Coupling vs Decouplling: What you need to know

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

Not in this instance...though, as I indicated, YMMV. Focus, transparency, transient snap, and bass solidity, yes. But not what I'd construe as "warmth" coloring the sound. That didn't happen. Note, too, that it was a direct connection of wood-to-wood --maple to oak--that resulted in the perception of a "metallic glaze".

Sorry Jim, didn’t mean to take anything away from your findings. I was just thinking out loud. We all hear things and very differently it turns out. To claim then that someone heard something is not the way it is would be very foolish and unfair. Thanks for sharing your findings. It sounds like the new additions have increased the enjoyment!

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by PHC1

It sounds like the new additions have increased the enjoyment!

Enough so that after hearing the new setup my wife rescinded her claim that what UPS delivered was in fact a cutting board intended for the kitchen.

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Having said that, if that’s the trick and that’s what we tend to hear and carry over into our reality, who cares right?

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by PHC1

It would have an unpredictable sound effect. First the rumors and listening impressions would need to circulate and set the tone for the rest of the audiophiles. Then all the adjectives of praise and new vocabulary would follow. The higher the cost, the more perceived effect. Obviously.

Serge, with all due respect, this is simply not true.

The EVPs from A/VRoomservice are quite affordable as far as they go and provide very effective isolation.

Stillpoints work well, too, but the primary benefit is they provide mechanical grounding. Different device generally need one or the other.

EVPs generally work well for providing isolation for devices that are already well-damped mechnically, e.g. Shunyata power distributors and Constellation gear, for example. They also work really well under loudspeakers on slab floors because they prevent coupling of the floor's resonance with walls made of drywall, which resonates at 70Hz. My understanding is that Isoacoustics devices also work well in these applications.

Stillpoints work well to provide mechanical grounding to a higher mass support (e.g. hardwood or granite slab) for devices that have little to no internal damping. In my case, they work very well under my network audio bridge on rock maple. EVPs and Stillpoints both work pretty much equally under my Gumby DAC, but the Stillpoints are just a tick better-sounding. Both trounce the stock feet and Herbie's Tenderfeet.

As for the rubber and cork antivibration pads that Jim was referring to, they are a very affordable solution for providing vibration isolation under mass-loaded platforms, but not as effective under components as Herbie's Tenderfeet and nowhere close to the isolation that EVPs provide. They are most effective for providing isolation of mass-loaded platforms on an audio rack shelf or similar.

Horses for courses, but both of the different classes of "footers" mediate different functional responses with respect to vibration management, and for different reasons. Each type is likely to be more effective under different devices when used in specific settings, and for the most part, the benefit one class would bring over another would generally also be for different reasons. And, in some cases, depending on the device, they may be quite comparable in the benefit they bring, e.g. under my Schiit DAC or a Shunyata PD, which comes with stainless footers that provide excellent mechanical grounding. These response(s) can be measured and charaterized with a transfer function.

BTW, vibration management is also important for power cords, which is why the new Shunyata XC and NR PCs from the Alpha line on up utilize genuine carbon fiber connectors which are also potted internally.

[SCAudiophile]

Originally Posted by phc1

it would have an unpredictable sound effect. First the rumors and listening impressions would need to circulate and set the tone for the rest of the audiophiles. Then all the adjectives of praise and new vocabulary would follow. The higher the cost, the more perceived effect. Obviously.

Back in the day, debeers diamond company, singlehandedly made diamonds an object of desire and great cost. It was advertising campaign like no other. They changed the culture.the more you loved the woman, the higher the price of the ring should be and of course the more expensive that piece of insignificant but very hard rock is, the more pretty and desirable it is to the eyes. We can’t help ourselves. That’s how it is.

+1 yes!

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

Enough so that after hearing the new setup my wife rescinded her claim that what UPS delivered was in fact a cutting board intended for the kitchen.

Jim, I’ve been into the hobby over 30 years now. When we were younger and very zealous, living in the times of the peak of the hobby and all the hype and insanity of the various tweaks that flooded the market, tice clocks, green cd markers, glow in the dark cd mats, cd polish, suspending speaker cables from the ceilings so they would not pick up static from the rugs, then cable risers, etc... ad nauseum.

It was all fun but the biggest obsession was with the isolation platforms. We’ve tried all the popular methods. Butcher blocks, various grades of wood cut to size, granite, marble, metal, rubber, trying them all in various sandwiching layers, even inflatable bicycle tubes were used under the gear with various pressures.

Let’s just say it was a lot of fun but it never stood up to the proof of blind listening between us. Part of the fun was trying to prove a definitive change and benefit and that part never worked out.

Without the proof of blind tests, it works very well indeed. The cutting boards and butcher blocks included. We hear what we see... I strongly believe that.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Serge, with all due respect, this is simply not true.
.

Stephen, with all due respect to you and your new passion of reviewing gear for a magazine, I’ll simply remark that had you worked in your previous career as a scientist writing scientific papers that could not stand up to peer reviews and had no scientific backing, would been a very short lived career. Is that not so?

Good thing reviewing gear is part believing in what you hear and part romantic novel writing skills, telling the readers what they should hear and most importantly what the manufacturer needs to hear you say. All this very often without a shred of scientific evidence backing it up. In fact the recent articles that I posted on how we all hear different, how we perceive the memories which can be false and how short the audible memory is.

If professional violin players can confuse the Stradivarius for a cheap modern violin blindfolded and it has been proven their listening and sound processing by the brain is very different from non musician listeners. If wine experts can confuse white for red wine while blindfolded, then what we can and can not pick out from our A/B listening that has a time lapse between is not reliable at all.

It’s all good fun though, audio is an obsession, it does no harm but to the wallet. I see the trend of accessorizing across all hobbies I am involved with, it is very much the same with industries built around the gadgets and upgrades.

If one hears that new footer, the new shelf or a rack, so be it, I do believe we convince ourselves very easily and it becomes the reality. Trying to prove it otherwise only takes away from the fun. That’s why I still read audio magazine reviews, (from time to time) for the entertainment and creative writing as well as the technical, features and specs. Listening impressions i don’t pay as much attention to.

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by PHC1

We hear what we see... I strongly believe that.

I guess I'll have to break it to my wife that we're both delusional.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

I guess I'll have to break it to my wife that we're both delusional.

Reality is but an illusion created by our very creative brains. Not my words, science. Revel in it. It is a beautiful thing. Would be very boring to be precise, accurate and so predictably flawless.

One of many, many videos from the scientific crowd on how our brains hallucinate conscious reality. It is a fun watch. https://youtu.be/lyu7v7nWzfo

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by PHC1

If one hears that new footer, the new shelf or a rack, so be it, I do believe we convince ourselves very easily and it becomes the reality. Trying to prove it otherwise only takes away from the fun. That’s why I still read audio magazine reviews, (from time to time) for the entertainment and creative writing as well as the technical, features and specs. Listening impressions i don’t pay as much attention to.

Now you're trying to tell me what I think and how my mind works, and with all due respect, you're out of bounds on that one, Serge. I, for one, am NOT convinced easily. If I didn't hear an improvement or have a more enjoyable or engaging experience with any of the devices in my system, I simply would not use or buy them, regardless of what measurements or others may or may not say. I don't go in for frills or frou-frou or frippery. Either it sounds better or it doesn't. If it doesn't, it goes. If it does, it might stay, but only if I think it provides a compelling value proposition. I don't have any agenda other than creating the most natural and enjoyable listening experience I can for myself when listening to music.

As for my reviews, I am simply write what I hear and experience as accurately as possible. It's not written for manufacturers or advertisers. If readers with shared sensibilities find that what I write to be informative enough for them to consider evaluating these products in their own system, its job done.