Test subjects:
Naim cd-5
Rotel rcd-02
Arcam cd-23T
Material:
30 cmx30cmx .0156mm copper foil
Experiment:
Built a copper housing for led, wires, toroidal coil.
Results:
Naim cd-5/Arcam cd-23T: These units were well constructed and layed out to begin with. Nice parts and sheilding. All they needed was a copper box built around the toroidal coil.
Rotel RCD-02:
This unit needed more work. As expected. The cdp is very old almost vintage by high end standards. Not high-end by todays standards. Not bad though.
Results:
Arcam/naim: The real noticable effect was improvement in depth of soundstage. There was a deeper projection and layering. there was atouch more ambient information on this plane.
Rotel:
Even more pronounced effect. The rotel was the oldest/least expensive/least well built cdp here. It did not have the detail the others had, but was bloody good for it's age and price. This cdp benefitted the most. The detail/ambient information was greatly enhanced. There was better soundstage, channel separation and definition. There was deeper bass. It was like doubling or tripling the price of the player. With these mods, this player is a killer!
Summary:
Look inside your cdp. Look to see if it is poorly shielded. The copper foil costs a few bucks, but makes a change that is not subtle. This was a worthy and effective experiment. It was highly cost effective also. I have also grown fond of DNM audio IC's...unsheilded but the smoothness, detail,and definition helped. They blasted Kimber hero/silver steak out of the water despite costing a LOT less. These Ic's cost no where near $200 and absoloutely rock!
