Hi all - I am an avid audio hobbyist, and going on about 45 years into this hobby. My first receiver was from Radio Shack with Cerwin Vega speakers and a turntable. I was 14 years old with a paper route, an audio system, and all set to listen to The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Yes, etc.
Now many years later, obviously older (perhaps wiser), I have played around with various setups, new components, and trying to keep up with the advancements in hi end audio. Which in my opinion, should included tweaks (but only those of benefit and not hinderance for our search for the Nirvana of awesomely recorded music in our home setup)! Which leads to my first ever blog in an audio forum.
What pushed me to partake in a blog? Certainly not to find everyone in agreement, from reading these over the years, everybody has an opinion. I get that. Some are polite and some not so polite. I hope that this thread will have an established decorum of civility, even when expressing difference of opinion, etc.
I have been playing around with various tweaks over the past 5 years. Recently, I came across something by happenchance in the blogs, and IMHO, this tweak is a real bang for the buck kind of item. Somewhat similar to the big boys of audio tweaks but perhaps a bit different - small firm, no splashy expensive advertising, and pleasant customer service.
I have a mid hi-end system, about $50 K purchased used, and have now used a number of tweaks including Synergistic Research, Akiko, Solid Tech - Feet of Silent, Stein Music, Acoustic Revive, etc. Many of these tweaks I still use but I did prune down to a few I found more effective.
Then during my audio journey, I decided to buy some used Bybee iQSE's on Canuck Audio Mart. So like always, it was off to do some research and visit the audio blogs.
This research too me way down a rabbit hole, wherein I started to read about Bybee which then lead to a few plugs for Heartsound Audio and specifically Halostages.
I read that her site (Krissy) was sort of simple, and that she had other items she sold as well. And it was best to try to contact her and that she was approachable and pleasant to deal with.
Long story short, I fired off an email and shortly thereafter we contacted each other. We spoke briefly, and I was impressed with her knowledge of tweaks, sonic characteristics, etc., and so I decided to giver her products a try. I was also advised, if I wasn't happy with them, I could return for a refund - as she believes in her product.
So before, any individuals decide to perhaps take a negative approach to my sentiments, I want to set a Disclaimer. Until a few months ago, I had never heard of Heartsound Audio, Krissy, or Halostages.
Therefore, I don't know Krissy, and never met her, as I live in Canada, and no investment of interests whatsoever, other than to provide a no nonsense review of something new, that works, and is relatively inexpensive to the gamut of other audio tweaks out there!
After my order, the items arrived within two weeks and seriously, I got them at 4 PM Christmas Eve - Santa dropped off some audio goodies!
I then opened the UPS box and found another indiscreet black box. No marketing logos. Inside said box were 4 individually wrapped Halostages inside little satin bags with an Audio note on them.. Cute!
After letting them acclimatize to my home, I placed them in my system. With a few discussions with Krissy, I moved them about my audio room. I also, set my CD Player to repeat and let er go for about 72 hours to get that "burn in" done with.
After this, I did some audio critiquing on my sofa. And I noticed some definitely good traits and improvements:
- I noticed a substantial drop in the noise floor
- both the soundstage and depth had improved
- I found less silence in between tracks - and was able to listen to the fade out of music far longer
- tones of instruments, became much more discernable and any etching or sibilance in vocals all but disappeared
- began to hear much more air and space around instruments, and individual singers, drumkits, guitars, started to become much more noticeable, and similar to a live event
- increased my desire to go through my CD collection and pull out some of my favorite CD"s and to hear them much more life-like and well engineered music
I was quite pleased with this purchase, and for my own purposes, for the money, it has been a great tweak added to my rig.
Now many years later, obviously older (perhaps wiser), I have played around with various setups, new components, and trying to keep up with the advancements in hi end audio. Which in my opinion, should included tweaks (but only those of benefit and not hinderance for our search for the Nirvana of awesomely recorded music in our home setup)! Which leads to my first ever blog in an audio forum.
What pushed me to partake in a blog? Certainly not to find everyone in agreement, from reading these over the years, everybody has an opinion. I get that. Some are polite and some not so polite. I hope that this thread will have an established decorum of civility, even when expressing difference of opinion, etc.
I have been playing around with various tweaks over the past 5 years. Recently, I came across something by happenchance in the blogs, and IMHO, this tweak is a real bang for the buck kind of item. Somewhat similar to the big boys of audio tweaks but perhaps a bit different - small firm, no splashy expensive advertising, and pleasant customer service.
I have a mid hi-end system, about $50 K purchased used, and have now used a number of tweaks including Synergistic Research, Akiko, Solid Tech - Feet of Silent, Stein Music, Acoustic Revive, etc. Many of these tweaks I still use but I did prune down to a few I found more effective.
Then during my audio journey, I decided to buy some used Bybee iQSE's on Canuck Audio Mart. So like always, it was off to do some research and visit the audio blogs.
This research too me way down a rabbit hole, wherein I started to read about Bybee which then lead to a few plugs for Heartsound Audio and specifically Halostages.
I read that her site (Krissy) was sort of simple, and that she had other items she sold as well. And it was best to try to contact her and that she was approachable and pleasant to deal with.
Long story short, I fired off an email and shortly thereafter we contacted each other. We spoke briefly, and I was impressed with her knowledge of tweaks, sonic characteristics, etc., and so I decided to giver her products a try. I was also advised, if I wasn't happy with them, I could return for a refund - as she believes in her product.
So before, any individuals decide to perhaps take a negative approach to my sentiments, I want to set a Disclaimer. Until a few months ago, I had never heard of Heartsound Audio, Krissy, or Halostages.
Therefore, I don't know Krissy, and never met her, as I live in Canada, and no investment of interests whatsoever, other than to provide a no nonsense review of something new, that works, and is relatively inexpensive to the gamut of other audio tweaks out there!
After my order, the items arrived within two weeks and seriously, I got them at 4 PM Christmas Eve - Santa dropped off some audio goodies!
I then opened the UPS box and found another indiscreet black box. No marketing logos. Inside said box were 4 individually wrapped Halostages inside little satin bags with an Audio note on them.. Cute!
After letting them acclimatize to my home, I placed them in my system. With a few discussions with Krissy, I moved them about my audio room. I also, set my CD Player to repeat and let er go for about 72 hours to get that "burn in" done with.
After this, I did some audio critiquing on my sofa. And I noticed some definitely good traits and improvements:
- I noticed a substantial drop in the noise floor
- both the soundstage and depth had improved
- I found less silence in between tracks - and was able to listen to the fade out of music far longer
- tones of instruments, became much more discernable and any etching or sibilance in vocals all but disappeared
- began to hear much more air and space around instruments, and individual singers, drumkits, guitars, started to become much more noticeable, and similar to a live event
- increased my desire to go through my CD collection and pull out some of my favorite CD"s and to hear them much more life-like and well engineered music
I was quite pleased with this purchase, and for my own purposes, for the money, it has been a great tweak added to my rig.
