Hi, I'm wondering if ERS Paper will give better sound? I know someone who tried it and he told me he got better sound?

That other person wasn't you was it...?   

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=205316

Hi, I'm wondering if ERS Paper will give better sound? I know someone who tried it and he told me he got better sound?

I had two sheets to try out, so I started with one on top of my CD player and one directly underneath. My player is a Micromega Stage 3, by the way, but with a new (tentlab) clock, much added damping, many new capacitors, schottky diodes and upgraded opamps and voltage regulators in some places. Thoroughly tweaked, in other words, and much better sounding than the original. But two external sheets of ERS didn't seem to make much of a difference to the sound. I thought I heard a tiny improvement, perhaps, in the treble. It might have been a bit sweeter and cleaner, but really not an improvement to justify ordering the stuff yourself.

But, to be honest, it would have surprised me if it had made a huge difference. Trying to absorb RFI outside of the box just cannot be very effective. So, off with the lid and in with a sheet of ERS. I covered as much of the digital circuitry as I could without coming so close that I would risk short circuiting anything or obstruct the airflow. Because of the concerns mentioned above of making the sound too dry, I stayed away from the analogue output stage. The advantage of stuff like this is that it requires no burn in (hopefully, I would like to hear the explanation for that!) so when I was finished I sat down for a good listen.

This time there was a difference, but it confused me somewhat. My initial response was that everything sounded completely different, but I couldn't put my finger on what had actually changed. The only thing that seemed obvious was that the sound was a bit warmer that before. After a while I did notice that there was also less noise and individual instruments sounded a bit 'fuller' with slightly more body. I also heard a slight increase in the depth of the soundstage. After an hour or two I decided that things were really warmer, and that the bass was now a little bit too strong, so I moved my speakers about an inch further into the room. That corrected the tonal balance, but at the cost of focus and bass resolution, sadly. But, of course, I was 'turning two knobs at the same time' when I moved my speakers, so I guess it just added to my confusion.

I also had the impression that I was now able to hear shortcomings in my CD player, or in recordings, that I hadn't heard before: a slight 'edge' to the high frequencies especially with cymbals and in complex passages. Strangely enough I also had the distinct impression that the sound of cymbals itself had improved, in spite of that 'edge'. They sounded more like metal, with more inner detail and a longer decay time. Actually, they sounded quite a bit more natural, but a little emphasized. So, by he end of the evening I still had difficulties to say precisely what had changed, only that there was definite change.

I listened for a couple of hours again the next day, and my impression was much more positive now. Bass even seemed a bit tighter. The additional warmth was still there but the more I listened, the more I recognised that the treble was actually quite a bit cleaner than before. That 'edge' was disappearing quickly and turned out to be a misinterpretation of less time smear in the attack of notes, making the 'leading edge' stronger and a bit more pronounced. Once I was used to that it became clear that there was less noise, distortion and interference between instruments going on than before, and things sounded more natural than ever.

A specific experience really brought that home to me. I was listening to some music by Purcell with a female voice recorded in a large space. It sounded strangely familiar to me. It took me a few second to realise why this was so, but then it struck me: this sounded like a real person, singing in a real space and it reminded me of hearing people sing in a church or chapel. I have to say that it came as a bit of a shock to me to all of a sudden have reality as a reference, and not a better system. Of course, I'm not telling you this to show you what a fantastic and spectacular difference ERS makes. It certainly won't transform your system to the point that it now sounds like reality. But it took away enough of the artificial additions of my CD player and lets the important tiny details through in a way that can indeed remind you of a real event in a real space.

In the end it took me almost a week to get used to the change in the sound, but the more I adjusted to it, the more I liked it. After about two weeks I even added more ERS to the player, and it did improve the sound even more.

Ever since I first wrapped my system in ERS Paper 10 months ago I have had real life as reference, when I improved my system my ears were forced to improve as well. It made me hear more subtle sounds in real life. I could hear ants running on the ground and other stuff. It was because of the ERS Paper. Real life was always one step ahead of my system, I made blind tests and couldn't tell real life and audio apart, but that was only when comparing sounds that came from outside my window, they were distorted from traveling through the gap of the window.

With my 2nd audio system I was listening to real life, but I found out that if I didn't listen for two days it sounded dry and closed in, it didn't sound like real life until after a few days of adjustment of my ears. I thought my system was complete because it couldn't get any better once my ears had adjusted. The synergy with my brain speed was perfect.

But now with my 3rd audio system it doesn't sound dry and closed in if I haven't listened for two days. It sounds clean like real life. It came from removing the daisy chained P300 Power Plant and using only the Premier Power Plant for my gear. The low-level detail is pulled up to the surface and it's much clearer than the P300. But the problem was it sounded like the low-level detail was cut off too early, even when there was more low-level detail than with the P300. I found the problem and it was Nordost Valhalla interconnect, it pulled everything up to the surface but it sacrificed low-level detail and bass, after I replaced the Valhalla interconnect with Valkyrja speaker wiring I got more low-level detail and bass. But it wasn't enough, there was still some oomph missing. After I added Feet of Silence + wooden board under the Magix levitation feet I got more dynamics, speed and new worlds of low-level detail. But little bass was still missing, it was subtle but it started to bother me after a couple of weeks. When I did mass damping with books on top of my equipment I got way more bass than I ever wanted, the bass became emphasized because I had become used to the empty bass.

The low-level detail which used to be cut off too early is now audible, the decay continues properly now, it is very quiet and clear, I need to control my breathing in order to hear it, just like in real life.
Since the lowest level ambient details are now audible it makes the soundstage bigger. The space of the soundstage is clean like real life. I don't even hear much of the soundstage envelope because the low-level detail isn't cut off anymore, it blends into real life which makes it harder to detect.

Going from my 2nd audio system to my 3rd audio system made the biggest improvement I have ever heard in my whole life, and it costs only a fraction of the price and uses less electricity too. I took my whole system apart and built it around the Premier Power Plant, and then I realized that P300 was slowing down the sound, it was just a band-aid for brightness and tone control for bass, I had to use the colored Valhalla interconnect to compensate for it. Adding two of the opposite colorations gives synergy but sacrifices low-level detail.
The best way is to use tweaks that don't add any colorations, it should have no weaknesses, it shouldn't just tone down the brightness to give an illusion of real life because it is smoother, it should increase low-level detail in the process. The tweak that does it is ERS Paper. It's the best tweak in audio because it isn't in the signal path or in contact with the audio system. It does nothing wrong unless you have it too close to the component you are shielding. I found that it needs to be separated at least 1cm from the cable. When it was separated less than 1cm it sounded muddy and dull, but the more layers I added the less dull it sounded like, it was because most of the EMI didn't reach the inner layer.

When using ERS Paper for the power cord of the DAC it gave more dynamics and low-level detail. The frequencies were less rolled off, there was more low and high frequency information. Extra vibration isolation and mass damping gave these same improvements for the DAC, it made it sound blacker and whiter, the lack of rolled off frequencies were fatiguing.

When using ERS Paper for the amp and transport it made it smoother with more low-level detail. Before ERS Paper there was too much brightness, but ERS Paper didn't tone down that brightness, it kept the brightness on the top of the sound and revealed transients of the brightness around it, it made it more relaxing to listen. It gives the same surface detail with more low-level detail. The transients can be heard separately instead of all at once. It's like bright mud, when you remove the water you get tiny pieces of sand, that's what ERS Paper does. The more I wrapped the system the more sand I could hear.

Now all the sounds are built up from tiny transients, there aren't any smooth sounds anywhere except for the ambient sounds around me, the smooth ambient sounds give an unlimited soundstage size because they are clear without any harshness. The reason it isn't harsh is because of Nordost Valhalla power cord, it removes the lowest level noise from the recordings which makes it sound clean, open and smooth. It's more subtle than tubes but instead of sacrificing speed it also increases it. The original Valhalla with 3 conductors per signal had a sound signature that was both heavier and faster than neutral. But the extra body was covering up low-level details, after I modified it into 1 conductor per signal I got the most low-level detail because the extra body was gone, there was more transient speed but it was edgy and bright. Wrapping ERS Paper around the Valhalla changed the edginess into transients and more low-level detail, it also gave almost the same heaviness as the original Valhalla. It sounded more neutral. The step up from the original Valhalla to the modded Valhalla was bigger than stock to original Valhalla.

ERS Paper is the best tweak in audio, next comes Magix levitation feet... Magix sounds even better when placing Feet of Silence under them, it increased dynamics. I also found that using 4 instead of 3 Magix gives a fuller sound with more low-level detail, it's because Magix need to be perfectly balanced and 3 isn't enough, when I compared 8 vs 4 Magix I didn't hear a difference, but 3 vs 4 Magix was easy to hear. Magix has an open, flat and smooth sound signature. When placing books on top of the component it gave more dynamics and low-level detail, everything becomes more revealing which is fatiguing, but more ERS Paper fixes that and increases the performance even more.

ERS Paper + Magix levitation feet don't add any weaknesses when they are added to the system properly, they are almost perfect tweaks. If a tweak reduces a problem without adding any weaknesses of its own, then how can it get any better than that? The only weaknesses (safety and aesthetics) are those that don't have anything to do with the audio quality.

My audiophilia hobby is complete because I wanted it to sound like real life and with these tweaks it does. There is a limit of how much resolution the brain can handle, eventually you can't tell audio and real life apart even if you train your brain to your potential.

This is plain scam and works with placebo effect only.

I can't believe anyone would think this can do a damn thing.

I can't think anyone would believe this can do a damn thing.

Ever since I first wrapped my system in ERS Paper 10 months ago I have had real life as reference, when I improved my system my ears were forced to improve as well. It made me hear more subtle sounds in real life. I could hear ants running on the ground and other stuff.

Quote

Ever since I first wrapped my system in ERS Paper 10 months ago I have had real life as reference, when I improved my system my ears were forced to improve as well. It made me hear more subtle sounds in real life. I could hear ants running on the ground and other stuff.

Oh come on Patrick, surely that is a work of satire. That is just so funny I cant believe anyone could possibly take that guy seriously.

I was quoting ValhallaPC from AVS forum.

Quote from: Patrick82 on 2007-08-21 22:57:23

I was quoting ValhallaPC from AVS forum.

What a coincidence.  "ValhallaPC" uses the name "Patrick281" on Youtube.

Folks, this guy is a flat-out troll.  Don't feed him.

Patrick, go away.  You're not fooling anyone. Go beg for attention on some other forum.