NORDOST SORT FUT VS. ISOACOUSTICS GAIA

Anything you put under gear or speakers change the sound and hopefully a sound you will like. When someone designs an amp, pre, etc, I know they never use special feet, or power conditioners, they are designed as is. But stamp audiophile product on an accessory and some companies soak us. I see fuses now up to $2,000 or more, wall plates in the hundreds, power cords as much as an amp or a car in some cases. I believe in cables and good rack and amp stands, and even more so in a good solid-designed power cord. But this over-the-top marketing hype and BS really makes us look silly.  Glennwick made a good point and likes always those who understand such things as a professional time and time again call out the BS we audiophiles don't have that experience of facts to fiction. I watch Garth at AQ on youtube and all the sales pitching he does which is great for AQ, none what he says does he prove where those with scopes and gear to measure find what he says 100% totally wrong, and in fact, the battery packs add noise and not taken it away, Audioholics does an education video on their cables as well as others and not to pick on them but to call them out and their marketing lies. If you buy something and you enjoy then by all means do it, but be smart and penny-wise. 

Absolute Sound did reviews of critical mass, Nordost sort fut & compared it with something else. Very informative. CM worked very well but took time to break in & the Nordost produced positive results but not as much as others, was the stripped down conclusion. Reviews probably available online.

Critical Mass is NOT for speakers components only.

The Gaia not only work but look great as well. Pricey yes but worth it from my perspective. Used them for years. 

I use gaia under my large tannoy 15 speakers and the difference before /after was amazing. Yes pricey but you get an amazing upgrade for the money 

Sounds like a big pile of BS to me too. The GAIA II made a huge difference under my GE Triton Refs,

The website of Critical Mass doesn’t look good to me too. The footers appear to come without threaded holes for speaker installations hence I’m not sure if they can be used for speakers.

Similarly the Isoacoustics Gaias work wonders on my Marten Dukes. As such, I’m now an advocate of proper isolation for both components and speakers. Read "proper",  not BS.

Townshend Podiums were better than the Gaias under my Sasha 2s, but I didn't try Nordost. 

Critical Mass Doesn’t seem to have  isolation feet for speakers or if they do, I missed them. The only thing bad about Gaia’s I’ve heard is the price and that you also have to buy their carpet spikes if you have a carpeted floor. 
Sorry, I haven’t heard anything about the Nordost.

I am hoping Santa brings me 2 sets of Gaia 1’s for my Kef’s

JD

Yup Critical Mass's description is TOTAL BS. 

I have been very happy with Gaia I feet on my Magico A3s. But I have never used spikes or any other feet on my system to compare. I have hardwood floors and the Gaia Is do a great job. Ymmv. 

Sounds like a big pile of BS to me too.  The GAIA II made a huge difference under my GE Triton Refs, and as good as the speakers were without them, they made the speakers sound better in every way.  My wife actually asked me if I changed the speakers,  it was that noticeable.  

Just read Critical mass's product description and wow what a marketing statement.

"The LS series of Center Stage² products reduce stored loudspeaker cabinet resonances and entropy to a vanishing level resulting in enhanced clarity and musicality across the audible spectrum."

How do feet reduce cabinet resonance? they reduce cabinet movement (maybe that's what they mean), isolate from the floor etc. 

they use a lot of fancy technical words and it boiled down to a load of marketing hoopla IMO, 17 years developing feet, must be some of the slowest engineers around. 

I've been in the submarine technical industry for decades and we do a lot with noise reduction, vibration analysis. noise isolation, etc and this marketing hoppla sound like bull @$#^ to my ears.  

http://www.criticalmasssystems.com/productPages/CenterStage.html

“Nordost product worth it”
 

NO, Gaia I’s were lot more effective underneath my B&W 800D2 than Sort Fut. 

Critical Mass 1 1/2 2M better than both of these by a wide margin.