I remain skeptical that the engineers at AA would be capable of designing a world class transport and DAC and not have the wherewithal to design a competent clamping puck for their system - not impossible, but highly unlikely IMHO. Perhaps a mat might improve things, but I'll wait here to hear from others that may have had a positive experience with the AA - I'm slightly skeptical regarding the use of a mat, but open to the possibility. What did greatly improve (ok, audiophile overstatement) the performance of the Digital Duo was the use of an RSA Haley (similar to Teajay's Jaco)power conditioner. For me it was well worth the cost - might be because I live in an apartment building and my electricity may be quite "dirty". I will look into the Critical Mass platform mentioned by Dev, I think good platforms do make a difference - I'm using 2" maple with BDR cones at the moment - no idea if that is ideal, but will experiment. I'm also using the JPS Digital AC power cables and they seem to do a good job with digital equipment.