We got our Audio Asylum YoYo Tweaks…
… a few months ago.
I am not, we are not, good enough yoyo’ers to do much with these guys. The body is too lightweight and the string is too wide and has too much friction.
But, duh, that was before we figured out they were not supposed to be palyed with but were serious tweaks!
Our first clue was discovered after closely examining the other sides of the yoyos:
Rod, the Audio Asylum bored member who signs these yoyos, writes:
“Thanks! Rod”. Yes, really. That’s what they say.
Now, those of you who are of the more intelligent variety of audiophile will have no doubt already noticed that there is an obvious message here about how these yoyos are supposed to be used.
Here, we will examine this closer for those who are a little slower among us:
Now do you see?
No???????!!
OK, then. *sigh* Look at the ‘o’ in Rod. Do you see how one is filled in and the other left open?
Ah, now I see the light bulbs going off!
Exactly!
The round, unfilled donut-like ‘o’ is obviously supposed to be put on top of a transport (just like we all know from way back in the 80s that CDs are really flat yoyos, pressed into service as digital media because so many of them were made and few people could even walk-the-dog with them. Geez, schools really sucked back then, huh?). The yoyo with the filled ‘o’ is obviously the complement of the other yoyo and will go on top of the DAC.
So here are pictures of the tweaks in action.
First, on the Emm Labs CDSD Signature transport:
OK, here is a closer view, I want to point out a few things that only became obvious after 100,000s of hours of testing:
See how the yoyo is PRECISELY positioned such that the text faces EXACTLY toward the front of the transport? This is very important. Otherwise, harsh, ugly, distorted pig ‘oinks’ and grunts appear at random in all discs we played except Pink Floyd’s Animals CD (just like the Teac players do without the yoyo … just kidddddding :-)).
No, for those of you who do not get it yet, the string has no impact at all. Why should it. It is just a string.
When positioned like this, the flatness of the yoyo mimics the flatness of the spinning CD and helps it spin a lot easier, exactly as if the CD was massless.
Now, for a look at the Emm Labs DCC2 Signature DAC:
You will of course notice how the yoyo is positioned in the classical, ‘Upright DAC YoYo Position’ which has the yoyo face due Magnetic North.
Looking at the setup more from the front, you can see that the angle of the yoyo is slightly tilted:
We have found that it is very important for the angle of the top of the text to track the sun as it coasts over head during the day. This may be obviosu to many of you experts, but it took us months to figure this out.
And at night? Yes, it sounds soooo much better when the yoyo continues to track the sun as it winds its way upriver on the other side of the planet.
Luckily, I can just assign the yoyo adjustjing duties to Neli – cause heck if I know where the sun is exaclty in the middle of the night – and luckily our significant others will do anything if you just explain how important it is.
Anyway, sorry if I was a little bit rough on you noobies, but hopefully this will help you utilize the most important tweak since Edison invented electricity.
We spent so much time on this, and no one told us anything about how we were supposed to use these things. It was like a big secret or something. Geez. How are we supposed to get new blood into this hobby if everyone keeps the YoYo tweaks classified?
Now, we can all hope that the Asylum sends out green yoyos, which we hear mate very well with red, next so that we can start stacking them in totem poll like fashion.
!yojnE
;-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))?
Hi!! can I ask you how is the Meitner combo is doing? Could you tell me if it’s better than any of the Esoteric model available right now?
not that I can afford any of these but I want to know if the Meitner combo is really that good…you must have very good ears…Could you give us the readers a rundown of all the top machines you have listened in the last few years? I know I’m asking a lot but everytime I read a review in a magazine…the flavor of the month is the best player!! I want to know the truth once and for all from you folks…I can handle the truth!!!
Regard
Guy La Rue
Canada
sorry for the typo…my main language is french..feel free to edit.
Guy;-)
Hi Guy,
Well, I guess I should apologize in advance foir the typos I will always, without failure (I know because Neli likes to point them out to me afterwards :-)) put in my posts. And my main language is English. 🙂
As far as the Esoteric players go, they seem to keep coming out with new ones, so much so that it seems even their fans have a hard time keeping up. I think there is supposed to be a 5 box version now? Anyway, I am sure I have not heard their latest – so I cannot comment on how they sound.
As far as ‘best’ goes… what does ‘best’ mean?
There are some people who conscously pick their Esoteric over the Emm Labs. Excluding those who do not spend the time and effort to break in the Meitner – that still leaves a few people who try both players (or any other players for that matter) and chose something besides the Meitner. How can this be?
These things I really wonder about.
I can think of two basic reasons for these kind of decisions, these Choices that Mystify:
1. They prefer a specific sound and the Meitner does not give them that sound
2. Their system is unbalanced and the Meitner just does not work well with it.
How do yoiu tell if you may be in camp 1 or 2?
In my experience the Meitner is above all TRANSPARENT. This is exactly what I strive for personally, a transparency, a suspension of disbelief, a purity that lets magic happen.
In my way of thinking right now,:
Details make it real to the mind,
Harmonics make it real to the heart, and
Transparency makes it real to the soul.
I do not believe one can have transparency without Detail and Harmonics, but it is so much more.
Some people want DETAIL above all else. If you read their posts and reviews, they talk about eeking every last detail out of the music and little about how enjoyable the sound is. Or about how real and continuous it is.
Some people want a warm, melodic FORGIVING harmonic presentation above all else. I suspect many of these people are in recovery from a very digital solid-state sounding system (been there, done that), but most probably just want their music to be enjoyable-sounding above all.
2. Unbalanced systems are a real problem – because the system may reject an excellent component because it doesn’t ‘fit in’, causing an infinite loop of iteration as their owner strives for a better sound but keeps coming up against incompatibility problems.
For example, one person with Boulder amps and I think Wilson speakers did not like the Meitner – said it was too ‘bright’ and ‘solid-state’ sounding. Well, he was hearing his associated components, perhaps for the first time, and did not like it! So, even though he and I may have the same preference for transparent souind, he out of necessity must get a player that is more forgiving if he is to keep his other components (thereby never reaching his goal of superb magical transparency).
For me the Meitner is the best digital. I adjust the associated equipment in the system to optimize the sound for it. When I just want to listen and not ‘explore strange new worlds’ I enjoy music with the Audio Note pair. I suspect Neli prefers the Audio Aero Prestige – much of the time. In a few days we will get the Audio Note CDT Three transport – upping the bar once again.
To my ears, with our calibre of equipment, we carry the best digital we have heard. We are lucky to be able to carry exactly what we think is best with respect to digital (whereas we cannot carry, say, the Boulder $$$ preamp, Avalon speakers, etc. because of geographical constraints). There is only one other line of digital that we may be interested in…. stay tuned! 🙂
Hope this helps you decide what YOU might consider ‘best’,
Kind regards,
Mike.
Thanks Mike for the explanation…I understand what you mean..
I will keep an eye open for your update on the meitner…by the way,have you experienced with modding a cd player? I know this can void the warranty but I am fascinated with the modding sub-culture…
I am always puzzled as to why some high end manufacturers will use cheap parts in a top notch product. According to some modders,there is room for improvement on most of the players on the market. I have seen a few reviews from satisfied customers on Audiogon and Audi Asylum…they swear by modding…..I hope you keep this blog open…you may not have a lot of comments left but I really like your approach…I wouldn’t be suprised that this blog is good for your business..one can really see that you and your wife are passionate before anything…money doesn’t seems to be your main reason for being in this business…we need more people like you. Thanks for your generosity.
Regard
Guy;-)
P.S. your show reports are the best on the internet..the pictures quality is awesome.