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I'm not sure where to post this.recently i discovered my XBOX (that's right) is a better sounding cd player than the Sony SCD-595 changer that i've had a few years. It doesn't suffer from HF issues, in-your-face presentation or a high noise floor. BUT, in stock form its not the bee's knees...the bass output is lacking.
while attempting to tweak it, i installed 3 difft aftermarket male plugs on the stock power cord: cryo'd wattgate 5266i, Furutech FI-11M & Oyaide P-079. $20, $40 & $90 plugs.
I have a cryo'd SWO-XXX in the wall and 3 SWO-XXX's in the BPT PPC power strip. i've owned this gear for some time, 6 months or so, but have not appreciated the effort or $ spent until last night.
cutting off the stock plug on the XBOX pc and installing the wattgate proved beneficial - the XBOX is super sensitive to AC quality. next, the furutech ratcheted up performance big time, lots more bass and a major imaging improvement: instruments and musicians are now quite spread apart. I simply wasn't prepared for the silken changes the Oyaide imparted though - as of last night my stereo sounds real. Voices are real, instruments sound real, etc, etc. i can only imagine how this stuff effects systems full of expensive gear & well made speakers. this is an odd statement, but my system no longer has bass. It does, however, faithfully reproduce the sound of a bass guitar, a drum kit, etc, etc.
What began as a test to see how 1 plug can improve a cheap component turned into the realization that having an AC current delivery 'system' is an amazing stereo upgrade. Adding one nice outlet or nice plugs is a good thing (and a necessary start), but the magic may not show itself until the entire signal chain is upgraded with these parts. which sucks considering the cost involved!i'm not posting to pimp Oyaide...my guess is that a similar system with Furu or FIM or Wattgate pieces would achieve the same synergy.
consequently, i installed the P-079 plug on the Sony 5 disc changer...it did not cure the player's ills whatsoever. the change was nothing like what the plug did for the XBOX.
if anyone reading is a gamer and powers their gear through decent wall outlets & what not, look into replacing the stock male plug on your gaming unit once the warranty runs out - you'll be really surprised.
Follow Ups:
Okay, I just put up a pic of the Oyaide WPC-XXX in action. Go to my blog below, and check out the 12/6, 7/7, and 6/6 entries for home pics of Oyaide stuff.Yep, it's an unspoken understanding that powerline conditioning, powercords, and interconnects can unlock the awesome sound and visual capabilities of video game consoles. It happened for me and my friends about a decade ago, when, out of sheer whimsy, we plugged the Sony PS1 into an API Power Wedge 116, and lashed it up with XLO's Signature 1.1 interconnect. At the same time, a friend was cutting off the skimpy powercord from his Conrad Johnson PV-10A, and hard-wired some MIT Z-Cord. But you did this sort of thing to your Xbox. I applaud you for trying, and for letting us know what happened. Do you also have, or intend to get, the Xbox 360?
-Lummy The Seahorse
Hey Lummy,thanks for the kind words and encouragement. your blog is great..
I won't get a new gaming system until I can afford an HDTV.
i'm tryin to convince friends to add a new plug to their new XBOX 360 or Playstation 3 systems. a good friend just spent about $3K on a 55 inch DLP TV and XBOX 360 yet he laughs when i mention he can ratchet performance by installing a new outlet or new plugs. Funny that the average joe can spend like that but scoff at an extra $100 to make it all work perfectly. If Circuit City sold this stuff he wouldn't laugh, and that's the sad truth.its cool that gaming systems don't have captive cords...replacement stock cords are $10 or less, in case a tweak goes wrong.
i also removed 9 internal screws from the XBOX: 6 long ones that hold the case together and 3 for the DVD drive. Removing all the ferrous material and rods that connected vibrating parts seems to also play a big part in the improved sonics.
Excuse me Sir,may I ask you which precise model do you have?
I have always had an enourmous interest for the so-called "giant killers".
Does it play even dvds?
Thank you so much.
Kind regards,
I believe the XBOX is the most current model....it was mfgr'd 1/05.It has the Phillips drive in it and does play DVD's. Odd enough, the only CD-R type it will play are the MAM-A Gold Pro Audio Masters. i've tried silver taiyo yuden's and black memorex's and a few other blanks.
For the last year 2 years i've used XBOX solely as a dvd player, i'm not a gamer. Previously I had one of the DVD/VHS combo players, the colors and video accuracy of the XBOX were much better than the combo unit.
By my post i'm not stating the XBOX is a 'giant killer' on its own, though i think it is a decent cdp. My post was simply to say that with about $600 of Oyaide power supplies, the XBOX is a kick-ass cd player. Without all the Oyaide stuff, i don't know.
Please excuse me if I am little petulant.
It the one showed in the link?
Thanks a lot and kind regards,beppe
The one pictured is the new XBOX 360. Mine is the previous model, called the XBOX.The XBOX 360 in the picture is a very cool machine, probably outperforms my machine.
There are pictures of the old XBOX on that website though, just look for it.
Thank you very much indeed again.
Very interesting topic this one.
With the distribution of the new model there are a lot of old units on ebay.
I will try and report.Kind regards,
Can't agree with U more Matt.Having been using Oyaide SWO/P products for about a year now, I can say without hesitation that the musical improvements these products bring to ones system is far greater than their asking price...especially when used as a set.
"cutting off the stock plug on the XBOX pc and installing the wattgate proved beneficial"
I did this same upgrade on my Marantz DVD player but the an Oyaide P-079 and pretty much experienced what U did with your X-box. I try to encourage people to try this before replacing the PC on their CD/DVD players.
These can be taken a step further though. If your home/dwelling uses drywall on 16" stud spacing for the interior construction, U have got to hear what the WPC-Z brings to the SWO/P products!
When all 3 of these are used together, a synergy is amalgamated that is beautiful :-)"I have a cryo'd SWO-XXX in the wall and 3 SWO-XXX's in the BPT PPC power strip."
Try adding a WPC-Z to your SWO-XXX in the wall. Music Direct has a 100% money back guarantee on these so whats to loose...although I can pretty much bet U won't want your money back :-)
I know this addition may seem like "Guilding the lilly" BUT when one has already heard the benefits of what Oyaide and other products brings to ones system, it only seems logical to complete the Oyaide "system".
Cheers,
See, this is what i'm afraid of...i'm gonna go broke!!!just kidding, at some point I will try the $200 outlet cover. In my home, i can't even get a normal outlet cover to fit securely though...the metal box that holds the wall outlet is set inside the wall quite far, over 1" in. right now the swo-xxx is installed with 2 brass screws (which also ground the plug to the box) and i have a foam outlet cover insulator as the faceplate...totally ghetto & not proper but just temp until i can figure out how to bring the outlet flush with the wall yet still be grounded properly.
kenster, you're the 1st person to rationalize that CF & aluminum outlet cover, damn you! But, now that i hear the cumulative Oyaide improvements loud & clear i'm gonna work on getting finishing the system in '07.
I'm happy to report that i also cut off the stock plug on my cable tv box and installed a cryo'd 5266i plug - the effort has produced a nice improvement in both audio & video thus far. I plug my tv & cable box on a difft circuit than my stereo. This other circuit has NO fancy outlets or nothin...the cable tv box is plugged into a $3, 3 outlet outlet extension cord (no surge protection)which plugs into a 30yr old standard wall outlet. I'm going to stick a 5266i plug on the TV at some point.
i'd bet that well designed components that have crappy stock male plugs benefit from aftermarket plugs more than crappy gear will benefit.
"In my home, i can't even get a normal outlet cover to fit securely though...the metal box that holds the wall outlet is set inside the wall quite far, over 1" in."Sounds like U need some metalic standoffs to go between the metal box and the outlet. I've included a link to Keystone who has quite a big selection of standoffs in all different configurations.
Just to be on the safe side, I would also add a heavy gauge jumper from the metal box over to the outlet and attach it between the moun ting tab on the outlet and the standoff.Heck, U might even get lucky and find some standoffs at Home Depot!!
With the Oyaide WPC-X, the outlet/CF piece mounts to the machined aluminum bracket and then the bracket mounts to the metal/plastic box.
"i'd bet that well designed components that have crappy stock male plugs benefit from aftermarket plugs more than crappy gear will benefit."
IME, the stock molded plastic AC plugs do more sonic damage than the stock wiring their connected with, thus my encouragement to just replace the male AC plug with an Oyaide or another cryo'd aftermarket AC plug :-)
Cheers,
~kenster
:)
We have had several discussions about this and the underlying functional mechanisms (if valid) on Tweaks. You can look up the experiments and results there. It was sparked by some of the earlier inmate postings of positive results with the Oyaide plates.Al Sekela and I have been testing out carbon fiber in various applications, starting with the wall plates, and it works. So does heavy guage aluminum (or other mechanically damping)plates. Sometimes so do metal plates that are non-ferrous. So the combo would surely work with: mechanical damping, some shielding, and RFI control.
You don't need the Oyaide to do this, BTW. But you will need to be able to work the CF in various ways. YMMV
sorry! i have read posts from you guys on this. It'd be great if someone could mfgr CF plates that aren't expensive...maybe with a sandwiched layer of brass for damping?
to date i've tried out oak & brass & the normal hard plastic & the orig ferrous metal covers. I 'think' i could hear a positive change with both the brass & the Oak. BUT, as i stated in an earlier post its tough for me to properly install an oultet cover. plus there have been lots of tweaks and upgrades since i tried listening to difft outlet plates.i'm stoked to have a free floating outlet yet have sound this good. If outlet covers have an audible effect, i should be able to hear somethin once i get around to it.
Can anyone help me bring the outlet 'out of the box' so I can install an outlet cover? a 1/2" extension would be fine i think... There's a ground wire screwed into the conduit box, so the safety part is done - i just can't find a product designed to bring an outlet flush with its cover.the brass screws i'm using are long, 3" or so. I can simply unscrew them more so the outlet hangs loose, not sure if that's a good idea though.
matt
Matt, I wish that too.My original idea was to take a similar looking cast aluminum (outdoor waterproof) plate and infill the CF. That led to some experiments with just the ordinary aluminum plates that worked well.
Trouble is that the Oyaide piece of alum has a much wider opening than anything you'd find off the shelf and this does make a difference, according the Al's theory.
Then I experimented with laminating CF cloth in 2 layers (with carbon paper per Moray James' suggestion) behind a regular nylon plate and that worked very well indeed.
So I bought some CF blanks (aircraft manufacture cutouts) that were 1/2" thick on ebay and Al tooled them. We used them on top of the plates, because neither of us was able to tool this stuff to have it fit snugly the proper way that Oyaide does (they do know what they're doing over there). It was too thick and it eats tools for breakfast. This does also add a noticable improvement.
I've also jimmied up CF cloth sleeves for plug barrels and Al does it with CF sleeves on his too. We do it slightly differently, but it works in both applications.
The effects of the CF are cumulative. It's worth the experiment.
Al did post the theory and if you follow that, then you can figure out several ways to use CF that you don't see yet in Oyaide products.
Sadly, I don't know where to get the CF in the size, shape and formed like Oyaide does. That's why they get to charge the big bucks!
Hush, you guys, don't tell Wayne Brady. :--)
Yes, by all means, please continue to trumpet just what a big sonic advance Oyaide's products can be to a low-fi system. You're doing my work for me.
:)
nt
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