Tweakers' Asylum: REVIEW: Herbie's Audio Lab H.A.L. Square Footing Accessory by Buddha

Model:	H.A.L. Square Footing
Category:	Accessory
Suggested Retail Price:	$7.95 to $49.95
Description:	Microphonics-absorbing audio footers
Manufacturer URL:	Herbie's Audio Lab

Review by Buddha ( A ) on May 27, 2005 at 03:39:53
IP Address: 209.130.141.130

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for the H.A.L. Square Footing

This review covers the Baby Booties and standard Tenderfoot.
Steve at Herbie's was courteous and a pleasure to deal with at every stage of the ordering process; the goods only took 6 calendar days to get to me in London. Cool.
First I tried the baby booties under my solid state headphone amp (just a small aluminium case on my desk).
I had no expectations at all; or rather I was actually a bit skeptical as I didn't judge the amp to be susceptible to any vibration effects, really.
But, oh-my-gosh! Within a few bars, and then confirmed all the way through the songs I'd just been playing, the improvement was quite marked - better instrument separation and focus, better timing, less harshness in vocals...similar to the kind of improvements that come with good AC treatment.
Thinking I must be a dope, I took the booties off and repeated the process, but nope, there they were again, the same improvements once the booties were back on!
Uttering a cuss in disbelief, I switched them to the Bel Canto DAC2 sitting next to the headamp, and within a few minutes, to under the headamp's external PSU; they all benefitted similarly (even the PSU, for goodness' sake!), with the bass distinctly better defined when the booties were placed under the DAC. Strange!
By this point, I was now (doubting Thomas that I am) thinking the Tenderfoot's odds of doing anything to match the Booties were not good. I left the booties under the PSU and put the Tenderfeet under the headamp. To an extent, yes, it was not as marked a difference as going from nothing to the booties. Ultimately, the improvement was more subtle; building on all those hi-fi-type effects noted earlier, the Tenderfeet now brought greater refinement, flow and "groove" to the music. The quality of sound and enjoyment I was now getting from my system was great indeed.
Depending on your equipment and listening environment, YMMV, but bottom line is they worked just swell for me, look great, offer good value, and are backed up with great service and a returns policy.
I'm now putting in a new order to sort out all my kit.

Product Weakness: You can do the adhesive yourself for pennies
Product Strengths: Construction quality, ease of use, flexible range of heights and prices. Better instrument separation and focus, detail, smoother vocals, greater musical flow.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	White Noise Audio MKII Headphone amp
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	n/a
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Bel Canto DAC2
Speakers:	Beyerdynamic DT990 headphones
Cables/Interconnects:	Townshend Isolda DCT
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Pop, Techno, Classical, Acoustic
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1 hour
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	White Noise Audio Cascode PSU
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	You can do the adhesive yourself for pennies
Product Strengths:	Construction quality, ease of use, flexible range of heights and prices. Better instrument separation and focus, detail, smoother vocals, greater musical flow.