Blackhole Noise Trap for Extraneous Vibrational Energy

sbnx

Well-Known Member
Mar 28, 2017
1,623
2,061
480
Hello everyone,

I would like to point out a device I recently encountered. It is called the "Blackhole Noise Trap" from a company called SoundStrip. I found out about it by reading a review by Roy G. over on his webpage. I ordered several sets to experiment with and see what's up.

It is very unassuming. Simply a small, black MDF box with two leads sticking out and they don't weigh very much either. You can get the leads terminated with a spade or banana and you can specify if you need longer leads. They are sold in pairs. If you consume audio by the pound you will be disapointed. However, if you are looking for products that elevate the performance of your system then this should be a stop on your path.

Connecting them is a breeze. Simply connect the leads to your speakers binding posts. Red-to-red and black-to-black. (or whatever color you have). The NoiseTrap is not directional so it really doesn't matter.

I first connected them to my PureLow subs. Startling improvement. The sound field gained clarity. That spaciousness thing that subwoofers do went exponential.

I took a pair of them to a friends house and connected them to the lower woofer of his Kharma speakers. I think two tracks define what happened. I suggested we listen to "The Peppery Man" by Natalie Merchant. This track has these four guys in the opening discussing the Peppery Man and how they don't want anything to do with him. There voices are low and gravelly. On many systems this sounds muffled. The words are slurred together and It can be difficult to understand all of the words they are saying. His system wasn't that bad but the voices were a little muffled sounded. I put in the Noise Traps and we hit play.

The first thing that stuck me was how much clearer and pure of tone the guitar was. Wait, I just talked about low, gruffy voices. Well, in the very beginning, before the guys start their dialog, there is a dobro guitar using a slide. It was amazing how much clarity was added to the upper registers by clearing up the lower woofer. Then when we arrived at the dialog, it was also much more articulate.

The second track was a song he was listening to earlier -- Patricia Barber's, "Bye Bye Blackbird" from the album Nightclub. The opening of this track starts with a piano and upright bass simultaneously playing the same notes. Listening to this song without the NoiseTrap, the low notes were a little blobby and it was difficult to differentiate between the piano and the upright bass. Their tones were mostly blurred together. After inserting the boxes everything cleaned up. Now we can hear the upright bass and the piano. Patricia's voice was also much clearer.

You might want to give these a try. They work!
 
  • Like
Reactions: kinch and treitz3
Hello everyone,

I would like to point out a device I recently encountered. It is called the "Blackhole Noise Trap" from a company called SoundStrip. I found out about it by reading a review by Roy G. over on his webpage. I ordered several sets to experiment with and see what's up.

It is very unassuming. Simply a small, black MDF box with two leads sticking out and they don't weigh very much either. You can get the leads terminated with a spade or banana and you can specify if you need longer leads. They are sold in pairs. If you consume audio by the pound you will be disapointed. However, if you are looking for products that elevate the performance of your system then this should be a stop on your path.

Connecting them is a breeze. Simply connect the leads to your speakers binding posts. Red-to-red and black-to-black. (or whatever color you have). The NoiseTrap is not directional so it really doesn't matter.

I first connected them to my PureLow subs. Startling improvement. The sound field gained clarity. That spaciousness thing that subwoofers do went exponential.

I took a pair of them to a friends house and connected them to the lower woofer of his Kharma speakers. I think two tracks define what happened. I suggested we listen to "The Peppery Man" by Natalie Merchant. This track has these four guys in the opening discussing the Peppery Man and how they don't want anything to do with him. There voices are low and gravelly. On many systems this sounds muffled. The words are slurred together and It can be difficult to understand all of the words they are saying. His system wasn't that bad but the voices were a little muffled sounded. I put in the Noise Traps and we hit play.

The first thing that stuck me was how much clearer and pure of tone the guitar was. Wait, I just talked about low, gruffy voices. Well, in the very beginning, before the guys start their dialog, there is a dobro guitar using a slide. It was amazing how much clarity was added to the upper registers by clearing up the lower woofer. Then when we arrived at the dialog, it was also much more articulate.

The second track was a song he was listening to earlier -- Patricia Barber's, "Bye Bye Blackbird" from the album Nightclub. The opening of this track starts with a piano and upright bass simultaneously playing the same notes. Listening to this song without the NoiseTrap, the low notes were a little blobby and it was difficult to differentiate between the piano and the upright bass. Their tones were mostly blurred together. After inserting the boxes everything cleaned up. Now we can hear the upright bass and the piano. Patricia's voice was also much clearer.

You might want to give these a try. They work!
Curious how this device would compare to the LessLoss FireWall for Speakers or the Akiko Audio -- Loudspeaker Improver

 
Curious how this device would compare to the LessLoss FireWall for Speakers or the Akiko Audio -- Loudspeaker Improver

These two products do completely different things. The Akiko suppresses EMI/RFI. I have owned and tried various Akiko products. Most of which I have given away. The LessLoss Firewall in an in-line (series) product. I have not tried this but the literature on their webpage says it is related to skin effect. I presume trying to align the frequencies.

The blackhole noise trap targets extraneous vibrational energy and is a parallel device. No signal passes throught it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Republicoftexas69
Any similarity to the Entreq MixMax which I've been strongly recommended to use on my Arya Audio Airblades?
 
A follow up on this. I took a pair to a persons house and plugged them into his tube DAC. The DAC has speaker binding posts as it could be used as an all-in-one integrated with about 10W of output.

The result was remarkable. The sound gained a lot of body and the tone was awesome! We were listening to Youn Sun Nah's "My Favorite Things". The opening bells/bowls have a lot to say about tone and decay. The tone of the bowls was dramatically better and the decay lasted forever with the Noise Traps installed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kinch
Any similarity to the Entreq MixMax which I've been strongly recommended to use on my Arya Audio Airblades?
I don't know. I suggest you get a pair of each and try them. The noise traps work well. This is not a "do i really hear anything?" kind of device. The change is immediate and obvious. Although the sound does improve the longer the device is connected.
 
Can you please post the link to this product? I can’t find it in the web.
 
Can you please post the link to this product? I can’t find it in the web.
Ditto here, absolutely no link to this device. A fellow on this forum whom I'm in comms with heartily recommends this device, but I've reached a brick wall looking for it.
 
There's nothing about this device on that site.
 
All,

He does not have the info on his webpage yet. He said likely mid-September. Honestly, I have no idea what you are expecting to see. Everything you would need to know is in Roy's review and what i stated above. All you are going to see on his webpage is a picture of the blackhole, some marketing babble, and probably a link to purchase it. You know the price because Roy listed it in his review 2500 Euro. He is not going to tell you the secrets that make this thing work or specifics on how it works. All I know is that is has aerospace materials inside. I don't really care what he puts in there. (It could be harvested pixie dust.) All I know is this thing works extremely well.

All you need to do if you want a pair is email him at acousticprecision@gmail.com. This is exactly what I did. Tell him whether you want spades or bananas and how long you want the leads to be. Please explain to me how this is any different than clicking on a link and giving him your CC on-line.

I expect my next shipment of them next week.
 
Here is a picture of one installed.

1756306655479.jpeg
 
All,

He does not have the info on his webpage yet. He said likely mid-September. Honestly, I have no idea what you are expecting to see. Everything you would need to know is in Roy's review and what i stated above. All you are going to see on his webpage is a picture of the blackhole, some marketing babble, and probably a link to purchase it. You know the price because Roy listed it in his review 2500 Euro. He is not going to tell you the secrets that make this thing work or specifics on how it works. All I know is that is has aerospace materials inside. I don't really care what he puts in there. (It could be harvested pixie dust.) All I know is this thing works extremely well.

All you need to do if you want a pair is email him at acousticprecision@gmail.com. This is exactly what I did. Tell him whether you want spades or bananas and how long you want the leads to be. Please explain to me how this is any different than clicking on a link and giving him your CC on-line.

I expect my next shipment of them next week.
There's a difference between some info and no info.
I don't believe I've bought anything when there isn't even a web listing.
If you can't see that's an issue, or at the least incongruous, I'm not sure I can do any more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Republicoftexas69
The noise traps work well. This is not a "do i really hear anything?" kind of device.
Hello Todd,

Do you have a hypothesis as to the manner of operation of these boxes?
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing