Entreq Silver Minimus Infinity Grounding Boxes

Letter from Hong Kong (24-8): ELO on Grounding Boxes and other Conundrums

For most of my 50 + years of HiFi experience, I have not been a believer of grounding and its ability to remove the high frequency and other unwanted noises that exist in the power grid and around the whole flat. Not until the recent two years, that is, largely thanks to Doctorjohn for letting me write here, which reignited my HiFi journey to chase after Nirvana....

There are people who spend whole lots of money on improving the power supply to create the cleanest and most accurate sine curve to power the system. Some spend ample amount of money on noise grounding. Mechanical grounding of vibration is another intriguing topic; I think people like us invest much time and money on this - many blood sweating stories on choosing the right type of vibration control material to take away the unwanted vibration that can mask and deteriorate the sound! For me, I agree with all of these means to improve sound but a lot of people simply use "measurements" to judge things instead of ears and heart to FEEL the music.

Even seasoned veterans in my early years paid very little attention to noise grounding. Many did not think it can improve the sound, and that's even true as of today. Even my old self always saw this as voodoo magic or snake oil. Even when it comes to cables, many say they are not worth the investment. But I do believe any cable can alter the sound in a way that can improve or worsen the sound depending how setup is tuned. There are a lot of uber expensive cables available in the market. While they offer improvement to sound, I always question their PQR or even the actual performance. I am extremely happy with my cheap cables (by today's standards) but I'm still open to trying mid priced cables. That is another topic that can lead easily to heated discussions!

Without drifting too far, (which I did many times as usual) those who had read my earlier posts some time back know I was sold on the idea of grounding my system and that I started to DIY some simple ground boxes (as in here; this is not something that requires a whole lot of electrical knowledge)!! And they really work in my system. Since then, I have been adding more and more ground boxes into my system. Even if some did not work out, most did and, as a whole, the effect is more beneficial than adverse.

Entreq Silver Minimus Infinity (SMI) had always been on my radar after I acquired the Entreq Micro, though not top of my shopping list. After acquiring the Grimm SQM, the hifi bug made me itchy again to try to improve further on my system. 

On my current setup, so very listenable already, I am really satisfied with the sound but with a small issue: the midrange is very transparent but still missing the last bit of texture and, perhaps, bit of warmth and that final bit of musicality. I'm just nitpicking, and of course any improvement is welcome.

As usual one day, I was surfing R33 for interesting stuff, not necessarily to buy, and then saw the Entreq Silver Minimus Infinity (SMI) on sale at a very reasonable price and I got it quickly with a slight further discount. With no expectation at all, I immediately installed it into my system. I hooked it up to my Aiyima A08 Pro - the difference is huge, but on the negative side: the soundstage has shrunk and air was dried up. So without waiting for too long, I unhooked it and then tried it on the UMI. Sound seemed to be back to normal but, to my surprise, there's one track that really perplexed me! The guitar should be dead on the left, but  then here it had moved to slightly left of middle!  Then I moved the Minimus to the back of my Wattson WEA and connected it to the Viard ethernet cable's connector. Soundstage seems to back to normal. Then I let it settle down and played some random tracks from my Tidal collection.

Without any expectations, at first I heard only small changes but, after prolonged listening for more than a week, the subtle changes grew and grew and became vital and integral to the system. It elevated the level of one very important HiFi indicator: MUSICALITY. Just when I think the system has enough detail retrieval, the SMI somehow improved on it. 

So what are the improvements?

• 1) Improvement of Microdynamics is the most important. The speed of music can be lightning fast if demanded and can happen all of a sudden. Then it will die down within a split second, followed by absolute black and quiet background, plus the seemingly unfathomable decaying reverb of the instrument that can only be heard to last second of the track. Also the musicians and vocalists seem to play more TOGETHER, instead of everyone being on his own in an isolated space. The timing of all instruments are dead on accurate with not a bit of sluggishness. The portrayal of violin has gained an extra level of performance;  possessing the right body and harmonics, the hairpin turns are negotiated smoothly and swiftly like by a top F1 car racer! As a result, it can sound ferocious and scintillating yet, if required, it can be as regal, melancholic, solemn, sad, or serene. Quiet as a virgin, agile as a rabbit, as the Chinese say. In a nutshell, the violin sounds like what it should be, but tube lovers beware, no rosin was smelled yet, so maybe there are another things to improve on my list.

• 2) Midrange Cohesiveness and Sensuality. Before, the midrange sounded a bit cool and slightly impartial, though overall still very very listenable (just being critical). Enter the SMI: suddenly the vocals, especially females, seem to put on a thin layer of flesh.  All female singers gained an extra level of sensuality and lushness, while male vocals take up on masculinity without sounding chesty nor boxy. All became ultra pure with just the right amount of intensity. Though not at all tubey, the agility, belting, runs, deliberations and articulation that distinguish a skilled singer from a pedestrian one is easily identified from pppp to ffff! AThe SMI brought to the surface, and in a non-intrusive manner, a lot of the singing techniques that were not heard before or were just simply masked! I was hearing 50 shades of gray, LOL!

• 3) Details in the Lower Registers I could hear more bass articulation and changes of yin and yang. Basslines are easier to follow, and my foot tapping index is really high. Yet, I don't think the system has the tendency to tune the sound towards the hot side of PRAT. Still, if it is there in the recording, it will honestly convey it without any added spice nor overcooking, and that is very important to me.

• 4) Recorded Information Retrieval I can hear a lot more Hall Sound and the capture of decays and reverbs at the end of the song where before I would just think the song has already ended and focused ahead to the next track. The effect of the additional level of  attenuation of music played on multiple instrument can be compared to watching fireworks. In the sky, fully blossoming fireworks overlap with decaying ones, one after another, to form the amazing and colourful pictures that we all expect and love to see and become touched. Imagine that happening in your system with music instead of fireworks!

• 5) Imaging Truth is, I'm not an image freak; as long as it can be felt, I am good. With the UMI, I can actually touch the instrument (often caught me in awe) since the the instrument sounds so complete with the presence of all the subtle spatial and textural information (air surrounding the instrument, the correctness of size, proportion, timbre). The fingering of musicians and the tapping of instruments are all clearly heard; yet, they never intervene with the flow of music. I can identify the number of backing vocals without being  analytical.

Building up My System: Trying to understand why and what it sounds like A bit of sidetrack, with all the improvements, one day I started to realise that often I feel like I'm hearing something that is very close to live music in every song. Things are so natural and organic; there is no makeup (or at most some skin care treatment but definitely no colouring nor powdering and mascara)! Now that I think back, the reason is not difficult to identify, it is the synergy among the equipment: the almost transparent and dynamic Aiyima A08pro; the musical yet airy Studer cables; the cleansing effect of UMI; the really high end performance of WEA (punched way above its asking price); the classy yet finely detailed Viard speaker cable; my most reliable, honest, dynamic and irreplaceable Dynaudio Crafft; the Audio Physics subwoofer providing the bouncy and taut foundation; plus all the accessories like grounding SPEC RSP-01 on speakers; mechanical grounding, high frequency Earth Boxes (SMI, Micro and DIY) and endless high quality Tidal music! To say that I'm one step closer to my ultimate Audio Nirvana is not an overstatement! Doctorjohn, you gotta come and listen when you are in HK again since I am not sure whether it is true or simply my self indulging illusion or my own self indulgence, LOL! But right now I am the most satisfied in my 50 years+ of music listening journey!! I may not be any average HiFi lovers since I really go small instead of go big (except my Dynaudio's which are not the most compact). But the outcome is BIG and BOLD, musical and enjoyable, yet not coloured or with any added exaggerated PRAT or euphony, which is exactly what I am looking for during the course of my HiFi journey!! And right now, I begin to feel that I am not that far away from my ideal picture of what it should sound like (say it more than a hundred times already LOL)

I also like details that can lead to a better understanding of the music piece but not distract you from the main picture. To be honest, if I want musical experience, I can simply turn on any analog tuner and be able to hear it on my earphones or in my car. As a music and HiFi lover, it is only the minimum requirement !! I don't chase effects, since if the system is not musical and enjoyable, details will be deemed to be boring, artificial and useless! Details is simply a byproduct of musicality, not the main character, just my 2c.

My take on grounding If connected to the right place, a grounding device can improve the sound of your system from slightly to significantly and, indeed, you must experiment and be aware that sometimes one can overdo it. Perhaps, different equipment has its own threshold and too much grounding can have a negative effect like too much drying up of the sound.

Grounding does not change the sound signature of your setup, in fact it can only strengthen or disclose more of the strengths or, sometimes, weaknesses of your system, which is likely the byproduct of a darker background. In my case, the increase in musicality is definitely felt in particular when Entreq is used. They are not cheap but I would consider it as money well spent - they are definitely not at all snake oil but a nice glass of fine claret! Cheers!!!!