I beleive from my experience that they do help. I can't tell you which ones are best as I have not tried them all. I get great results using a Bright Star Air Mass 3. It is an iflaitable air bladder type of base. I have used cone feet between the player and the Air Mass as well, and will experiment further with this. Different cone feet can be used as a tuning device. I am eventually going to add the Bright Star Big Rock(sand dampening and added mass)on top of the Air Mass. I do have friends that are using Vibrapods under their CD players with good results vs. cash outlay. These can be a good way to start to experiment for about $25. I have quite a bit of bass energy when I play the system at higher volumes.I'm using a sub that has pretty flat respose in my room below 40hz and my results may be more dramatic than if you are just using small monitors at low levels. I have a fairly solidly built CD player as well and I still find isolating it a must. With more budget minded machines I think it's even more critical to do so since they won't have the attention to vibration dampening or the heavy chassis that a 2 or 3 thousand dollar machine might have. Try different combinations of things until it sounds best to you. I would take into consideration the recomendations of the manufacturer of the isolation device,for example,the maker of Vibrapods does not feel they will give you good results in combination with an air type device like I have.
I get improved overall clarity,ambient decay,transient attack, both improved bass texture and weight,and re-creation of space using isolation products under everything in my system. I even have my woofer on a Billy Bags amp stand with spiked feet, with vibrapods in between the woofer and the stand. Give it a try. I like the sound of Vibrapods under my speakers as well. I need to experiment further and work out a better way of using the pods under the speakers later, but my initial results were pretty good. Hope this helps.
I get improved overall clarity,ambient decay,transient attack, both improved bass texture and weight,and re-creation of space using isolation products under everything in my system. I even have my woofer on a Billy Bags amp stand with spiked feet, with vibrapods in between the woofer and the stand. Give it a try. I like the sound of Vibrapods under my speakers as well. I need to experiment further and work out a better way of using the pods under the speakers later, but my initial results were pretty good. Hope this helps.