Nevertheless, either through the Aeris, or through “treating” the connected equipment, the effect heard earlier with the AC stick is evident here as well: a more luxurious sound with a smoothly filtered character. The Aeris has transformer-coupled inputs and outputs and balanced circuitry throughout and therefore the earth shouldn’t have anything to do with the music signal. They can be used on any unused in- or output on any component in your system.įirst position where I decided to use the Tuning Stick RCA was on the cinch outlets of the Rowland Aeris DAC while its XLR outputs were used to connect to the preamp as normal. The RCA Tuning Sticks are similar to the AC sticks but with an altered material mix inside. All I can say is that as always, synergy is everything. Or would it be a function of balance, that this more lively sounding block simply matches better with the smoother sound injected by the Tuning Stick? Who knows. Would this better match be a function of the absense of shielding? The block’s case is still earthed, just the cable powering it, has no shield itself. Still present is the more filtered/luxurious presentation and slightly less agressive midrange but this time the rhythm doesn’t diminish. Used in a vacant outlet on the second distribution block that is wired with unshielded installation wire, amazingly the effect is still present, but less so.
But given the results with the main block, I also tried the Tuning Stick AC on the second distribution block that powers the pre- and power amplifiers. The block is made of aluminium and also shielded itself. The main distribution block is wired with shielded Lapp cable to the main wall outlet. The Tuning Stick is an easy tweak to apply and remove: as soon as it is removed, the sound is back to normal so I did a few extra tests with and without and came to the same conclusion: if I had less smooth and fluid sounding equipment than Jeff Rowland, then the Tuning Stick AC might well be an excellent addition, but in my setup it is too much of a good thing. There is less propulsion, making for a less rhythmic sound. Because lots of setups have probems with hard/forward/agressive midrange, making snares and such have less impact and this is likely to be a welcome change but what is less welcome for me, in my setup at least, is that pace also appears to be lower. What’s more: the sound signature of my system is different overall and feels mellowed down.
The midrange is less forward and attack is lessened. Immediately after plugging the AC stick into a vacant outlet of the main power distribution block (for all sources), the sound is very noticeably different: airier, with a seemingly wider soundstage. In the case of these Tuning Sticks, I naturally also expected to hear something but definitely not as much as there would turn out to be. I realise that these sorts of tweaks may come across as unbelievable to some folks but if I’ve learned one thing after all these years of using audio tweaks, it’s that you should approach them with an open mind because almost as it turns out, any tweak, even very unusual ones, will alter the sound of my system, no matter how subtle. The Tuning Stick’s contents are then stabilised with black resin, a material which sufficiently supresses microphony effects.
The Tuning Sticks plug into a vacant RCA in- or output or power outlet and clean the earth by means of applying known techniques and new insights in the areas of crystal patterns using paramagnetic and piezoelectric properties of natural raw materials. Review samples supplied by manufacturer Akiko Audio Retail Prices: After introducing products like the GEM 1 that “wrap” around a cable, Akiko Audio have now developed a means of tuning virtually any kind of electronic component.
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