Various Bearing Isolation Devices

Talked to Cable Co today, they said Symposium will soon be offering "super ball" for rollerblocks. The current tungsten carbibe upgrade ball is round to within 12 millionths of and inch, new supper ball using even more sophisticated processes, acheives perfect round within 5 millionths of an inch, further reducing microscopic friction, life is good........still waiting for my back ordered rollerblocks, regards Sam

My rollerblocks arrived finally, and I put them to the test. Beautiful looking precision pieces, I got the tungsten bearing upgrade and used the drop of teflon/silicon oil tweak. I used them on a Symposium Platform Shelf under a Musical Fidelity CDP, set in a Target VR5 rack. When installed CDP will float effortlessly and easily rock back and forth with light touch. Sound becomes more solid and clear, bass is faster and firmer, imaging and transients improve....... the important thing is sound is very natural, no upward tilt was noticed (unlike many cone devices).....this was my main fear. These units have a permanent home under my CDP! This is a very elegant system that solves CDP isolation by providing coupling/decoupling both at the same time. I would like to have compared to Aurios MIB, I think both are probably good solutions for CDP, becomes expensive to deploy on multiple components though........any other people using these?

Recently acquired MIB Aurios for my CDP and DAC. I was truly amazed at the immediate difference. Bass was much much tighter and the treble smoother and seemless with more bloom. Music became so effortless and made me feel more at ease too. Depth also improves. Unfortunately, I have no other isolation devices with which to compare these. I definitely hope to "float" all my other components. Pricey, though, at nearly $300 a component! MIBs require meticulous levelling to realize their isolation benefits. One hassle with these is when using a chunky custom power cord on the same component - this tends to "brake" the easy to-and-fro movement that is so critical to the bearings. Interested to know if others have had similar problems (ie using either the Symposiums or MIBs together with a "fat" powercord) and how they have solved this?

Marlec, congrats on your discovery, rollerblocks do not have to have perfectly level surface, but both Aurios MIB and Symposium Rollerblocks to freely float CDP, must have cable weight/forces nuetralized so as not to impede CDP. Short ICs are usually no problem, but heavy AC cords must get special attention......Tape/strap loosely to your equipment rack (careful not to pinch cord) so AC cord weight is nuetralized and does not impede free float of CDP.....this is what I did with my PowerSnake AC cord..... yes it is very expensive to float multiple components, but the vast majority of improvement comes from CDP isolation, regards Sam

Megasam - many thanks for your interest and thoughtful response. In the process of attaching the King Cobra V2 PC (this is the most obese 'reptile' I know) to my CDP (while perched on the MIB Aurios), the CDP almost got "catapulted" off the equipment rack as the PC has so little bending ability. The compromise with which I presently remain, is that of the CDP sitting rather obliquely on its shelf (atop the 'cookies') as there is no other arrangement possible to obtain the desired vibration isolation set up (while using the PC, too). I'm afraid to bend the PC anymore for fear of damaging it. I count my lucky stars that I'm still single; these tweaks are so ugly and time-consuming, no self-respecting spouse would tolerate the "spagghetti" and the rest of the "junk" on my rack! Of course, I enjoy it - why would I tolerate the mess?