@curiousjim ” Kinda a letdown after the huge difference with the Gaia’s.”
That has been my experience in general with isolation products and Isoacoustics in particular. So far speakers and turntables benefit most obviously. I tried some Oreas under a Chord Qutest DAC which is small and whatever benefit they provided was outweighed by the attached cables, literally and sonically. I tried some Oreas under my amp, and there might be a slight improvement. I will say that I can listen to my system louder now with less fatigue, but have not tested how much of that is due to vibration control versus recent cable upgrades, or whether they are working together to make the improvements.
My vintage Thorens suspended turntable is sitting on Mapleshade’s vibration control system which is a “drain and isolate” design with large brass spikes, a large maple wood block and isolation footers, and the change in sound provided by that is astonishing, improving just about everything. And while it kind of matches the old Thorens vibe visually, my wife thinks it looks pretty stupid so for that reason and a constant quest for “better” I am considering a sleeker alternative. For my small tube phono pre I am using an improvised micro version of the drain and isolate solution and not sure how much value that adds.
Finally, in a system at my daughter’s home I used some Isoacoustics pucks under her monitor speakers that are on her credenza along with her amp and turntable, and as can be expected they made a noticeable positive difference there.
My takeaway, things in your system that depend on vibration to create sound benefit dramatically from isolation. For devices that only handle signals electronically, the benefits are considerably more subtle, and probably most detectable at higher listening levels. As with everything HiFi, the more resolving your system overall, the more everything matters - it’s a never ending spiral…
kn
