Christmas Shipping Alert
New Zealand Post Christmas mailing date guidelines for 2013 are as follows:
Australia : parcels and letters must be posted before Monday, 9th December.
South Pacific, East Asia, North America, UK & Europe : parcels and letters must be posted before Wednesday, 4th December.
Rest of the world : parcels and letters must be posted before Monday, 2th December
For those who need their BlackDiscus by Christmas kindly should place order 2 days before the above dates. We can also arrange shipping via courier post with tracking this will be faster but more expensive.
If you intend to buy them as a gift, we can also wrap them in a festive colour tissue paper. Just let us know and we will instruct our packing slave to do so.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Christmas Post
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Things to try with BlackDiscus
Right Side Up?
I normally recommend that you place all your BlackDiscus devices with the rough side up.
But you should treat this as a starting place rather than an iron-clad rule.
So I suggest that you try turning all of your BlackDiscus upside down and see the difference. In the past I've tried upside down and was not so impressed. But last night I was testing some new prototypes and was surprised to note that they sounded superior upside down.
One thing I would suggest - keep all your BlackDiscus the same way up - so either all upside down, or all right way up
10 Minute Warm-up?
Some users have noticed that BlackDiscus devices can sound better 10 minutes after being positioned in a particular location. I'd not noticed this, but now it's been pointed out I think I can hear what is meant.
To my ears at least it's not a major effect, but it is noticeable. This is not "burn in" as it seems to occur every time you move the devices to a different location. My opinion is that it's most likely to be the system stabilizing and potentially even literally warming up.
It's just something to bear in mind if you are performing serious testing.
I normally recommend that you place all your BlackDiscus devices with the rough side up.
But you should treat this as a starting place rather than an iron-clad rule.
So I suggest that you try turning all of your BlackDiscus upside down and see the difference. In the past I've tried upside down and was not so impressed. But last night I was testing some new prototypes and was surprised to note that they sounded superior upside down.
One thing I would suggest - keep all your BlackDiscus the same way up - so either all upside down, or all right way up
10 Minute Warm-up?
Some users have noticed that BlackDiscus devices can sound better 10 minutes after being positioned in a particular location. I'd not noticed this, but now it's been pointed out I think I can hear what is meant.
To my ears at least it's not a major effect, but it is noticeable. This is not "burn in" as it seems to occur every time you move the devices to a different location. My opinion is that it's most likely to be the system stabilizing and potentially even literally warming up.
It's just something to bear in mind if you are performing serious testing.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Brown Discus?
The following picture was passed to me by a concerned customer. I was expecting efforts to copy BlackDiscus, but I was amazed at the speed - BlackDiscus has only been available one month, and already there are copies!
These so-called "brown discus" are no threat to BlackDiscus - in tests, the black version trounced the brown one when attached to speaker outputs, headphone jacks and power cords. In addition, the brown version has handling problems, leaving unsightly smears on equipment.
The durability of the brown version is also dubious - the chocolate-colored outer layer appears to be made from, well, chocolate. And not decent audiophile grade high-altitude single-farm stuff either - just simple commercial grade milk chocolate. And there's worse to come - analysis of the inside showed that it contains Arachis hypogaea, a potent allergen, as well as butter, which is implicated in all sorts of things. They even admit this, apparently, when they dub these devices "Reeces Peanut Butter Cups" - not exactly a catchy name!
Furthermore, in blind taste tests, 10 out of 10 dentists preferred BlackDiscus, handily besting the chocolate covered device.
Suggestions :
These so-called "brown discus" are no threat to BlackDiscus - in tests, the black version trounced the brown one when attached to speaker outputs, headphone jacks and power cords. In addition, the brown version has handling problems, leaving unsightly smears on equipment.
The durability of the brown version is also dubious - the chocolate-colored outer layer appears to be made from, well, chocolate. And not decent audiophile grade high-altitude single-farm stuff either - just simple commercial grade milk chocolate. And there's worse to come - analysis of the inside showed that it contains Arachis hypogaea, a potent allergen, as well as butter, which is implicated in all sorts of things. They even admit this, apparently, when they dub these devices "Reeces Peanut Butter Cups" - not exactly a catchy name!
Furthermore, in blind taste tests, 10 out of 10 dentists preferred BlackDiscus, handily besting the chocolate covered device.
Suggestions :
- don't use these brown discs on your audio system
- don't use brown discs if you are allergic to "pea" nuts.
- use BlackDiscus on your audio system - much better results all around
- do not eat BlackDiscus (unless you want to pursue a closer financial relationship with a dentist)
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Stacking Black Discus
This is the first post of this new Mad Scientist Audio blog. I'll post here from time to time with news, tips and other things.
OK so the first subject is Stacking. Someone suggested to me that it's possible to stack two (or more) Black Discus. I found that a small amount of Blu Tack in between the discs worked to hold them together.
You can then use this as a single device, something like this:
I was impressed how well this worked with two discs. (Not going to bore you with any descriptions, as it will perform very differently on different systems.)
So I wondered how many you can stack. I'd just finished a batch that included 14 Mini BlackDiscus. I made a large stack with all 14 of them. It was somewhat precariously balanced on my headphone's jack plug.
How did it sound. Well, not very much different to a stack of two. Maybe a little - perhaps like a stack of three.
But note the lesson - stacking works, but best limit it to two. Or three if you are seriously mental ;)
OK so the first subject is Stacking. Someone suggested to me that it's possible to stack two (or more) Black Discus. I found that a small amount of Blu Tack in between the discs worked to hold them together.
You can then use this as a single device, something like this:
I was impressed how well this worked with two discs. (Not going to bore you with any descriptions, as it will perform very differently on different systems.)
So I wondered how many you can stack. I'd just finished a batch that included 14 Mini BlackDiscus. I made a large stack with all 14 of them. It was somewhat precariously balanced on my headphone's jack plug.
How did it sound. Well, not very much different to a stack of two. Maybe a little - perhaps like a stack of three.
But note the lesson - stacking works, but best limit it to two. Or three if you are seriously mental ;)
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