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Here's short story.
I bought a set of 3 Symposium Rollerblocks Jr. with Tungsten balls, to try under either CD player (Simaudio Supernova) or passive preamp (Sonic Euphoria). CD player is on its stock cones-on-pucks, and preamp - on Vibrapods, that provided nice, but not huge, improvement over stock feet.
Well, results with Rollerblocks Jr. and Simaudio weren't all that great - marginal improvement, at best. How exactly marginal, I didn't even bother to gauge, since as soon as I tried them under Sonic Euphoria, it became clear that's where they belong. Improvement over Vibrapods is VERY significant, and much greater than Vibrapods over stock feet. You know the deal regarding what exactly is improved, but I would specifically mention "softer", mellower, less edgy in lower treble/upper midrange sound.
So, back to CD player - what should I try there, that has chance to outperform Rollerblocks Jr., except for "Senior", and a bit too expensive for my taste, Rollerblocks? Some people had good results with Finite Elemente Ceraballs - is there anything else that's in the same league, or above?
Your thoughts are much appreciated.
Follow Ups:
Boston Audio Tuneblocks with tungsten bearings mounted on a SAP Relaxa magneto-levitation platform, on my constrained layer light rigid rack hit the sweet spot for me, after a bunch of other efforts with many familiar candidates...
The Tuneblocks were actually profound in as much as apparent improvement of dynamics and resolution without any apparent loss of harmonic quality or shift of tonality.
The graphite block material they use has many unique qualities which obviously beneficially contribute.
It's quite light & rigid & lossy, with notable damping quality, yet appears to have minimal resonant signature of its own.
Significantly too, they're relative cheap and can be employed in a multitude of scenarios ;-)
ping carcass93 -- i have some suggestions for you, but would prefer to email them.
It seems natural to assume that more isolation from vibration or more dissipation/absorption of vibrational energy is better than less, but, that is not necessarily the case. I once took part in an experiment with increasing levels of vibration dampening through the use of Symposium platforms. It is clear that the more expensive platforms offered more isolation/dampening. For certain components "more" meant a drier, more analytical and unpleasant sound. That was the case with an Aero Capitole CD player. The final "improvement" of putting rollerballs on to an Ultimate platform was unbearably lean and unnatural sounding.
With my own CD player (Naim CD555), the better platforms and rollerballs resulted in very little change in the sound. I got better results using these products under my linestage.
I would consider these kinds of products as "tuning" devices, they can change the sound, but the right amount of change has to be decided by ear.
In the sense that there are as many opinions as respondents, that is.
Taking cost (and returnability) into account, I'm going to try Ceraballs first, probably followed by some of the recommendations here.
I still remember a demo at a friend's house with Pierre Sprey (Mapleshade) doing the honors. Using a run-of-the-mill CD player on a small end table, he first played a CD with the CDP just sitting on the table. Then, in turn, he added brass cones under the CDP, a 2" thick maple platform under the cones, and cork/rubber sandwiches (Isoblocks) under the maple. At each step, the improvement was obvious, and at the end he removed everything and went back to the CDP, alone, on the end table. Anyone who wasn't sold on the merits of his approach simply had to be deaf.I once bought a set of Symposium Jr. Rollerbocks and returned them.
Edits: 07/20/10
I recall someone posting on this forum that the Mapleshade Isoblocks were the same as devices available at appliance parts stores for leveling or to dampen refrigerator bodies, albeit at a substantially lower price. I could be wrong, but after investigating at a parts store in a suburb of KC, they did look very much alike.
Peace, good beer and barbecue!
Edits: 07/20/10
That's correct. I've never actually seen the cheaper varieties, but they're out there. I understand that the cheap ones are a lot larger and you have to saw them down to reasonable dimensions, but I could be wrong.
Walker Audio's resonance control discs and Walkers massive footers combined with Yamma-tek vibration transducers has beat all comers in my system. In my buddies system though, the roller blocks were prefered over the Walker units but only by a small margin. YMMV...~
Edits: 07/19/10
...placing one cone in the front and two in the back rather than two in the front. Of course YMMV. I've been experimenting with Edensound Bearpaw Seniors w/Triceratops with good results.
Hey starchild,As with everything tweak, YMMV but with this particular CD player, the left front cone is placed under the transport, the rear cone is placed under the PS transformer and the right cone is placed to balance the triangular position.
It's very interesting that just moving the left cone around in a small area changes the CD players tonal balance from dull to bright and also effects the expansion of the soundstage.
What's even more interesting at this stage of resolution is that it is easily heard if the transport is not perfectly level! This means that one has to "pop the hood" and adjust/balance the chassis to level the transport via a bubble level on the transport frame itself and not the top cover as these are NOT in relation to each other.
With the transport not level, the music takes on grain/grit and a forward/flat soundstage presentation. With it perfectly level, it is fluid and the musical drive is much more coherent and sometimes even sounds dull but the soundstage is much more deliniated and expansive.
This relates with what I mentioned to the position of the left front cone in that the spectral balance can be shifted along with the level of the transport but leveling the transport is the main objective here.
I've learned a lot using the Walker Audio resonance control discs and Valid Points due to the definitive resonance control these devices afford.~
Edits: 08/01/10 08/01/10
It was a small margin of difference, very small. I am using the Aurios Pro Max bearings. The Aurios had slightly better clarity.
I have not found a match with soft absorbent feet. DH cones are nice
I currently use a Symposium Quantum platform along with the couplers that were provided with it under my Sony SCD-1 and I am pretty happy.
Is your CD player heavy? Peter at Symposium told me that light weight components when used with roller blocks benefit from some extra weight on top such as a couple VPI magic Bricks. Also please note that if you purchased your JR's used that cheap copies are being made in China I pretty much buy all of my Symposium stuff new from an authorized dealer.
N/T
I've tried vibrapods, ceraballs, shun mook and a few cones. What I've liked the best is Symposium platforms-especially on top of a seismic sink. The next best thing would be Symposium Fat Padz. I used to use them with my RA Opus 21. They work very well. Clean up the sound, but are tonally neutral (a rarity). They are worth a try.
Jack
But I've found that roller clones do work best under my CDP(s) over time. However, the size of the ball, not just the hardness/metal, matters with roller clones. Try smaller or larger stainless steel bearings until you find a size that sounds best. Then get it in unobtainium or absurdlyexpensium.
I have only had one experience that was favorable with Vibrapods-under the Acoustic Revive RR-77s, they are great. I also had Rollerblocks but never thought they were any better than the original Aurios feet before they screwed them up.
Isolation can greatly improve sound, but experimenting is the only way to proceed.
Stillpoints under CDP. Best I've used and I've tried many varieties of footers.
My experience is to "float" the CD/DVD player and "ground" amps/preamps.
Doak
plates and footers are the best I have tried and best I have heard. I use the plates exclusively and a combination of half domes, pucks and pods of various materials and mfr. HRS footers/pucks are spendy. The plates are almost affordable and work very well.
"E pur si muove...And yet it moves"
Heard a demo once and using 2 plates on each seemed to settle down the treble in a higher end speaker I cant remember the name of. Have thought about using them on top of my Proac floorstanders but can't pull the trigger.
haven't tried it on my Aerials as they are dead solid inert but have heard positive results on Revel and other composite cabinet speakers.
"E pur si muove...And yet it moves"
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