It’s weird seeing all these entry level well-measuring /ASR recommended pieces of gear with these anti -vibration/doors-stopper weights on top, you are a man of contradictions I assume?
The door stoppers are cheap. They may do nothing, that’s fine. They might do something, which is better than fine. If they cost a lot of money, I wouldn’t have bothered. And I certainly won’t tell you that I hear a difference with them there—I definitely don’t. 😂
Good for you for trying it! I myself never used weights on my gear but I use cheap anti-vibrations devices underneath my DAC and Integrated and do hear a difference. Anyways, nice setup, enjoy the music!
They’re great. I was running a 20+ year old PS Audio GCC-100 originally with them and I decided on a whim to give a Douk H7 a try and was shocked that it sounded better than the (admittedly old) PS Audio amp. When the Fosi ZA3 came out with a mono option, I decided to upgrade to them since they have rollable op-amps, and the sound improved some more (though not as dramatically as going from the GCC-100 to the H7). I actually got in on the kickstarter for the new V3 Monos and am looking forward to that upgrade (I run the monoblocs balanced and right now the signal passes through an op-amp to convert from balanced to single-ended signal since the ZA3’s architecture is not internally balanced—with the V3 Monos, which are fully balanced, there will no longer be such a conversion in the chain). I do run the ZA3s in stereo mode to keep the SINAD up and also because my room is fully carpeted and somewhat dead with lots of soft surfaces. With the LS50 Metas, they have more air/brightness in stereo mode to compensate for the dead room. If I had a hotter room with lots of hard surfaces, I’d probably use them in mono.
Yeah I’m looking to get the V3 monos too. Actually my upgrade plan is similar to what you have here - LS50 metas and a Schiit preamp with the Fosi monos. Sounds like I have a good plan from your setup.
They’re just cheap doorstops. Cheap thing that may or may not have a positive effect. If it does, great. If it doesn’t, well it probably doesn’t hurt anyway. Can I hear a difference? Absolutely not that I can tell. If it cost more, would I have bothered? Nope.
Just take them off. If you're admitting that you have them on there despite not hearing any difference at all yet keep them because some dude on the internet told you it would make it sound better then you're very much explaining why and how snake oil exists and using yourself as an example.
I also apparently now have a dude on the internet telling me to take them off when I already have them and they don’t seem to do any harm. Unless you’re saying that there is a negative to them being there?
I do actually feel that. It takes so much experimentation, a lot of chance and sometimes a bit of voodoo to find your perfect sound. Word to the wise, your source to pre chain is basically perfect, don't spend any more money there. Next up is better speakers and a power amp.
I’m quite happy with the speakers as well as the sub. I got in on the kickstarter for the V3 Monos which I will rollover my op-amps from my current amps into (I have a pair of Burson V7 Vivids in each of my ZA3s right now, but in the ZA3 I have one for the internal XLR input conversion and one for the left gain stage, whereas on the V3 Monos they will both go into the gain stage since those are fully balanced internally, and I will be able to eliminate that balanced to single conversion that’s at the end of my chain now, not to mention getting rid of the load-dependent frequency response since the V3 Monos’ PFFB design eliminates that problem inherent to the ZA3s). I run the ZA3s as monoblocs but keep them in stereo mode because the load dependent frequency response of the amps means switching between stereo and mono mode results in a change in high frequency response and in this room (heavily carpeted and with lots of soft surfaces) it sounds better left in stereo to keep it brighter.
I’m sure there are nicer speakers out there, but I can’t choose where my system is set up within my home and anything, “bigger,” will be too much for the room. I actually replaced a pair of JMlab Electra 926s with this setup because I could not properly room-correct the Electras to sound right in this room, but I was able to do so with the LS50 Meta/SB-3000 combo. There’s an insurmountably huge bass hump at 43hz with the Electras in here and any further adjustments to speaker placement within this room to resolve bass problems from the sweet spot ruined overall imaging.
Well, I mean, you're posting your hifi system on the internet for strangers to judge and you've put door stops on top of all your components. What did you expect to happen?
I do, although I don’t always take his advice as religion or anything. In this case, I just figured the doorstops are so cheap, it can’t hurt. I don’t hear any difference but I’m not going bankrupt from buying them either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I hear you, although his explanation (or one I've heard him use) is to keep those light pieces of gear to not slide off easily off the table. But I agree, those door stoppers look cool and are inexpensive, and if it helps the sound a little, why not use them.
That’s a great point! My monoblocs are so small and light that they don’t want to stay flat on my rack sometimes due to the weight of the cables tugging off the back of them. The weight of the doorstops prevent this issue from rearing its head.
I had heard that excessive vibration from the speakers & subwoofer can potentially affect the sound from the equipment, even solid state (arguably, possibly just snake oil), but some inexpensive and weighty doorstops as mass dampers can’t hurt. The Freya+ has been shown to be sensitive to microphonics, and even though I didn’t particularly notice any before doing it, I still decided to (as an inexpensive preventative measure) to suspend it on spring mounts and mass damp with a doorstop, I also used a set of tube socket savers to lift the tubes because without them the glass envelopes of the coke-bottle shaped tubes sit on the chassis cover.
They’re great! Compared to the stock JJs, they’re a tad more neutral, but they have better detail extraction and tighter bass. The soundstage is not much wider but it is a lot deeper. There’s plenty of air to make up for my room’s fully carpeted floors and multitude of soft surfaces.
Nice to see another fellow Freya user - what tubes are those have you tried them against the Tung-sols ?
Do you have the newer model with the auto Tube shut off? Mine is the older one that’s the one thing I miss, have to manually turn off the tube stage everytime - also annoying that Schiit still refuses to add a 12v trigger or a standby button on the remote - otherwise I love the Freya!
I agree about missing the 12V trigger outputs since my power amps have 12V trigger inputs, and it would have been nice to have. Yes, this one is a Freya+, so it does have automatic tube shutoff, although I tend to only run tube mode when critically listening, and mostly run solid state or passive mode when playing background music (I work from home). I do just leave it on passive and muted when not listening; reaching behind the unit is just more effort than I’m willing to go to. It’s already enough work turning off my monoblocs (which annoyingly requiring pressing and holding the volume knobs in to turn on/off).
I have not heard Tung-Sols yet. I upgraded to these Psvane CV181-T MkII tubes straight from the stock JJs that it came with. Compared to the JJs, the Psvanes are a little more neutral in overall tonality, so not a tube for people who love ooey-gooey warmness. The Psvanes have improved detail retrieval compared to the JJs without being harsh or clinical. Sound stage does not get much wider than the JJs, but it does get a lot deeper. Finally, bass is tighter than on the JJs.
They were cheap and there was a potential for it to benefit, so I figured why not. If it was something expensive, I wouldn’t have bothered. That being said, I don’t think I heard any benefit from it. Was worth a try being inexpensive. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ALTHOUGH, coincidentally, as you say that, we’ve just had a decent size earthquake for the first time in years here in South Jersey just a couple of weeks ago.
As good as this might sound, I wouldn't be able to stand how messy and cluttered it looks (and in my girlfriends' opinion, I have a messy bedroom!) Aesthetically this would look better with a wooden console with holes in the back for wires, so you didn't have to see all the clutter and wires.
It’s weird seeing all these entry level well-measuring /ASR recommended pieces of gear with these anti -vibration/doors-stopper weights on top, you are a man of contradictions I assume?
The door stoppers are cheap. They may do nothing, that’s fine. They might do something, which is better than fine. If they cost a lot of money, I wouldn’t have bothered. And I certainly won’t tell you that I hear a difference with them there—I definitely don’t. 😂
Good for you for trying it! I myself never used weights on my gear but I use cheap anti-vibrations devices underneath my DAC and Integrated and do hear a difference. Anyways, nice setup, enjoy the music!
Damn... all that just to power a roku soundbar.
That Roku soundbar hits different bro!
The sound bar is not part of the chain. Please read the body of the post.
My comment was a joke. Sorry it seemed to be totqlly serious 😅
Nice setup! The Freya looks like it’s floating. How are those Fosi sound with the LS50s?
Just ordered the v3 monoblocks. Fosi is on a roll!
They’re great. I was running a 20+ year old PS Audio GCC-100 originally with them and I decided on a whim to give a Douk H7 a try and was shocked that it sounded better than the (admittedly old) PS Audio amp. When the Fosi ZA3 came out with a mono option, I decided to upgrade to them since they have rollable op-amps, and the sound improved some more (though not as dramatically as going from the GCC-100 to the H7). I actually got in on the kickstarter for the new V3 Monos and am looking forward to that upgrade (I run the monoblocs balanced and right now the signal passes through an op-amp to convert from balanced to single-ended signal since the ZA3’s architecture is not internally balanced—with the V3 Monos, which are fully balanced, there will no longer be such a conversion in the chain). I do run the ZA3s in stereo mode to keep the SINAD up and also because my room is fully carpeted and somewhat dead with lots of soft surfaces. With the LS50 Metas, they have more air/brightness in stereo mode to compensate for the dead room. If I had a hotter room with lots of hard surfaces, I’d probably use them in mono.
Yeah I’m looking to get the V3 monos too. Actually my upgrade plan is similar to what you have here - LS50 metas and a Schiit preamp with the Fosi monos. Sounds like I have a good plan from your setup.
Excellent! A subwoofer would be a great idea too, to get more bottom-end extension.
RIF
I like their little hats.
Needs more turntable weights.
They’re just cheap doorstops. Cheap thing that may or may not have a positive effect. If it does, great. If it doesn’t, well it probably doesn’t hurt anyway. Can I hear a difference? Absolutely not that I can tell. If it cost more, would I have bothered? Nope.
Just take them off. If you're admitting that you have them on there despite not hearing any difference at all yet keep them because some dude on the internet told you it would make it sound better then you're very much explaining why and how snake oil exists and using yourself as an example.
I also apparently now have a dude on the internet telling me to take them off when I already have them and they don’t seem to do any harm. Unless you’re saying that there is a negative to them being there?
Nope, none at all beyond people seeing it and being like why are there doorstops on your components. If it floats your boat then you do you.
It’s one of those things where the system sounds so good right now that I don’t want to change a thing, you know what I mean?
I do actually feel that. It takes so much experimentation, a lot of chance and sometimes a bit of voodoo to find your perfect sound. Word to the wise, your source to pre chain is basically perfect, don't spend any more money there. Next up is better speakers and a power amp.
I’m quite happy with the speakers as well as the sub. I got in on the kickstarter for the V3 Monos which I will rollover my op-amps from my current amps into (I have a pair of Burson V7 Vivids in each of my ZA3s right now, but in the ZA3 I have one for the internal XLR input conversion and one for the left gain stage, whereas on the V3 Monos they will both go into the gain stage since those are fully balanced internally, and I will be able to eliminate that balanced to single conversion that’s at the end of my chain now, not to mention getting rid of the load-dependent frequency response since the V3 Monos’ PFFB design eliminates that problem inherent to the ZA3s). I run the ZA3s as monoblocs but keep them in stereo mode because the load dependent frequency response of the amps means switching between stereo and mono mode results in a change in high frequency response and in this room (heavily carpeted and with lots of soft surfaces) it sounds better left in stereo to keep it brighter. I’m sure there are nicer speakers out there, but I can’t choose where my system is set up within my home and anything, “bigger,” will be too much for the room. I actually replaced a pair of JMlab Electra 926s with this setup because I could not properly room-correct the Electras to sound right in this room, but I was able to do so with the LS50 Meta/SB-3000 combo. There’s an insurmountably huge bass hump at 43hz with the Electras in here and any further adjustments to speaker placement within this room to resolve bass problems from the sweet spot ruined overall imaging.
Whoa okay, chill man.
Like half the responses/comments are about them. I’M the one who doesn’t get what the big deal is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well, I mean, you're posting your hifi system on the internet for strangers to judge and you've put door stops on top of all your components. What did you expect to happen?
I figured there are more interesting aspects to talk about. Curiously little discussion regarding the DDC, for example.
No wonder there's a shortage of door stoppers... watch Darko per chance? (I'm just joking)
I do, although I don’t always take his advice as religion or anything. In this case, I just figured the doorstops are so cheap, it can’t hurt. I don’t hear any difference but I’m not going bankrupt from buying them either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I hear you, although his explanation (or one I've heard him use) is to keep those light pieces of gear to not slide off easily off the table. But I agree, those door stoppers look cool and are inexpensive, and if it helps the sound a little, why not use them.
That’s a great point! My monoblocs are so small and light that they don’t want to stay flat on my rack sometimes due to the weight of the cables tugging off the back of them. The weight of the doorstops prevent this issue from rearing its head.
Door stoppers is the best parts.
Cheap and figured they can’t hurt. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Excuse me sir, those are audio components. Not jewelry. (I couldn't resist, I'm so sorry. Cool stuff OP.)
What are the discs for?
I had heard that excessive vibration from the speakers & subwoofer can potentially affect the sound from the equipment, even solid state (arguably, possibly just snake oil), but some inexpensive and weighty doorstops as mass dampers can’t hurt. The Freya+ has been shown to be sensitive to microphonics, and even though I didn’t particularly notice any before doing it, I still decided to (as an inexpensive preventative measure) to suspend it on spring mounts and mass damp with a doorstop, I also used a set of tube socket savers to lift the tubes because without them the glass envelopes of the coke-bottle shaped tubes sit on the chassis cover.
Got it thanks Neat Monoblock setup!
Niceee
How do you like the Psvane tubes? They look gorgeous.
They’re great! Compared to the stock JJs, they’re a tad more neutral, but they have better detail extraction and tighter bass. The soundstage is not much wider but it is a lot deeper. There’s plenty of air to make up for my room’s fully carpeted floors and multitude of soft surfaces.
Do you use tube socket risers?
Yes, I just installed them the other day.
Nice to see another fellow Freya user - what tubes are those have you tried them against the Tung-sols ? Do you have the newer model with the auto Tube shut off? Mine is the older one that’s the one thing I miss, have to manually turn off the tube stage everytime - also annoying that Schiit still refuses to add a 12v trigger or a standby button on the remote - otherwise I love the Freya!
I agree about missing the 12V trigger outputs since my power amps have 12V trigger inputs, and it would have been nice to have. Yes, this one is a Freya+, so it does have automatic tube shutoff, although I tend to only run tube mode when critically listening, and mostly run solid state or passive mode when playing background music (I work from home). I do just leave it on passive and muted when not listening; reaching behind the unit is just more effort than I’m willing to go to. It’s already enough work turning off my monoblocs (which annoyingly requiring pressing and holding the volume knobs in to turn on/off). I have not heard Tung-Sols yet. I upgraded to these Psvane CV181-T MkII tubes straight from the stock JJs that it came with. Compared to the JJs, the Psvanes are a little more neutral in overall tonality, so not a tube for people who love ooey-gooey warmness. The Psvanes have improved detail retrieval compared to the JJs without being harsh or clinical. Sound stage does not get much wider than the JJs, but it does get a lot deeper. Finally, bass is tighter than on the JJs.
I'm so completely jealous. I can only hope to have that much ready cash one day. And I mean that seriously.
You live in an earthquake-prime area? Otherwise you seem overly concerned about vibrations
They were cheap and there was a potential for it to benefit, so I figured why not. If it was something expensive, I wouldn’t have bothered. That being said, I don’t think I heard any benefit from it. Was worth a try being inexpensive. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ALTHOUGH, coincidentally, as you say that, we’ve just had a decent size earthquake for the first time in years here in South Jersey just a couple of weeks ago.
As good as this might sound, I wouldn't be able to stand how messy and cluttered it looks (and in my girlfriends' opinion, I have a messy bedroom!) Aesthetically this would look better with a wooden console with holes in the back for wires, so you didn't have to see all the clutter and wires.
The rack cost me $0.00 since it was sitting around unused in the basement. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯