Is Vibration Control helpful with Headphone systems? - Page 4

Some of us believe in it, others do not. I happen to believe in vibration control because I have heard the results - improvements brought on.

roadcykler was kind enough to EMail me the article in question so I could post it here. So without any further adieu...

Latvis Interview Reprint

Thanks, roadcykler!

Haven't read it yet so no comment at the moment.

k

I use Mapleshade brass feet/weight under my components. The components sit on 3" thick maple boards that sit on Mapleshade cork footers. You can definately hear a difference. It tightens things up a bit, with a more detail sound.

books are very non-resonant, so they are probably good mass to use. vibration control is physics, and some manufacturers have real measurements to show what their products achieve.

there is lots of snake-oil, and some pricing that is a bit on the optimistic side, but there are also lots of valid, fairly priced products on the market -- and yes, I sell several of them.

vibration is air-borne (not so much with cans) structure borne - seismic activity, bouncy floors, trains, busses, etc... and self-generated - spinning cd player, fans in computers, etc.....

some materials work well to remove or block these unwanted vibes, others just mess with the resonance characteristics of the system, and can produce sonic changes, some of which are liked, others, not so much......

judge from fact, experience, and from valid products, not from heresay, innuendo, bs [pseudo-science, and pure marketing hype, or closed-minded science-like pronouncements

Yes.

Though I'd like to see something showing that there's a "problem" to begin with.

Certainly vibration can be a problem for turntables, CD mechanisms, and tubes. But I've yet to see anything showing that it's a problem for purely electronic solid state components.

It should be rather trivially easy to demonstrate if there was.

k

Very well said

Books are great

I have tried stones of different sizes, materials and shapes on top of the component, and they all sounded different. I discovered that books sound flat and neutral.

Damn, and I just sold a heap of books, but I need the space anyway.

Hi there, in my case the improvements have been mostly w/ micro dynamics and a blacker background. Granted we all hear differently and you could start by trying w/ items you already have (add mass). For the money TTVJ sells four blocks of cork encased in rubber that does a pretty good job for little money.

Can someone explain why spikes are worse than normal flat circular feet? Also metals aren't really vibration dampening material anyway, so why don't people use a base like a bed comforter folded 10 times? Anyone want to test it? Patrick?

The grip of the component on the base affects the sound too. I made vibration isolation experiments with multiple steps. Adding Feet of Silence on top of Magix gave the sound signature of the Feet of Silence because they were under the component. Feet of Silence stops the vibrations but it makes the component very loose with no grip anywhere, the low-level detail is cut off which gives the illusion of a blacker background. Changing the stiffness of the rubber bands changed the sound signature.
I found the best setup to be Feet of Silence under Magix, it gave a blacker background than Magix on its own, but this could have been because the Magix weren't properly balanced under the component.

Spikes make the sound better in one way, but worse in another. I think it depends on how much the component moves, bigger vibration of the component needs better grip on the floor.

The best setup is the one which has the best grip for the component but no vibration of the base. Imagine putting your audio rig on the surface on the moon, it will have bad grip so you need to press it down. I tried with my Magix, it is like a little moon, Magix on their own is like having your audio rig floating in space, putting more mass into the component gives a blacker background and more low-level detail.
I have not tried applying equal pressure from all sides, maybe it gives even better sound. I got an idea of putting the audio system inside the core of a dedicated planet, it has as much mass as possible and is also levitating in space.

seems like the core issue here is whether vibration effects the sound of a system using no speakers, and specifically with regard to the components which themselves do not have any moving parts....

i have done some listening comparisons with my diy headphone amp and denon 7000's. the differences are subtle, but repeatable, and some are musically significant improvements. I'm not sure if it's ok to discuss specific brands/products outside of our sponsored forum, but if there's interest, I can put up a thread there.....