeptic’s buzz-word, but why?
Having liked "quantum stickers" on fuses, and recommended by folks modifying Gustard x20pro DACs (like I have been), they are up in my world. After learning to cut them up to get the best from them (generally too powerful here in larger doses), and finding the best places for sound, the DAC was notably improved. Now I am trying them in other places in the system. For better or worse, they are quite notable here.
Likely there are systems where the stickers are less, or not noticeable, but not because the maker thinks they work down to a "quantum" level. From Wikipedia: "In physics, a quantum (plural: quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an interaction."
When it comes to electricity/energy, interactivity of subatomic particles seems a given. And since music rises mysteriously out of a bunch of parts put together and moving energy in specific and interactive ways, is it a surprise that subtle (quantum) particle activity can be audible, or at least part of what is audible?
Some placements, these stickers refine the signal in ways that appeal to my preferences, and others, they refine it in ways I find off-balancing. Either way, the sound fits the concept, to clean and consolidate signal quality, supporting the presumption that they are effecting the energetic qualities that create the signal.
But I have been exploring improved signal integrity (with musicality) progressively for years, with cumulative results that are more powerful than expected. I think this is because noise perpetuates noise, building on itself...an exponential effect. If little by little we take it out, allowing better original electronic and signal integrity potential, decreasing damage is powerful. Whether conventional or "esoteric," including a lot of DIY, I find I can often refine my system better, and at much less expense for similar improvements to those brought about by mixing and matching a lot of relative "value" manufacturer's components and cables.
The result from things that help increase our listening enjoyment (like these magnetic adapters might), each improvement expands upon past improvements, and the system/room becomes more revealing. So far for me, progressive system/room improvements make new tools more easy to hear on all levels.
Toward seductive musical experiences, most everyone I know of who is serious, developer or user, has naturally exercised a great deal of experimentation, research, and skill development in discernment. Driven by desire for improvements, healthy discernment and healthy analytics go hand-in-hand...I think success is dependent mostly on confidence in what we can hear, and from there, time and experimentation refine tools, skills and quality. The point being, audio heads tend to naturally be picky and investigative.
So the assumption that those among us open to trying or using innovative audio tech need protection from ourselves, or protection from developers, seems presumptuous to me. It also casts mistrust on the perception, skills in listening, discernment, financial acumen, and intelligence in general of those of us who ultimately find some of these things useful and a decent value…
This leads to the question: why do so many folks with very revealing system/rooms hear a lot of things many don't hear in other systems? Are those with more revealing systems delusional, or might there be a chance that the cumulative effects from persistent signal quality refinement has caused more to be discernible? Why does it rarely occur to "skeptics" that mistrust underling broad skepticism could easily disallow system improvement that could make subtler things more audible?
Then there is good business. Whether little stickers or primary components, a basic premise for developing most audio tools is to try to balance expense and performance...both as a means of exercising intelligent thrift, and to help be competitive in performance/value. There are no "givens" that complex systems of parts made this way are ever "finished."
And our "faith" in some developers and users, and not others, can certainly help or cloud our perspective, so why not investigate more deeply.
If I felt like Steve and Bob’s very high level of design was the absolute end-all, I simply would not have the system quality I have. One example: it took research, learning soldering skills, and experimenting, but bypassing the power caps in my Torii and CSP3 "just so" jumped up my system comparably to a serious component upgrade...something not all that easy at this level, nor anywhere near as inexpensive as this was. And though these were more conventional “mods,” a search on bypassing audio caps will show that this too is "controversial" for “skeptics.” But in my case, great became greater!
For me, experimentation for refinements that make the music feel realer are stimulus for creative exploration. And this is supported, no matter the latest start place, by how my musical experience can always get better, at least so far. Then after good research (research that allows possibility that we do not "know" everything yet), and from relatively exhaustive efforts to get the most from whatever it is I decided to try, most things stay. I have rejected a few things, but most of those were in-part because the advice from someone I generally trusted the ear of helped me be lazy about more serious research.
The upshot...with each improvement that improves signal integrity musically, and how a room responds to it, all the rest becomes clearer. This can make one person's "snake oil" into another's tool. So I agree with Lon, if we can return it, and we like the sound of something conceptually and review-wise, it may well be worth the risk of shipping costs (and even a minor restocking fee) to try it in our systems.
Clearly, at the musical level many of us on this forum have come to, effective refinements will be system, room and tastes determined. Different system/room synergies may require different answers. But also, there are lots of tools that many agree on.
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Magnetic RCA adapters (Read 22253 times)
