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Is this Placebo or something real?

Recently I purchased three Nordost Sort Kones and put them under my Elite SACD player. When I first brought them home I spent a few days doing A/B comparisons and was convinced that I could hear a distinct different. One of the downsides to the Sort Kones was the fact that they are a metal on metal support that makes pushing buttons on the SACD player difficult. In an effort to make sure that it wouldn't fall off of the supports I put some foot corn pads (i.e. foam donuts) on the underside of the SACD player to give the kones a "bumper" to limit the possible movement. I made sure the pads were not touching the kones, but after installing them I was never convinced of the difference in sound quality when doing A/B comparisons. Today I took the pads off and it appears that the magic is back. I know that there is some level of vibration damping from the pads, but is it really possible for it to direct the vibrations around the Sort Kones or is this a negative placebo defeating a positive placebo? I won't be putting them back on anytime soon, that's for sure.
mceljo
rakuennow
81 posts
 
Mceljo: The ceramic ball might couple when it is sitting still, but it was definitely designed as a spring/damper along the horizontal axis. The ball will roll up the incline in the small "cup" given enough displacement, then gravity will act as damping. It's like a miniature version of this: http://www.earthquakeprotection.com/building_san_francisco_airport_terminal.html

I am still skeptical that an external component could reduce internal vibrations within the system (which is what Nordost claims the Sort Kones will do). Being an engineer, could you please explain that?
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
by the way, the placebo is something real, since we are imperfect beings and subject to error.
mceljo OP
1,357 posts
 
Rakuennow - Being an engineer causes me to always wonder and try to understand things, but I certainly don't claim to understand vibrations. In fact, I switched from mechanic engineering to civil engineering after two weeks in feedback and controls which preceeded vibrations. It was beyond my ability, at least in a finite amount of time.

Having said that, the Sort Kones give the vibrations an exit path from the equipment, but I'm not sure how to make it "fit" exactly with their description. Sometimes audio marketing uses pseudo science to make things sound a lot more impressive than a simple explaination could, but that doesn't mean that the product works any better or worse. I think the goal is to make the explaination beyond the vast majority so that it unlikely that anyone would debunk their story.

My friend stopped by tonight and confirmed that he could hear a difference with the Sort Kones, but it isn't such a significant change that he wasn't wishing for two identical systems to do an immediate A/B comparison.

He was listening to my new Mr. Paganini SACD and commented on hearing the violinist moving relative to the mic as he played. He said it was something that he was used to hearing live (i.e. change in sound with the movement), but not on a stereo system. I'd never hear this which is why I like him to listen to my new toys and provide an opinion.
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