The Force Is Strong On The Dark Side!

This is an old post of ours in the blog we previously contributed to.

That I went to ask V&V Audio for the Shunyata Dark Field Cable Elevator for trial was actually Panzer's idea. So this last Saturday when we met up, I took down the 4 pieces I had and passed on to him for a listen.
Later, I listened to my system without the Dark Fields. It sounded all right, almost indistinguishable from when the Dark Fields were around. So I thought, no big deal, I knew the Dark Field's effect was minor, though positive, anyway.

I listened to my system again Saturday night, then a couple more times on Sunday. Hey, what happened? I did not enjoy the music as much as before, there was a slight loss of coherence (but it did not become incoherent), there was some mechanical-ness in the music re-production while previously the music was more fluid. I also had to strain somewhat to distinguish minor details that I knew were there, because I heard them quite clearly the last few days. I was less relaxed listening.

All these were the areas that the Dark Fields improved upon. In my last post I said that their effects were small. I still think they were small, but what I did not realize was how critical they were. It was like that few drops of soy sauce that made a dish complete; or like that putt that put the golf ball into the hole after you have driven it for 400 yards.

Then, Panzer texted me about the Dark Fields in his system, he said, "The system... with the dark field elevators reached a whole new level of Sophistication! It brought the whole musical emotional intent to the fore. The slight dryness noticed yesterday totally gone. I want (the Shunyata Dark Field). Ha! Ha!".

So there he went with me to the Dark Side too.

I went back to V&V Audio and requested more Shunyata Dark Field Cable Elevators (an entire box of 12 pieces in fact) for Panzer and myself to check out.


Putting 4 back into my system brought back the smile a couple of hours later. I'd pass the rest on to Panzer, he wanted more so he could try them on his interconnects and powercord too. Let's see how his journey would turn out.

I have a conjecture based on my experience - it may not be possible to do quick A-B comparisons with the Shunyata Dark Field. When I first put them on, I needed to wait a day for them to bloom; when I took them off, I thought everything still sounded ok only to hear things progressively changed over a day plus. IF the Dark Field is really doing what it is suppose to do, this makes sense, as, I believe, draining static electricity and having static to build-up do take time (though I am not sure in our high humidity and carpet-less environment how severe the problem would be).

Topics on tweaks like this are likely to polarize opinions. However, the most important is one's own listening experience. So if you are interested, try them out in your own system to decide (remember to let them sit for a day or two under your cables first).

Ok, now where is that light sabre to complete my cross over? :-)

List price for the Shunyata Dark Field Cable Elevator is RM100 per piece.
Shunyata is carried by V&V Audio - 016-3302049 Mr. Ng.

Posted by hifikaki 16 June '09