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  #21  
Old 07-12-2019, 02:06 PM
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That’s the idea! I’m not sure what benefit additional “accuracy” will bring to the simple quest of identifying and eliminating the sources of “dirty” cords and shielding dirty components since that was my objective. It is a quick way to identify troublemakers and either replace or shuffle them around to see if there is any gain in performance. The EMF shield of choice should theoretically help isolating one component from the other by lining the shelves or perhaps even wrapping material where needed.

We shall see where this goes
I would agree. I'm not sure in this application how mission-critial "absolute accuracy" is. As you've pointed out, its more about pointing out trouble-spots and then rectifying them (no pun intended! ).
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  #22  
Old 07-12-2019, 02:08 PM
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Sniffing around the back of my system and found a source of a problem right away.

The Ethernet cable connecting the wifi extender used for streaming and the Bryston BDP Pi streamer has slipped off the shelf and was hanging down and looped in the vicinity of my dirtiest EMF spot of the whole system.

EFM reading in the vicinity of the Ethernet loop of cable was 115!

Solution.

1. Move the dirty component (my power conditioner) further away from the system.
2. Tidy up the Ethernet cable and remeasure. This time the reading is HALF at 56 uT.

The proof is in the listening of course!

Result: Not a drastic but a noticeable improvement in streaming performance! A more relaxed presentation and a slight improvement in depth of soundstage. Slightly sweeter top end and an increased sense of "perceived" air and resolution.


Mental note to self while back there... "What if Ethernet cables really do make a difference"? Hmm....


Cost? $0 so far.
Oh, believe me....they do. Get a Shunyata Ethernet (even the Venom) in on evaluation from Ivan and... you'll see. The Venom Ethernet smoked every other cable I evaluated in my benchmarking study a month or so back, including the AQ Vodka and WW Starlight Cat8. It was so much better that there was no comparison, actually. The other two cables are fine cables, no question, but the Venom is on another level altogether.
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Last edited by Puma Cat; 07-12-2019 at 02:15 PM.
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  #23  
Old 07-12-2019, 02:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Puma Cat View Post
Oh, believe me....they do. Get a Shunyata Ethernet (even the Venom) in on evaluation from Ivan and... you'll see. The Venom Ethernet smoked every other cable I evaluated in my benchmarking study a month or so back, including the AQ Vodka and WW Starlight Cat8. It was so much better that there was no comparison, actually. The other two cables are fine cables, no question, but the Venom is on another level altogether.
The seed has been planted....
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  #24  
Old 07-12-2019, 02:38 PM
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This one had me scratching my head. There was an extremely hot spot of EMF Radiation activity... Left side of the upper shelf of the rack. Background radiation registered at "45" across the room and away from anything electric/electronic. The "hot spot" measured "245" and registered "high".

The "hot spot" on top of the rack was very puzzling. My Luxman unit sits up there. I disconnected and moved the power cord and the Luxman is not powered but the hot spot persists. Upon further careful sweeping, I noticed it is actually coming from the wall behind the rack.

That one had me scratching my head but then I realized that is the exterior wall on the side of the house where the "smart" gas and water meters are as well as their RF modules that they use to collect the data! Holy smokes those things are NOISY for whatever reason!

The hot spot is only approximately 9"x12" inches right above my rack.

Potential Solution. Will hang a sheet of EMF/RFI blocker behind the rack or relocate the rack to a more "quieter" place along the wall.
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  #25  
Old 07-12-2019, 02:48 PM
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That one had me scratching my head but then I realized that is the exterior wall on the side of the house where the "smart" gas and water meters are as well as their RF modules that they use to collect the data! Holy smokes those things are NOISY for whatever reason! :confused-12:
Yes, I've seen a video for the Tri-Field meter, IIRC, that showed that these smart meters are very "dirty". Its the RF modules, as you say. My guess is they are a major source of common mode noise.
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  #26  
Old 07-12-2019, 02:51 PM
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Good thread Serge. I have loaded the APP on my phone but really have to ask how my phone can be turned into an RMF detector via software?

The theater I am sitting in registers at 36 but when I move my phone close to the top of my wife’s iPhone, my phone register as high as 600-700 microteslas and the app shows HIGH. The cottage we are staying at registered 46 but next the fridge, I measured 350 microteslas.

The app does seem to work. Does anybody know how??
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  #27  
Old 07-12-2019, 03:06 PM
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Good thread Serge. I have loaded the APP on my phone but really have to ask how my phone can be turned into an RMF detector via software?

The theater I am sitting in registers at 36 but when I move my phone close to the top of my wife’s iPhone, my phone register as high as 600-700 microteslas and the app shows HIGH. The cottage we are staying at registered 46 but next the fridge, I measured 350 microteslas.

The app does seem to work. Does anybody know how??
I'm guessing the most logical answer lies in the apps ability to tap into the "magnetometer" in the iPhone.

The magnetometer in the iPhone is an amazing instrument that gives you the magnetic field strength along three axis in micro-teslas (µT). Apple software uses this instrument to find the direction the iPhone is pointed in, but you can also use the magnetometer to measure the strength of magnetic fields.
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  #28  
Old 07-12-2019, 03:09 PM
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By the way, majority of EMF apps are used by people to detect "ghosts"... But I think we will leave that for another thread.
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  #29  
Old 07-12-2019, 03:11 PM
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Just expanding on the issue of common mode noise. This is a major source of "pollution" in this time of connected devices, e.g. smart phones and tablets, connected appliances e.g. doorbell, kitchen and household appliances.

Folks think that copper Ethernet cables can't impact sound quality because of the specifications for (copper) Ethernet: that everything is "bit perfect" and if a packet is dropped in transmission it gets re-sent, so what's the problem? Well, there's a whole host of problems. Copper Ethernet is actually pretty "dirty" with respect to susceptibility to noise factors. For IT applications, this is not a problem, as the output is "discrete"; either the pixel gets printed in a print-out, or displayed on a computer monitor or it doesn't. And with Ethernet "error correction", it almost always does....so, no worries.

But streaming musical content is NOT discrete; its "continuous data", and...the timing is, in the words of Hans Beekhuzen, "hyper-critical" (this is why folks use those ultra-trick clocks for DACs, etc., for example). Also, Ethernet cables, like many copper cable specifications, are susceptible to the usual noise factors, e.g. lack of galvanic isolation, EMI/RFI, etc. They are also susceptible to low-impedance and high-impedance AC leakage currents, which are usually caused by crap switch-mode power supplies and can be made worse by...shielded Ethernet cables where the shield is connected to the RJ45 connectors at both ends. These noise factors contribute to digital audio quality, adding "digital glare", jitter and...clock phase noise.

And then there's the common mode noise, as well.

The Shunyata Alpha and Sigma Ethernet cables are the only ones I am aware of that have an effective common mode noise (CN) filter, and the function of this filter is very clearly discernable. The Alpha brings a notably lower noise floor and cleaner, more "open", spacious and airy and extended over the excellent attributes of Venom. And Sigma, with two CN filters, builds further upon that; the addition of the 2nd CN filter brings increased presentation of subtle details, textures, articulation, and breath and phrasing in vocals and an even lower noise floor. I'm literally hearing content on well-known songs that I simply have not heard before.

All this adds up to a musical presentation is much more "analog", open, airy, spacious, dimensional in character.

But, one has to open to trying these cables to understand...
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Last edited by Puma Cat; 07-12-2019 at 03:18 PM.
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  #30  
Old 07-12-2019, 03:12 PM
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The reason I brought up the "ghosts" is that the "hot spot" over my rack is also where I notice the persistent "orb" on my security camera down in the basement when the lights are off. ... It is always there but I have no explanation for it. As long as it is a friendly orb ghost, I'm ok with sharing my basement with it.
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