The British and American approach to audio stands is very different. The Brits favour a "lighter is better" approach to manage and channel away vibration and jitter. The US approach is a "heavier mass" isolation approach.
Which is better? Impossible IMO to generalize; it depends on your particular gear. Anecdotally IMO it further depends on added sensitivities introduced as one moves up the $$ chain for that gear.
I've bought and use(d) the stands and tweak products as follows:
(i) I had the Mapleshade Samson audio equipment rack/stand along with their brass footers. It/they worked relatively well in my old set-up, particularly for the CDP. I sold it cuz a dealer recommended a custom bespoke audio stand based on the UK model Naim Fraim design . I was skeptical, so I auditioned it at home -- he was righ-- that new stand outperformed it by no small margin. Curiously, in the new setup there are no brass footers either.
In fairness, the new bespoke audio stand is much much more expensive (6 X) and now it really shined that much more with much much more expensive hardware sitting on it (cdp and integrated amp ~ again 6 X) ) as my new kit . I am guessing that the higher up the $$ food chain one goes, the effects (and sensitivities) of ALL accesssories and tweaks become more dramatic.
(ii) Previously I also bought the MS kiln-dried maple 4 inch platform with the heavyweight brass footers for the old and new CDP to sit on. It worked relatively well in the old kit but was a dud in the new modded Naim Fraim approach set-up. I now use it and the footers as a very good isolation base in my "B" kit.
To ask which is the "best" is analagous to asking "how long is a piece of string? ASN: "... it depends(including budget)..."
Which is better? Impossible IMO to generalize; it depends on your particular gear. Anecdotally IMO it further depends on added sensitivities introduced as one moves up the $$ chain for that gear.
I've bought and use(d) the stands and tweak products as follows:
(i) I had the Mapleshade Samson audio equipment rack/stand along with their brass footers. It/they worked relatively well in my old set-up, particularly for the CDP. I sold it cuz a dealer recommended a custom bespoke audio stand based on the UK model Naim Fraim design . I was skeptical, so I auditioned it at home -- he was righ-- that new stand outperformed it by no small margin. Curiously, in the new setup there are no brass footers either.
In fairness, the new bespoke audio stand is much much more expensive (6 X) and now it really shined that much more with much much more expensive hardware sitting on it (cdp and integrated amp ~ again 6 X) ) as my new kit . I am guessing that the higher up the $$ food chain one goes, the effects (and sensitivities) of ALL accesssories and tweaks become more dramatic.
(ii) Previously I also bought the MS kiln-dried maple 4 inch platform with the heavyweight brass footers for the old and new CDP to sit on. It worked relatively well in the old kit but was a dud in the new modded Naim Fraim approach set-up. I now use it and the footers as a very good isolation base in my "B" kit.
To ask which is the "best" is analagous to asking "how long is a piece of string? ASN: "... it depends(including budget)..."