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WHAT HAS WORKED FOR YOU? ISOLATION PLATFORMS, FOOTERS, ETC. for a DAC?

What is reasonable to expect in SQ gain with respect to a DAC, since there are no actively moving parts?

Footers only? Platforms only? Or is a combination of both best?

Keeping this open ended (as well as budget wise) to see what Audiogon Members recommend and advise.

However, thoughts on Gains v.s. Spend with the specific products you are recommending are welcome and will be very helpful.

The only footers I have used in the past are those from Herbie's Audio Lab.  I have used two different 'audio' racks (which have been dismantled) and I am using their shelves as isolation platforms for my speakers and other components (but not the DACs).

The DACs in use are a Schiit Yggdrasil and an Exogal Comet Plus. The stock rubber footers with the Yggdrasil are as basic as they come; The Comet has an acrylic plate with rounded metal screws.

THANK YOU!
david_ten
13blm's avatar
13blm
63 posts
 
Hi David. Yes, the footers isolate in all directions but more so in the vertical plane. "Floating" a component only isolates.  We also need to wick away vibration for an isolation/damping device to be effective.  Your footers as you know are virtually infinatily adjustable to find a happy medium between isolation, coupling and damping. It's true that position makes a difference, and sometimes quite dramatic. Pushing them out partially beyond the component perimiter is  also worthwhile. 
Regards,
Bruce
Anvil Turntables
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,491 posts
 
The need for isolation is entirely dependent on the design of your DAC. It is possible to design both an excellent power supply and a non-microphonic DAC - in this case any treatment is pointless: it won’t do harm but certainly won’t do any good.

Unfortunately not all DACs are designed in a holistic sense that the power supply and microphonic immunity need to be as outstanding as the digital to audio conversion and analog section - and thus is why so many have to resort to band-aids.

Benchmark have written about these subjects and appear to take a holistic approach in design - all aspects need to be top notch.
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Hi David,

You are moving in the right direction IMO.

"Soft" footers "cushion" the component from external vibration from the floor/rack but also trap internal vibrations inside the component (isolators vs conductors).

Symposium Acoustics system of combining Rollerblocks with their Svelte shelves (conduct then isolate) drains the vibrations from both the component (on top) and from external vibrations from the floor/rack (from below) into the vibration-absorbing membrane sandwiched between SS plates. Detail and coherence are improved over soft (and hard) footers, cones, and Rollerblocks without the shelves IME

Adding spring devices underneath the Svelte shelves (I use Solid Tech) can improve the sound further for extremely sensitive gear.  

Dave

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Unfortunately it’s not really a question of "microphonic immunity." There is nothing you can do to make a component - any component - immune to low frequency seismic type vibration, I mean other than isolate it from those vibrations using some type of low pass mechanical filter. That’s because the entire building is shaking, so anything connected to it is shaking right along with it.

Obviously some steps can be talken (but usually aren’t) inside the component to guard against vibration with higher frequencies, you know, using damping techniques,including those produced by the component itself such as transformer hum, CD transport mechanical noise, motor noise, etc.
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Right Geoff. I use vibration damping material inside the chassis and stick-on wheel weights on transports/CD players to good effect.

There seems to always be room for improvement in this area.

Dave

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