Do equipment stands have an impact on electronics?

Competent digital converters (ie: CD quality at 16/44) have typical distortion less than 0.01 percent at all audible frequencies right up to the point of hard clipping. I'll be glad to see your real world distortion numbers for sine waves on an LP played back at typical levels. Use the best test tone LP you can find, with the finest turntable and cartridge you can get your hands on, and have Michael Fremer align it if you'd like. :->) I imagine that best case it's at least 100 times worse than the distortion of CDs but, as always, I'm willing to change my opinion as soon as you or someone else shows actual evidence. So whatcha got?

When you say "0.01" are you referring to THD? When one looks at digital specs, one is lucky to find the distortion spec listed at all; if it is its usually in terms of db and at that also as a composite figure representing THD and noise together (which seems a reasonable way to express the value). However its the inharmonic distortions that are the larger amount of distortion that has shown up in a lot of digital gear over time, but that number is not included in the spec, in fact I don't see it on websites anywhere. The industry as a whole seems reluctant to produce specs on it, but especially in the old days it was the primary distortion component by a large margin. This to me is one of the annoying things about the industry; many of the specs are made for marketing purposes.

So until we can get a handle on that I don't think we can pass judgment one way or the other.

So it's disingenuous to pick on that one situation when it's clear that the real BS is selling "isolation products" for use under wires and CD players etc.

Since the collection of data from a CD is an analog process, its reasonable to assume that reducing vibration in the transport will improve data recovery. Its not uncommon to see damping applied to high end CD transports. I for one am happy to see other codices supplant the CD.  

I've seen situations where cables have been microphonic (for lack of a better word). I've seen microphone cables 'squeak' when disturbed (although depending on the cable that can vary by quite a lot) and I've seen longer interconnects between an amp and preamp do the same thing (although to a far lessor degree). I personally feel when a cable imparts an artifact like that when moved that maybe one might want to find a different cable, but I can imagine others using little stands and the like.

I put myself through college and the like by servicing consumer gear. I have seen microphonic transistors and ICs (that simply had to be replaced). Semiconductors are not entirely immune to vibration, but I expect that the equipment under test would have to be mounted on a shaker table to see anything significant.

However, some types of capacitors are much more susceptible, and these types are found in both tube and solid state equipment. In addition to the ceramic devices in the article link below, silver mica, tantalum and mylar can be added to the list although they don't react as much as the common disk cap. Its a short article, and may explain why the conversation continues with the equipment stands, even though tubes and turntables are not involved (BTW this was a first hit on Google...).

https://e2e.ti.com/blogs_/b/precisionhub/archive/2014/12/19/stress-induced-outbursts-microphonics-in...

The secret is in the experiment of suspending cables I mentioned earlier. If the sound improves by suspending or otherwise isolating cables there’s a pretty good chance that the reduction of vibration is the reason. If that’s true cables and wiring everywhere should be considered at risk. It’s Logic 101. All internal wiring of tube and solid state electronics, internal speaker wiring, wires inside tubes, wires inside capacitors, wires inside transformers, to name a few. This is not to say that static electric fields on carpets and wood are not an issue as well.

illuminator
Geoff,

I thought that you’d gotten it. I just couldn’t understand why you went along and added fuel to the fire instead of just letting it die out like it probably should have.

I appreciate a good troll as much as the next guy. A good troll is indistinguishable from magic. 😀

The original intention of this thread was to troll. This thread was started by the OP immediately following the removal of a previous very similar thread by the moderators. I’m not wishing to judge things too harshly but it appears the troll was successful. 😀

The original troll: "Mechanical grounding or isolation from vibration has been a hot topic as of late.....The question is does it have merit when it comes to electronics and if so why? Are there plausible explanations for their effect on electronics or suggested measurement paradigms to document such an effect?" Geez, give me a break!

No, the intention was to resurrect a previous thread that was cannonballed by trolls.  It seems as if history may repeat itself.  Now, answer the question if you can.....

They cannot answer the question, They never will be able to answer the question. All they can do is insult us, and call us names, and accuse of having an agenda. But the one thing that would put us in our place, and shut us up for good, is forever beyond their grasp. :->)