I will be putting isolation products to the test in my room (again, as I have several times in the past, every time proving insipid/marginal) when I receive the anticipated amps that will be under review. They will be both new. One will be "burned in" by myself while the other will be new. One will have proper stand while the other will sit on a plywood plank on the carpet, one will have isolation devices underneath while the other will sit on its stock feet. I'm not going to proclaim what will happen, I will compare them.
This is just an example of the type of comparisons I run with gear. The last time I conducted such a comparison was between three different elements of an audio system, and that article, "Audiophile Law: Thou Shalt Not Overemphasize Burn In", can be seen at Dagogo.com. Oh, the accolades over burn in! Oh, how necessary, and how one can't possibly be serious if they don't burn in gear... Blah, blah, blah. I actually do comparisons regularly.
You think I haven't put such things to the test? My Vapor Audio Joule White speakers came with two sized spikes, and of differing materials. The larger spikes were a PITA to move the speaker around. I removed them and tried rubber hockey pucks. Yes, hockey pucks; no appreciable difference in sound quality. Why? because the speakers remained at the same height. Later, I put the speakers on casters due to ease of moving in and out of the room. Nice bump in performance from el cheapo casters! Immediately noticeable. If I were a sensationalist I would say it made them sound like speakers twice as expensive! The improvement was obvious, but not due to vibration control, but due to elevation of the speaker. Also, a nice bump in performance by putting some lifts in the back of the top module, thus changing the relative position of the baffles for mid/treble relative to bass. Were these astounding, amazing changes? No. People who make claims like that have no concept of the spectrum of performance and how little such things contribute.
I have better time to spend and better places to spend my money on audio than pucks and spikes. The real gains for audio are in the systems that are built, not the doodads that you stick around the room or underneath components or speakers. Note that I am not discussing analogue here, as I only use digital source. If you feel my methods as a reviewer are not good enough, so be it. There are plenty of other reviewers who will spend inordinate time on these things. Imo, they are getting you to waste your time and money versus spending it on superior methods of system building.
But, as I said, this all will be compared once again, even though I have done so several times in the past with assorted isolation devices.
Final thought; it's such a shame that as prestigious a speaker company as Tannoy can't get it right with their footers. Shame, shame. The world will be so happy to hear that you can get a speaker to sound like 2x the price by putting X brand isolation device under it!
I'm not interested in marginal improvements to audio systems. I spend time on things that vastly advance audio systems. I am also not interested in ranging argument about picking out phrases of my discussion to debate. You either agree or disagree, so be it. :)
