Footers and resonators -- how do they work?

Quick answer: They don't!

Seriously though, I assume we are talking about little things that attach to the bottom of a CD player or something, and keep it from vibrating. Where is this supposed vibration coming from? And if it exists, how does it become audible distortion? I've yet to hear a reasonable answer to these questions.

Have you seen the Shakti Stones, Magic Pebbles and Clever Little Clock? It's a lot like those.

They work by transferring your money to someone else.

I'm not sure how that affects the audio, but they are highly effective in transferring money. If you would like money sent to you, I highly suggest finding something along those lines that you can sell.

Look at websites like Brass Footers-Mapleshade to learn about footers. I use the brass footers and Isoblocks and like them very much. Here is some info on resonators Acoustic Art - Synergistic Research. If you spend several thousand on a speaker system you will learn all about them. With headphones, resonators are not a concern to me.

Yes and that is why I use them. I have tried different footers and the brass works the best for my Woo. Be mindful that you are aware of the footers they can move on you if you are pulling on the headphone cable.

Resonators work on sound waves from speakers in the room. Headphones save you from that.

I use Sistrum platforms under my source components in my speaker rig and have been very happy with them. There's some information on their website that may help you understand some of the principals involved. I don't have any direct experience with their use on headphone components so could not comment on their effectiveness there. With the speaker rig they occur to me to snap things into sharper focus (that is the most apparent difference vs simply placing the component on a flat surface). If you listen mostly while moving around and outside of the sweet spot, much of that benefit is not nearly as apparent to my ears. It would not have occurred to me to try them with a headphone rig since there are no airborne resonances from the sound of the speakers (acoustic vibrations). But there are still electrical and mechanical vibrations that are generated from the device - I wonder how significant that would be in a headphone amp though (I would imagine not very, but could be wrong). I think YMMV according to how resolving your system is, and how discriminating you are, as well as other variables. Again, no idea how they'd work on a headphone rig. Buy used, try it out and resell if they do nothing. I don't think you'll have as great a problem, as Uncle Eric warns, with Sistrum or Mapleshade products, at least not on Audiogon, which I far more familiar with. Now if you purchase pebbles or clocks you're entirely on your own there. I'd heed UE's warning in that case.

I've owned several different speakers in the 5 figure price range. Is there some pamphlet that I should be getting in the mail?

I'm afraid there's nothing to actually learn on either of those websites.



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If you haven't yet received your medal of honor in the mail, I would definitely contact the authorities. Make sure to use your audiophile decoder ring to compose the message, just in case the message is intercepted by hostiles. The guy with the handsome avatar posted the pamphlet already, so you can read it here, but definitely you'll want to get your medal.

Some sciences are proven to work throughout history. OP needs no knowledge of modern physics, only ancient economics.

You bet. I don't know that I could do a better job of trying in explaining it. Personally, I'm not curious where headphone amps are concerned, as I think the bigger culprit is acoustic resonances. If you wanted to investigate inexpensively you could try some DIY solutions, and see if it makes any difference to you. Get three racquetballs or squash balls (any small, hollow rubber balls of same size would do) and place in a triangular configuration on top of your shelf using some kind of appropriately sized rings of a sort...perhaps something from the hardware store...as bases for each of them so they don't roll. Place your component on top of the three balls making very sure it is stable. See if that makes any difference at all. I've also had components (two different instances) that had slightly loose trannies that vibrated. I could put my hand on the transformer and actually feel the vibration, and I could hear it in the form of a low-level hum or buzz at the speaker. Placing a weight on that transformer solved the problem immediately. I just used a common red brick covered with a sock as an experiment. When I discovered that worked I found some pieces of solid brass (dense and heavy) I had hanging around (don't ask) and used those as they looked better than a brick with a sock on it.