MY TOP HIFI ADVICE FOR ALL AUDIOPHILES!

[@supercompooper]

I have found that mushrooms are the greatest singular improvement

[@grantlivingstone147]

💯

[@chestermarcol3831]

they're good, but blotter is better.

[@supercompooper]

@chestermarcol3831 yessir

[@KAL-589]

Edible weed too

[@stjernholmreviews]

😂😂 I prefer “spectral diffusion liquid” aka whiskey 🤪

[@shipsahoy1793]

I have to say you raise some very good points. A room that's too live with excessive reverb times is a nightmare.

[@phonatic]

Just when I was thinking of you, here comes another quality video! Hope you had a great Christmas. Early reflections have gone way up since I de-cluttered my office. 😅 Recently, I stayed a hotel suite that had a separate room. It was such an acoustic mess that you could not have used it even for a mediore interview session.

[@pumpituphomeboy]

Wishing you a very prosperous and great 2025. I commented on a previous video about your jingle being too hot when I watched your vids on my main system. Oh what a joy to watch this video with matching great audio. From the dynamics at the start to the detailed soundstage of that live band playing totos africa. And I didn't even mention that the subject of this video 'acoustic treatments' being something I have been telling people about for years being a fav subject of mine. Well done sir and more power to you. Looking forward to 2025

[@Robert-r4s4c]

I was able to get builders to add a separate room to the rear of my home in 1983 for listening to music . The room is 26 feet long, 15 feet wide and 8 feet high. There are windows on two of the walls and the back of the room has a doorway that leads into the dining room. This first thing i did was install thick carpet on the floor of the room and heavy curtains to cover the windows. This was the first stage in controlling room reflections. Many years later this room was perfect for using as a Home Theatre System.

[@stjernholmreviews]

Sometimes you just dont need more. Bring down excessive reverberation, control early reflections, place speakers well, get groovin.

[@robertwang7825]

Well just from experience , putting a carpet between your listening position with your spkrs is one way. If you have a TV, hanging it higher by 30cm. also helps a lot. Spkr placement away from the front wall also helps, need experiment what distance is good. I have a 3D panel on my back wall and that helps with depth. There are too many ways to improve room acoustics.

[@psyphonyxaudio]

100% - I LOVE Ron for what he did for Audio examples. Nice to hear his work referenced.

[@psyphonyxaudio]

That outro .. Seems a little .. excessive.. lol

[@greetings8843]

The single biggest things you can do to improve your music listening are FREE. Once you have a system in a room with SOME musical quality, there are things you can do to make the listening experience truly transcendental. Relax -- consciously relax... relax your muscles, relax your mind, don't fidget with anything. Just relax. Some people enjoy a little cannabis or a whiskey or a beer--but your listening will be degraded if you eat or drink while listening because they use other senses that reduce focus on hearing/listening. Close your eyes -- you cannot BELIEVE how much more detail you can hear with your eyes closed. I estimate you lose half your "listening to details" ability when you view video while listening to music. To keep familiar music fresh and interesting and to understand it even more, don't listen to the same music exactly the same way each time you hear it. Pay extra attention to the bass line, the drums, or the string instruments, imagine how the instruments are placed on the "stage" (front, left, right, center, back and some stereo recordings can even provide a limited sense of height. If it is an orchestral recording, place the groups of instruments on the stage (inside your head) as you listen and take note of when various instruments join and leave the ensemble. With very good recordings, you can sometimes hear members of the orchestra turn pages of the score, right there on the recording. The tradition of paper scores is being replaced with electronic devices to display scores and the score advances automatically with the music, though. So hearing the turning of pages of the score is disappearing from recordings. There is a famous church in New York City, St. Paul's. They rent the space for recordings late at night when the city is the quietest. Some of the recordings done there are so well-recorded that you can hear subway trains passing deep below the church occasionally. It's very subtle, but the sound is also unmistakable. Music is #1, but it is quite interesting to detect sounds you don't expect to hear in recordings. The recordings become alive with details and complexities you never noticed before. Enjoy!

[@stjernholmreviews]

So true. Great little inspirering writeup! Happy new year!

[@GeirRssaak]

@@greetings8843 you must trust hear hearing and not be influenced by olld hifi farts!

[@sidesup8286]

I liked your coment, it was truly great. There are 3 levels we can be on at any particular moment; 1. the perception level. 2. the thinking level or 3. the mental image level (picturing things). You want to be on level 1, perception when listening. The two things I disagree with are "that we can only get a limited sense of height." My speakers are on the floor and many of the sounds are on my ceiling. Extreme signal integrity results in vast amounts of air and air volume; and the sound rises upward as in "up". The other thing is that a sip of something good can greatly enhance the experience. You can drink without seriously taking your perception off the music. Cheers!

[@ptpoul]

Jesco from acoustics insider reccoments starting with bass absorbers in small rooms. They absorb high as well as problematic low frequncies. You can the. Go from there to cobtroll the rest of the reverb and add diffusion. I think he has a great point. Glueing abaorbers to the cieling is also atulid easy to do, along with at least trying to make a stereo triangle

[@PearlAcoustics]

Great video, very well explained!

[@lohikarhu734]

BTW - for a more aggressive balloon pop, bigger room, fill a balloon with propane and air, and use a fuse to light the balloon with you in the next room... 💥🇫🇮🐻‍❄️ Vitsi

[@RasheedKhan-he6xx]

Best advice I had was to aim for a room that was 50:50. 50% damped and 50% lively.

[@georgeemerson699]

Excellent video! I was wondering, are those audiophile grade balloons and pencil?!

[@nathaneldogo]

Mi best advice is if you have ported speakers and ported subwoofer sealed the port an the sound are 10 time better 👍

[@lohikarhu734]

Your comment about hard acoustics being hard on the brain might be an explanation for some people's comments about "fatiguing sound", where they attempt to cure it by doing things that simply roll off the high end, or reduce the "squareness" of fast edges... BTW, driving your system with true square wave sources, that are in the limit of first harmonic for bass response, but have fast rising edge to excite the hottest part of reflections... With a decent function generator, you can control the edge rate quite nicely.

[@CarlVanDoren61]

EE audiophile runs Hypex amps w tube preamp cheap cables. Very analytical sonics, exhausting loud levels

[@052RC]

I have no problems with treating the room. That's fine, but most people don't have a plan. The easiest thing you can do is fill a great sounding room up with components you don't like. I would want to get some idea as to the type of system your friend is going to respond well to. Does he like a big Wilson/Krell type of sound? Maybe horns and SET's? An ultra pure Ayre/Vandersteen system? Possibly a British system like Naim. Panels? These are all valid choices but they sound completely different. If you don't match the components to each other and for personal taste, you will most likely fail. If you can't get you friend to point out something he's heard and likes, he's not ready to buy anything.

[@lohikarhu734]

Skandinavian approach... 🇨🇦 John Heinz has some quite nice looking acoustic treatments.

[@philproffitt8363]

I'm told i need a Snay Coil...where can i get one?

[@brucesamuelson7541]

In the 70's we put decorative Cork tiles behind the stereo system to eliminate Echo

[@johnnaighley9252]

I remember we did it with egg cartons ... ;-)

[@stjernholmreviews]

Yes, Absorbers can come in any shape or form. You can even put absorption under furniture to regulate excessive reverberation in a room.

[@guyboisvert66]

I freak out about wasting money on snake oil cables, etc. But this video contains the most important thing any audiophile must take care before putting good money on a sound system. This is the place where you have huge amount of distortion compared to the rest of the sound system. I'll probably link this video in so many places where the peddlers are trying to sell their snake oil stuff!

[@razzman2987]

People with shit gear say cables are snake oil😅

[@guyboisvert66]

@razzman2987 Yeah sure, again, challenge anybody for blind testing for good cabling vs higher priced...

[@sidesup8286]

The frequency response graphs might look similar between cheap and expensive cables. But so would the frequency response graphs between a high school wood shop violin made from plywood, and a Stradavarius. Not even close! Measurements are sometimes useful in their ways, but usually SOOOO useless. The guy above is right. People with crappy equipment and perception (bricks for ears) cannot hear differences between cables. Not snake oil,... just mis-evaluation in a most unscientific manner. As in the musical instrument example I gave above, it's not so much about frequencies present, but about the "quality" of those frequencies.

[@guyboisvert66]

@sidesup8286 I could make a blind test in a controlled environment, somebody doing random a/b switching and you'll see for yourself. Happy listening.

[@guyboisvert66]

@sidesup8286 By the way, irrelevant comparison... You don't have a clue about engineering and it shows...

[@futures2247]

I wonder if you have reviewed the KEF LS50 wireless 2? price has dropped a lot recently.

[@mr.hansen5195]

Another freebie is to play with the settings of your streamer and DAC. You might be in for a positive surprise.

[@davidjudd951]

I have a new WiiM DAC. It has totally transformed the sound. And you're correct, the settings allow for a really sweet sound achievement. I usually opt for Acoustic or Jazz for the settings.

[@jdrissel]

The only part of fancy wires worth paying for is the 0.5¢ worth of gold plating. But almost every part of room treatment will be worth something. A nice looking quadratic diffuser behind the listening position is a good start for most rooms. Heavy rugs and curtains near the speakers help clarity a lot by getting rid of early reflections. Good job. I wish I could use some of this, but I have a horrible room that can not easily be treated because the house is just too crowded to give up wall space for anything, and the dimensions are awful 16x32' with 8' ceilings. Sometimes I think a racquetball court has better acoustics...

[@nickej7008]

Spot on 👌🏻

[@vendelius]

Happy New Year to you... wild man

[@johnathanjackson6258]

Where'd you find that jazz ensemble recording of Africa?

[@stjernholmreviews]

open.spotify.com/track/6QDEfAL7X4AGTo7ag5UIj4?si=oUmu2ql_TTqEFBQVhxl25Q

[@johnathanjackson6258]

@@stjernholmreviews thank you! Happy New Year!

[@richardelliott8352]

very sound advice. my humble contribution is that before buying any kind of improved wire, such as was contemplated by the beginner here, is to familiarize oneself with a basic understanding of the mechanism of human hearing and a few basic electronic principles. many audiophiles do not realize hearing is a completely subjective process of the brain. the brain tells them what they hear is objective reality, which may or may not be true, it depends completely on how the brain feels about things at the time. what you think you hear becomes your only reality, and sells a l ot of audiophile snake oil.

[@stjernholmreviews]

Great subject. Thats what I mean, when talking about “the sound of your dreams”

[@orbalicious20]

It’s definitely sound advice

[@stevecrone6931]

Morten, great video, great content. Aspirational!! Also, how would I get a copy of the outro version of Africa - what a great sounding cover version of that song!!!

[@stjernholmreviews]

open.spotify.com/track/6QDEfAL7X4AGTo7ag5UIj4?si=B9IhbLtpQiymDhwXwNq3BQ

[@stevecrone6931]

@@stjernholmreviews Thanks so much!!

[@amanieux]

why not go near field as often as possible and as close as possible ( unless you want to listen music with friends )

[@stjernholmreviews]

Yes, that can be a solution if you have to hot early reflections, to increase the amount of direct sound that way, but it has other minusses and will not be great with some types of speakers, that requires more distance to blend drivers well.

[@markharwood7573]

It's sad to see nice hi-fi kit in a bad room. I would see that and think, I enjoy music more with much cheaper gear in the shed.

[@kenbo80]

More cowbell?

[@stjernholmreviews]

Always! 🤪

[@CarlVanDoren61]

Silver cables more brightness Class D amps offer thinness

[@connorduke4619]

Dealer advice to focus on Nord Ost cables is about the worst advice I have ever heard. A) Cables are less important than core components. b) Nord Ost cables give a very shrill and unpleasant sound to my ears.

[@SirMountainpass]

My Heimdall 2 XLR and speaker cables are matching perfectly with my neutral amp and „musical“ Dynaudio Contour 30i‘s 😊

[@tobias7104]

Spot on. You wrote PERIOD in RED letters 😂😂😂.

[@stjernholmreviews]

😂🤪🤪😝

[@jeroenvanwesemael8556]

Dear Morten, thanks for this video. May I ask, what is behind the wooden slats on the back wall? Is it the standard 2 cm felt? And what did you put on your ceiling? I was thinking about a stretch ceiling with damping behind it. The stretch material is rubber but looks like normal ceiling. Behind it is 4 cm damping material that is comparable to glass fiber....

[@stjernholmreviews]

There is Ecophon Master B (60x60x2 cm) absorbers similar to the ceeling (that has 4 cm depth, though) behind it. A great way to hide the absorption needed to meet the target. The panels are avaliable in multiple sizes and colors, and are one of the most effective absorbers out there. All their products has full acoustic specs. www.ecophon.com/UK/ecophon/modular-ceilings/master/master-b/

[@jeroenvanwesemael8556]

@stjernholmreviews nice. I think I will start with the ceiling, check the rt60 and go from there....

[@aussie8114]

Expensive fancy speaker cables. Stay away from that dealer he just wants to empty your wallet.

[@thomasschafer7268]

Use Sommer cable elefant 4x2.5mm2 for 6€/m and your problems go away.🎉🎉🎉

[@jungtarcph]

45 usd ear audiophile ear cleaning is the best investment!

[@stjernholmreviews]

Everything helps!

[@GeirRssaak]

I hope that all old hifi farts have a decent hearing!!!!

[@jasonemanuel9070]

The outro was long enough to stop me subscribing,maybe reconsider!

[@stjernholmreviews]

@shipsahoy1793 Really? 😉 What is wrong with getting a sample of the channel and funny music making you smile?

[@jasonemanuel9070]

@stjernholmreviews don't like long intros or outo's lifes to short happy new year all the best for Yr channel

[@DeepHorizon3773]

The speakers GOD would listen to...😇 New POPORI ACOUSTICS Loudspeakers

[@shipsahoy1793]

Wasting tons of money on speaker cables is the dumbest thing you can do. A smart enthusiast will know what will be satisfactory, and only purchase what is needed, which may not be as cheap for the application than one would prefer, but will be far less expensive than what the super cable claims.. but if you insist on ripping yourself off, be my guest😂

[@razzman2987]

Cover youre tv with a large microfiber cloth ..try it

[@stjernholmreviews]

Thats a great idea especially for smaller rooms, or if you are situated close to a very big TV. Depending on other absorbers in the room, it might not be an issue at all.

[@ArlanTimur]

Utu😊

[@knockshinnoch1950]

Biggest upgrade- get your ears syringed.

[@razzman2987]

Fact use the rhino ( plastic) do it yourself

[@Schubeedoobee]

a balloon does not account for directivity... it is a more omnidirectional sound.

[@stjernholmreviews]

True, and it should not in order to make the perfect measurement . Remember a room can host many different speakers with different characteristics. It should be treated accordingly.

[@peanutbutterjellyjam2179]

Magic cables? I recommend magic mushrooms.

[@kobezcarz4558]

Beer makes music sound better

[@tomthompson7400]

why not just buy headphones ??

[@stjernholmreviews]

Ask anyone with a great room and speaker system 😁😆

[@paulomontero12]

Let's be honest these clowns r full of u know what 😅😅

[@stjernholmreviews]

Paulo, its a retarded comment if you dont expand why you think so?

[@Fitzrovialitter]

This is pure drivel.

[@stjernholmreviews]

To give your comment any value, please expand and explain the reasoning behind the statement or be a looser 😄😄

[@Fitzrovialitter]

​@@stjernholmreviewsDon't you mean "loser" rather than "looser"?