isolation

People can try to explain this away however much they want.. Fact is that a good platform (or rack) does wonders to most equipment. The differences are NOT subtle in my experience.

Just because you can't find a logical explanation for why things improve sound, doesn't mean it's not there. Science may be good for some things, but it has no place in the listening experience.

A good isolation system can make a big difference in a high resolution system.It can enhance the illusion of reality and increase one's enjoyment factor,or it can rob the music of life and deaden things.
The best that I have tried is the Finite Elemente Master Reference system in combo with the cerabase feet.
Supports tend to sound like what they are made of--a good reason to avoid funky synthetic materials and stick to wood and steels.

I agree, a good stable platform that is relatively inert can make a difference (big or small is rather subjective), IMHO, it doesn't require expensive, esoteric materials to provide a "good" platform. Solid maple with any kind of cone, or cushioning material (coupling versus decoupling) on a stable stand should do the job. Beyond that, I don't think you are going to find a whole lot of difference between different type of products. If the platform is basically inert, well you can worry about it, but this can quickly turn into an endless pursuit for isolation, and I'd rather focus on equipment changes that would make a more worthwhile differenece IMHO; but by all means, you do need a good, solid platform for your equipment.

In fact I do use relatively inexpensive isolation. I am glad to see that several of you noted the humor. I have a massive steel component rack and use cork and rubber pads under all of the pieces I also have spikes etc. But I can't see spending a almost a kings ransom for some of the offerings. I position the speakers in my main rig -well in front of the components, To get a reflection the sound has to travel over 70ft through two couches into corner alcoves and lots of stuff. the backwave is absorbed as resonant nodes in the speaker cabinets.
I really cannot see the utility of destabilizing the mass vibration stop and hold by using a sure fire way to get vibration to actually have a maginfied effect. For instance the rolling ball in a cup style.

Actually, the rolling ball is not a voodoo science. It actually came from building construction engineering. I was working at an architecture firm about 10 years ago when I first got out of school, an engineering firm came to do a presentation on the then new San Francisco Library that they had just constructed using this type of seismic technology. Each of the column has a "ball" bottom, and sits in a cup, so that when earthquake hits, the entire building will sway laterally as a unit, and prevent the building from collapsing. This technology was widely used in earthquake prone areas like Tokyo.

I've read some white papers on these ball/cup combo tweaks for audio, and they seem to build on the same principle to combat lateral vibration.

FrankC