I came into the world of audio crack as a pure skeptic. What I mean is that feet, wires, and all sorts of other products out there were all snake oil. Over the years I’ve built systems, taken them apart piece-by-piece and upgraded them. Each time the set up gets significantly better. Over the last 2 years, I’ve built what I hope to be the foundation of something I'll keep for a very long time.
Over the winter was the first time I took the plunge into high-end cables, and upgraded to WW Silver ICs and SCs, and there was a distinct improvement in my system(see wire is fraud thread to argue that statement). I thought that was the epitome of my audio crack addiction, until now. I ordered a couple of sets of Stillpoints Ultra SS from Ivan for my Bryston 28b3s. They arrived, but had the wrong adapters so I couldn’t put them on right away. When I saw the build quality of the stillpoints, without even putting them on my amps I ordered a 2nd pair for my Kef Reference 5’s. I figured if I was going to jump into this, I might as well double down.
With the correct adapters, the stillpoints are a breeze to put on. I put the amps back on the racks, and put the speakers back in their original positions. Turned everything on with some music playing and walked away to let the gear warm up. I came back down about an hour later and sat in my listening position.
The change was immediately apparent. I lost the slight harshness in my highs that have always irked me a bit on Kefs. Sometimes I found tracks to be too bright, which now listening to the same tracks, that disappeared. The midrange opened up and my lower mid-bass suddenly has more weight. As with every new audio purchase, I tend to think it’s all in my head. Spend a few grand, and I better see improvement.. right?
I had my wife come down and didn’t tell her about the purchase, as I generally don’t. She asked if I’d put on a DSD version of Norah Jones’s "Come Away With Me" so we could listen to some music while I caught up on work, and she surfed something on the web. I was smiling (inside) ear-to-ear with how good everything sounded. The bass line was so tight and spot on. The piano had lost any harshness in the upper end. After about 3 songs in, my wife looked over at me and asked what I upgraded! She asked if I bought that “new server deal” I’d been talking about. Well that “new server deal” is the Esoteric N-01, which isn’t going to be out until the end of the year, so the quick answer to her was, no. I said I just replaced the feet on a couple pieces of gear.
When my non-audiophile wife picks up on the differences, I know I haven’t lost my mind.
How on earth can these little feet do so much to improve the sound quality? Next set I buy is going on my subs, and I’ll keep going from there.
Take the advise of this audio crack skeptic.. these little buggers work wonders. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, but they make a change and that change is a big one.
