Brulee: I think that it really does depend on the individual piece of gear and many other obvious factors as well (the platform, the footers, the cabinet and how it meets the floor and the floor itself). The one thing that I find has the most impact on any of the isolation combinations that I am currently experimenting with is the "power cord" and how the weight of it drags or pulls on the component. The weight and pull of a heavy power cord is actually working against all that I am trying to achieve with isolation components. To see the difference that the PC can make, just reposition it as the source is playing and you will hear that the balance of the system changes drastically just as if you had changed something in the isolation component sandwich. I have noticed this both on my 18lb CAL player and my light weight Bel Canto DAC. The change in sound is more prominent with the lighter DAC, but is very noticeable on both components. I am now experimenting with the Mapleshade Surefoot cones and am getting some nice results on the source gear. I currently have 3/4" Persimmon (the cabinet shelf)/Vibrapods (4)/3 quarter inch Maple/Surefoot (3)/CD player. I now need to try weighting the top of the player at this point, but have run out of vertical space until I reconfigure the cabinet. I have lost some of the woolly bass sound with this setup (which I kind of like to some extent) but the mids and highs are the best that I have yet achieved. I notice with this setup that some passages seem to be a little "hot" sounding in regard to the HF's, bur have come to the conclusion that I am just hearing what the recording tech did to those certain notes or beats. Otherwise strings and brass on a whole would not sound so good, which they do. I am now hearing small stringed instruments in a much more life like manner than before and for example can distinctly hear the stiff flat pick used on a mandolin. It makes a clicking noise when you play one yourself. I am also hearing "fingers on the strings" in a much more realistic manner as well and if I close my eyes it sounds like the acoustic instruments are in the room, and this is on a pair of $800.00 Reynaud speakers. Vocals with this setup are scary in that I am getting goosebumps more often, they also sound more 3D. I have supported the PC feeding the player with an old wooden clothespin (placed 3" back from the IEC and being supported by the cabinet shelf, not the platform) as to take some of its weight off of the player. I have tried porcelain ramekins, marble and other wood for this support, but the clothespin seems to work best. The DAC is suspended 1" MDF shelf/Surefoot cones (3)/Bel Canto DAC. The PC on the DAC is also supported with a wooden clothespin that is then supported by the MDF shelf. This is also the best sound so far that I have achieved with the DAC. I realize that I should try running the clothespin off of the Maple platform itself for the player, but the maple shelf is not deep enough to allow me this option. What I have decided to do after proving (to myself) how much the heavy PC's are mucking up the sound is to replace the PC's on my source components with very light weight cords. I will order the Mapleshade PC ($150.00) and give it a try on both components. I will also check into the Silver Audio PC and see how massive it is. Are there any other light weight PC's that are not expensive that I should look into? Even if these are not the "best" sounding PC's that are around, I suspect that their reduced mass will do wonders for the front end gear and assist the isolation components in doing their job. My Musical Fidelity X amp's sound is not as drastically changed by isolation components, the separate power supply seems to be more finicky than the amp itself. I am using Persimmon/dried sea sponge on the power supply and Pods/MDF on the amp unit which seems to sound better than the complex sandwiches do. Anyway, what I would like to try now is a thicker Maple platform (perhaps 1 1/2") and a weight on top of both the player and the DAC. Any takers on the PC (and it's mass) theory?
Footers/Shelf Material
I am still on the shelf quest, trying Corian, Neuance and Maple Butchers Block (the latter is still to arrive, but is coming). The Neuance is still the best - the Corian less dynamic, slower and a little warmer. But I have also been trying lots of footers with these shelves, hoping for a magical combination. And I found one.. With hard shelves like Corian, glass, perspex, marble etc (including the Neuance) - (but definitely not for MDF), the best I have found is the E-A-R Large Isolation Feet, $3.25 each at the Parts Connection. With hard shelves all of the cones I have tried are way too peaky. Plain old hard rubber feet are muddy and smeered. Vynil feet in general are "zingy" and tend to hardness from the middle of the mid-range on up, and a bit smeered on down - and this includes Vibrapods. The Vibrapods are a bit too lively in the upper mids and not great with string tone, but are also not coherent from top to bottom (but are otherwise second-best to the E-A-R feet. But the E-A-R feet give you all the detail of the best of the other footers (cones, squishy feet etc) with NO peakiness, and fantastic solidity to images. They are an unfortunate shade of blue and look like a hard synthetic rubber, but do not have any of the fuzz and smeer that you get with hard rubber footers. More neutral overall than anything else, all the detail as you get with cones but with none of the peakiness, none of the smeer you get with rubber, vynil, or sorbothane. I like them. There are also small feet at $1 each, but my components are too heavy for them and they sound muddy and grey - but they might work with light components - they are used by Sonic Frontiers on all their better gear. Please note I do NOT recommend them if you use MDF shelves.