[leeperry]

mass damping sounds nuts...but I prefer the sound of my dual LT1363CN8 module when it's got a big copper heatsink on top:
 
After one day of use(my Spitfire DAC isn't ventilated whatsoever), the heatsink is much warmer to the touch than the bare chips have ever been...either it's stabilizing the temperature of both chips, improving the contact into the socket, really doing the "mass damping" magic(killing vibrations)...or maybe placebo, can't really be hassled to decide at this point. I just know that it sounds better to my ears when that big heatsink's on top

 
Some ppl claimed an audible improvement when putting a whole bunch of bluetack in their ipod.
 
I've also soldered a wire instead of the fuse(I feed it from a "Supplier" DPS that has its own 0.2A fuse, this one was meant for use from the wallwart), couldn't really tell a diff...but it certainly isn't worse!

 

[revolink24]

Woah, necrobump of a patrick thread!
 
Anyway, I think mass damping is a load of tosh. As with everything Patrick said. God bless his troll heart.

 

[Dalamar]

Leeperry is a Patrick that actually believes what he says, lol. I miss Patrick's trolling.

 

[leeperry]

well, some ppl have done the same kind of experiments on the ipod and some CD players : http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/434926/ipod-blu-tak-mod
 
In that thread, Bonthouse did it on some opamps...and came to the same conclusions as I did.
 
mass damping is not smoke, but prolly all that big heatsink does in my case is improving the contact within the DIP8 socket

 

[Hybrys]

I'd imagine adding things like bluetack or copper heatsinks just distributing the heat better, or as you said, offering a better contact to the socket.  Working with computers, for example, distribution of heat is huge for performance, even if you're not overclocking.