STB Flavored FLACS

Last night and this morning I transferred 75 songs using the Black Lion with HYPEX. I think they really sound incredible. They sound particularly good when played back on the Black Lion, as it has an extremely good headphone amp (for its price). It sounds much better than the same tracks played back on a laptop.

I'm just running through the entire USA 45 catalog (both sides, regardless of song quality :yikes:), starting at "AA". I liked this one enough to upload it.

http://www.g45central.com/posts/A440_Torture_HYPE.flac

The other tracks will not be available in the public forum.

Why both sides regardless of song quality? It's actually easier for me to operate like a production line robot, without having to make a judgement on each track, or look up it's garage-o-meter rating.
 
Here's a shot of the HYPEX transfer system. All 45s are cleaned and demagnetized before they are transferred using proprietory HYPEX contacts. I'm using special HYPEX enhanced Nordost Odin interconnects for this session. The Lyra Etna stereo cartridge is also treated with HYPEX, as you can see from the photo (gray PVA HYPE stripe across the front of the cartridge, and the pins are painted with HYPEX). The turntable mat is painted with a layer of Graystoke STB in the area where the 45 contacts the mat. But the main treatments happen at the breaker box, distribution board and every AC socket in the house.

HYPEX.JPG
 
bosshoss said:
Last night and this morning I transferred 75 songs using the Black Lion with HYPEX. I think they really sound incredible. They sound particularly good when played back on the Black Lion, as it has an extremely good headphone amp (for its price). It sounds much better than the same tracks played back on a laptop.

I'm just running through the entire USA 45 catalog (both sides, regardless of song quality :yikes:), starting at "AA". I liked this one enough to upload it.

http://www.g45central.com/posts/A440_Torture_HYPE.flac

The other tracks will not be available in the public forum.

Why both sides regardless of song quality? It's actually easier for me to operate like a production line robot, without having to make a judgement on each track, or look up it's garage-o-meter rating.
Click to expand...
:boggle::yikes:
Amazing! I'm away from my system at the moment, but cannot wait to hear this.
 
Like all of us I’m sure, I collect ’60s garage rock so have countless low fi live songs and rehearsal takes. Unlike many of you, I’m not an audiofile and don't care much about sound quality. That being said, that ‘Torture’ sound file is in all honesty stunning—I can clearly hear the faint “torture” whispers on an iPad without headphones. It’s pretty amazing, Mark.
 
greenfuzz said:
Like all of us I’m sure, I collect ’60s garage rock so have countless low fi live songs and rehearsal takes. Unlike many of you, I’m not an audiofile and don't care much about sound quality. That being said, that ‘Torture’ sound file is in all honesty stunning—I can clearly hear the faint “torture” whispers on an iPad without headphones. It’s pretty amazing, Mark.
Click to expand...

That's great to hear Mike.

I have just opened up the Black Lion and treated about 100 internal points with a super strong HYPEX PVA mixture which I created especially for the job. My first impressions are that the sound is much, much better now, compared to the A440 Torture track (which I was extremely happy with). I transferred the Allies "I'll Sell My Soul" and the bass on that track is now so tight, it can only be described as thunderous. The first 75 tracks done without the internal treatment are still good enough, but from now on the quality should be as close to perfection as possible at this time.
 
bosshoss said:
I have just opened up the Black Lion and treated about 100 internal points with a super strong HYPEX PVA mixture which I created especially for the job. My first impressions are that the sound is much, much better now, compared to the A440 Torture track (which I was extremely happy with). I transferred the Allies "I'll Sell My Soul" and the bass on that track is now so tight, it can only be described as thunderous. The first 75 tracks done without the internal treatment are still good enough, but from now on the quality should be as close to perfection as possible at this time.
Click to expand...

I did have the impression the Black Lion sounded thin relative to the old ADC, but couldn't say for sure without the same recordings to compare, but I'm sure with the internal treatment that will have all been resolved if I was correct in my assessment, especially if you were able to locate and treat the fuse, the treatment of which always produces an astonishing improvement to the low end in any audio equipment.
 
Outside_Lookin_in said:
I did have the impression the Black Lion sounded thin relative to the old ADC, but couldn't say for sure without the same recordings to compare, but I'm sure with the internal treatment that will have all been resolved if I was correct in my assessment, especially if you were able to locate and treat the fuse, the treatment of which always produces an astonishing improvement to the low end in any audio equipment.
Click to expand...

I treated everything possible and safe, including every input and output, every accessible solder joint, even the tiniest ones. Also every capacitor and every "red block" (ceramic capacitor?) was painted with HYPE X. There is no fuse, because the unit is fully powered from the Thunderbolt USB port. The only things I did not treat were the ICs, and there were a lot of very small ones. I didn't want to risk everything by treating them. HYPE X is very powerful and who knows what it would do to the timing of an IC ? Maybe one day..,.
 
bosshoss said:
HYPE X is very powerful and who knows what it would do to the timing of an IC ?
Click to expand...

I was thinking about this yesterday, and had a similar thought. Because an IC has many layers, painting the top directly with STB formula may affect the proximate layers more than the deep layers causing an imbalance - or as you call it, timing issue. My imagined solution was to apply STB tape using the thicker two sided nano tape so as to attenuate this differential as I believe the effect of STB diminishes logarithmically with distance, wherefore the differential between the effect on the top and bottom layer of the IC would be less with the 2.5-3mm separation provided by the nano tape.
 
Outside_Lookin_in said:
I was thinking about this yesterday, and had a similar thought. Because an IC has many layers, painting the top directly with STB formula may affect the proximate layers more than the deep layers causing an imbalance - or as you call it, timing issue. My imagined solution was to apply STB tape using the thicker two sided nano tape so as to attenuate this differential as I believe the effect of STB diminishes logarithmically with distance, wherefore the differential between the effect on the top and bottom layer of the IC would be less with the 2.5-3mm separation provided by the nano tape.
Click to expand...
Another solution would be to apply the HYPE only to the legs of the chips. If the mixture was non-conductive, this should be safe. I would use Stabilant 22 with Highly Boron Doped NDs.
 
bosshoss said:
Another solution would be to apply the HYPE only to the legs of the chips. If the mixture was non-conductive, this should be safe. I would use Stabilant 22 with Highly Boron Doped NDs.
Click to expand...

I'd recommend a high magnifier, a steady hand, and a fine brush - otherwise I would avoid it altogether. If the mixture was even slightly conductive, it could spell disaster.
 
Outside_Lookin_in said:
I'd recommend a high magnifier, a steady hand, and a fine brush - otherwise I would avoid it altogether. If the mixture was even slightly conductive, it could spell disaster.
Click to expand...
The ICs are so small, you could never paint them individually. Some have 3 or 4 legs per mm. Check out the larger ICs at the back, in the middle. The ICs with larger legs have surface mounted microcomponents very close to the legs. For size reference, the unit is only about 8.5 inches wide.

BlackLion.jpg
 
I'd be sticking cut-to-size patches over the solder runs, such as the two parallel ones just below the green 'QC' sticker. As long as you don't cover any exposed joints, it should be fine. I'm alway wary of painting individual components for fear of altering them beyond their operating tolerances. certainly treat the inside of the cabinet where you can. Spray primer on the underside of the cover, then you can paint it directly with STB paint; elsewhere you can use patches. If you dare dismantle it further, you may find some wiring buses you can paint.
 
Outside_Lookin_in said:
then you can paint it directly with STB paint;
Click to expand...
I will be thinking about ways (and formulas) to achieve the best results for the chassis and circuit board.

Meanwhile, I have been experimenting with HYPE "X" direcly on the pins of double adapters. HYPE X is so much stronger than anything else. Far stronger even than Highly Boron Doped nanodiamond. It's so strong that it has expanded the soundstage so far, that it is no longer conceptually possible to confine it mentally in the listening room. This creates a weird dichotomy - where the soundstage and visual stage no longer correlate. The only way to overcome this is to train the mind to think outside the box - that is, outside the room. It's not easy, and at first leads the listener (me) to believe that something must be wrong. But nothing is wrong.

I pushed the soundstage over the edge with just one HYPE X treated 6-way multiple adapter (brand new with no previous treatments or residues). If only "X" was more affordable, I would make a HYPE X box. But $200 per gram is quite steep. A gram is about half a thimble full.
 
bosshoss said:
It's so strong that it has expanded the soundstage so far, that it is no longer conceptually possible to confine it mentally in the listening room. This creates a weird dichotomy - where the soundstage and visual stage no longer correlate. The only way to overcome this is to train the mind to think outside the box - that is, outside the room.
Click to expand...

You could just close your eyes :lol:
 
For me, headphone listening is a very different experience than having music blast out of my monitor speakers and subwoofers - with speakers, I can switch between my Musical Fidelity solid state amp and my Dynakit/Dynaco MK IV tube amps and go from the locked-down punch and slam of transistors versus the Technicolor sound field that spreads out and fills the space between the speakers in a more realistic way that tubes provide. My son and I can sit and enjoy tunes together when listening through the speakers and be able to talk about things we noticed in a particular recording. Perhaps someday I'll break down and get a nice tubed headphone amp to go with my Grado cans and find out what that experience is like.
 
My transfer session tonight brings the total so far to 190 sides. Alphabetically, I'm up to "Andy's Tool Box". That's not very far...I have not declicked any of them yet either. Quite a few of them really need some attention, with very distracting repeating scratches, or bad vinyl. However I will be keeping the straight transfers as well, for those who may prefer warts and all. Some of the flipsides really stink, but that's for you to decide, not me. In fact, a few of my 45s stink on both sides I'm embarrassed to say. They're usually the ones not listed in TBM...

On the other hand, some of them have wonderful sonic qualities which almost but not quite redeems them.

From this post onwards, I'm moving all discussion about the HYPE transfers to Bunker86.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.