Digital is never perfect – a BluTack experiment

Intro

We’ve all heard it: “It’s just ones and zeros."

The implication being that in digital audio, if the file plays and the light turns green, then everything must be perfect. But for those of us who’ve worked with hi-fi systems up close –and spent a lifetime really listening – it's just not like that. Often, two identical music files can sound dramatically different depending on the DAC, the transport, or even the network path. Why?

My BluTack Transport Test

Years ago, I tried an experiment that changed how I thought about digital audio forever. I was working with a Philips swinging arm laser mechanism – one of those classic CD transports known for their precise tracking and smooth mechanical design. But I wanted to test how far I could push the system before it faltered, not visibly, but audibly. So I incrementally added tiny amounts of BluTack to the focusing lens assembly on the laser pickup.

What I was doing, in essence, was increasing the load on the laser’s focusing servos. It had to work harder to fight against the additional inertia to maintain lock on the disc data. The result? The disc still played, and on the surface, all seemed well. But the sound told a different story. It became flatter. The spatial depth collapsed. Timing felt sluggish. Tonal subtlety lost it's shimmer. It didn’t completely fall apart – but it didn’t feel alive either. Eventually, with too much mass for it all to cope with, the music would go pop and the disc would stop playing.

Fixing the Damage – and Going Beyond

When I removed the BluTack the sound went back to its state of offering generally good performance. But then I applied some acoustic coupling principles to the transport mechanism frame, (using small irregular shaped pieces of granite). The change was immediate. There was more overall life to the soundstage – this had now pushed the sound beyond the standard baseline. More clarity. More air. Less edge. This led me to a two-part conclusion:

• I could reduce the errors in reading data off the disc by easing the loads on the focussing servos even more (and probably also reducing vibration in the laser diode and the receiving optical array) by changing the vibrational environment within the whole transport.

  
  

• The downstream error correction algorithms can function within quite a broad range of data damage before banging out, but their increasing efforts are clearly audible in the degradation of fidelity.

Why This Still Matters Today

Fast forward to now, and we see similar blind spots in modern systems. People assume one streamer sounds like another, or that a cheap network switch has no bearing on audio quality. But if you've ever struggled with sound that feels lifeless or two-dimensional, this could be part of the story. And don't for aninstant think that this problem only applies to things where there are mechanics like a laser swinging arm or a turntable. No – and I'm quite sure about that. You see I also carried out a myriad of experiments on every bit of fixed hardware up and down the line, from DAC chips to voltage regulators, and there was always some form of subtle degradation that was removed.

So here’s my encouragement: trust your ears. If it doesn’t sound right – even if everything is “working," dig deeper. Ask questions. Explore alternatives. There's more to be had – I promise you that.

Put three Quiescent couplers under a high-end streamer and hold on to your hat.