I am not shy about my fondness for mechanical devices in various forms, such as watches, motor engines, automata, etc., and my fascination naturally extends to audio devices that deal with the subtle and not-so-subtle laws of gravity, resonance, vibration, stability, etc.
When Jeff Jenkins of Carbide Audio asked me if I would be interested in reviewing his Carbide Audio Footers, I needed no further trigger after doing my homework and delving deeper into the Carbide Base multi-axis vibration isolation footers technical papers.
Diamond Footers
Jenkins goes into depth and explains the philosophy and technical approach behind the Carbide Audio Footers. There is simply too much information to include everything in the review, but I still felt the need to highlight some of the aspects to show the complexity and painstaking effort that went into the design and manufacture of these premium footers.
Multi-Axis Audio Isolation Feet
Separate upper and lower parts ensure optimum vibration isolation and damping in vertical and horizontal directions.
The upper part consists of an aluminum housing that is machined to accommodate a specially formulated viscoelastic element called ViscoRing™. The ViscoRing™ acts like a damped spring, supporting the device and isolating it from vertically oriented vibrations. The ViscoRing™ can be replaced depending on the intended load range.
The lower part is equipped with zirconia ball bearings and viscoelastic elements to improve horizontal isolation and damping. The large bearings roll on polished hardened steel raceways to minimize rolling resistance. The base can be unscrewed to allow a height adjustment of almost 3/4″ (20 mm). It can also accommodate optional spikes to pierce the carpet.
Progressive Shape Factor
When it comes to viscoelastic materials for insulation, more is not necessarily better. The ratio between the surface area that supports the weight and the surface area that can bulge outwards is important for improving isolation performance. The term for this ratio is the Shape Factor. The lower the Shape Factor, the greater the potential degree of isolation.
Carbide Base’s audio isolation feet use viscoelastic materials with much lower Shape Factors than previous designs. The large tubular shape of the ViscoRing™ maximizes the surface area that is free to bulge. This results in a Shape Factor that is about half the lower limit traditionally used for elastomer insulators. The low shape factor is made possible by the patent-pending design of the Carbide Base. The ridges in the upper portion progressively brace the ViscoRing™ when compressed to stabilize it, while leaving a large area free to bulge out.
Diamond Insert
The optional Diamond Insert is an additional vibration isolator that replaces the solid stainless steel upper center section of the Carbide Base footer. This isolator is the first of its kind with ball bearings that run in solid ceramic bearing raceways coated with PVD diamond. The extreme hardness of the raceways enables additional filtering of quiet noises through the concept of vibration avoidance “Transmission Path Evasion”.
Twindamp™
The Diamond Insert uses Carbide Audio TwinDamp™ material at 4 critical points inside of the footer. TwinDamp™ is based on a manganese-copper twin-crystal metal alloy that we refine with multiple stages of temperature treatments to further improve performance. This exotic material has more than 10 times the damping capacity of copper.
Universal Stud System
The Carbide Base footers can optionally be mounted to equipment and speakers using standard flat head screws. Metric thread sizes from M4 to M10 and imperial sizes from #8-32 to 1/2″-13 can be used. A stainless steel clamping screw is supplied for fastening behind the screw, to secure it in place. A bolt kit including screws for 8-footers is available.
There is a threaded hole at the top of the locking bolt into which an optional spike can be screwed, pointing upwards, to ensure maximum coupling with the supported equipment. The hole can also accommodate the tip of a spike when used under loudspeakers.
Viscorings™
All Carbide Base footers are the same size. Each is optimized for the weight of your equipment by choosing between the 5 available interchangeable ViscoRings™. The recommended support weight range with each ViscoRing™ installed is listed below.
While some isolation devices require different versions for different weights, a single version of the Carbide Base footer can support a wide range of equipment weights by simply swapping out the installed ViscoRing™.
Transmissibility
Conventional floor spikes under loudspeakers transmit a significant amount of bass and midrange vibration energy to the floor. While many conventional vibration isolation devices provide isolation at higher frequencies, they amplify vibrations in the lower frequencies near the resonant frequency of the device.
The Carbide Base footer is characterized by its ability to effectively isolate and dampen the lowest audible frequencies. It is essential to isolate low frequencies as they propagate through the room structure and equipment with low impedance, compromising fidelity. Reducing these structure-borne vibrations improves midrange clarity and bass response by reducing the masking effect of room noise. This reduction in noise transmission leads to equally important improvements in the high frequencies.
Loss Factor
The loss factor or tangent delta is a measure of how much vibration energy is dissipated through conversion to heat due to the phenomenon of hysteresis. A loss factor of 0 indicates a perfectly elastic material, where the oscillating force of a vibration occurs in phase (simultaneously) with the accompanying deformation of the material. A loss factor of 1 indicates a perfectly viscous material where the force and deformation are exactly 90 degrees out of phase, resulting in a complete dissipation of the vibration energy into heat.
The viscoelastic materials used in the Carbide Base footers are designed and engineered to have an exceptionally high loss factor over a wide frequency range. The green ViscoRing™ has the highest loss factor, closely followed by the other ViscoRings™, which can support incrementally higher weights.
The vibration-damping effect and dissipation potency of a Carbide Base footplate are so great that resonances in the mounted equipment are measurably dampened. The diagrams below show low-frequency vibrations in the panels of a test loudspeaker enclosure measured with a calibrated accelerometer. Dips and peaks in panel acceleration, which indicate resonances, are effectively damped when the same measurement is made with Carbide Base footers under the speaker.
Operational
For the test, Jenkins provided eight silver footers with black “heavy” viscoelastic to be used under the speakers. The additional four black footers were supplied with the gray “light” viscoelastic for use under any component.
The most convincing and easiest way to use Carbide Footers is to place them in the designated place and then lower the component straight down onto the footers. The spikes provided are used for support if the underside of the component is not flat. The spikes are inserted into the top center hole of the base plate and point upwards. This is how the four black footers were used most of the time during the review.
I used the other two sets of four-footers with TIDAL Audio Piano G2 and Zellaton Reference MK2 speakers. This required a little more attention and effort, but the installment procedure is straightforward. Once in place under the speakers, positioned on the top polished steel parts, there must be some horizontal movement. The so-called out-of-phase movement of the components placed on the footers is mandatory, as this perpetual momentum allows them to work as intended and to settle quickly by following the impulse of a vibration.
Carbide Audio’s footers were designed to work across the entire bandwidth in all directions, isolating almost the entire frequency range and being particularly effective in the lower registers that trigger room modes, effectively addressing one of the most troublesome problems in any listening room. The effect was comparable to what a properly designed and sufficiently powerful amplifier can do in this regard.
And this is exactly what sets the Diamond apart from other devices and what is immediately noticeable. The elimination of blurring, a far clearer projection, and less excitation of the low register.
Under electronic components, a trio of Carbide feet will suffice, but Carbide Audio points out that a larger number of feet with lighter ViscoRings™ will usually outperform a smaller number of feet with heavier ViscoRings™ due to the higher damping capacity. Nevertheless, isolation in the low-frequency range is best when the ViscoRings™ are used within their recommended weights.
The Music
The true art of engineering is to find the sweet spot, a balancing momentum where things come together and work far beyond the mere sum of their parts, and positively influence the reproduction without adding or subtracting essence from the music. And this is exactly what Diamond Footers has achieved.
Here are a few music references that best illustrate the higher level of Carbide Audio Footers’ potency.
Double Image – Dawn
On one of my favorite ECM releases, it was more than interesting to observe how I picked up the momentum and followed the musical changes, while discovering more nuances and subtleties, deciphered more acoustic focal points, details, and richer harmonic density. A lot of music fundamentals I was not aware of before.
Over the years I’ve tried, evaluated, and tested various footers, and the sheer complexity of Dawn is often mashed up with other footers, lacking oomph and music flow.
On the contrary, the Diamond Footers act in unison with the music, touching the base of the music, expanding the level of acoustical nodes, and additionally increasing the level of sonic data that was also instantly recognizable on the next album.
Gary Karr/Harmon Lewis – Songs of Prayer
With Songs of Prayer, Diamond Footers enables deeper depths to evolve in the listening space without disarraying the energy of the double bass and organ, blurring the clarity, or creating a faux horizontal and vertical expanse.
The low notes of the organ gained focus, weight, and nimbleness so that a weighty, objective impression of the church’s reverberation was effortlessly formed.
The Diamond Footers also allowed the decays and delays to reach further into the room, extending the listening area beyond the usual scope, but not in an unnatural way.
As with other audio components, the Carbide Audio footers under the Zellaton Reference MK2 speakers simply provided a balancing act that allowed the virtual reality of the aural projection to reflect a greater degree of factuality.
Gunther Schuller / Paul Fetler, Antal Dorati, Minneapolis Symphony – Seven Studies On Themes Of Paul Klee / Contrasts For Orchestra
With Diamond Footers, the Seven Studies on Themes by Paul Klee unfolded far more delicately, with an impressive equipoise of sonic balance and speed, without disharmonizing the orchestral interplaying.
The exceptional way Carbide Audio handled the lower registers anchored the orchestra’s energy with vigorous dynamism, lifelike forward motion, and a far better foundation of sonic architecture.
The Diamond Footers helped to converge Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee’s music narrative more harmonious, connecting the musical dots far more equally and matching real-world tempi while propelling a far grander, more cohesive orchestral momentum, never at the expense of slowing down or speeding up the rhythmic crux.
The L.A. Four Scores! continues the one-of-the-kind alchemy between Almeida, Brown, Shank, and Manne and expands on their lyrical dialog.
Carbide Audio has once again authenticated how to seamlessly support music reproduction with both speakers or under the chosen component without diminishing the particular component’s independent quality.
Diamond Footers not only underscores the dexterity of the quartet but also helps to encapsulate the sole yet unified trajectory of the performers while transcending temporal boundaries and extracting the essence of the music.
Not so many high-end audio accessories can act potently in this regard. Too often they interact too forcefully.
In contrast, Carbide Audio footers remove themselves from the equation, but ensure that their presence is heard and not felt as a disturbance or fatigue.
The conclusion
Perfection doesn’t exist in this world, and our beloved audio systems and associated paraphernalia are no different, but we still strive to come as close as possible to unvarnished music reproduction.
Shifting the focus from the larger aspects (that are often not possible to amend) of the high-end audio system to the small changes that are the root cause of what makes music such an enticing experience can lead to some pretty drastic sonic changes, even in a highly refined and balanced system.
Our brains and associated centers track and perceive the remotest shifts, and this is often neglected and misunderstood when it comes to high-end audio accessories.
There are an infinite number of quark-like particles hidden within the music’s super-dense micro- and macrocosm that are captured on the audio medium. As the sound is transcribed and goes through the various processes that are closely linked not only to the electronic parts, components, and processes but also to the chemical, thermal, and mechanical changes, the sheer complexity of dealing with the extremely fragile audio signal suddenly begins to appear far more intricate and seen from a completely different perspective.
There are numerous ways in which the signal can be altered and the music reproduction affected, preventing the complexity of the music from fully unfolding.
Even in everyday life, in the real world, we have to deal with so many irregularities and try to change them in different ways to achieve a better result.
Not to mention the subtle handling of resonances, and micro-vibrations in the areas on which even life depends.
There are so many underlying factors and it seems like it goes on seamlessly, yet we fully rely on physical alterations and changes daily.
Audio systems succumb to the various mechanical workings that can all too quickly clash with music playback. Resonances and micro-vibrations simply can not be taken out of context.
In high-end audio systems and signal flow, there are a large number of knock-on effects that influence each other in different ways, and what engineers have learned over the years, even outside the audio industry, is their interdependence and inseparable relationship.
And in conjunction with electronics, there is a mechanical cosmos in which everything influences everything else. There is simply no blank canvas to start with when it comes to the resonances and micro-vibrations, and fiddling is not necessary. They are there from the very start.
Jenkins is very clear about the permissibility of out-of-phase movement in providing adequate isolation, and this has been proven true time and time again during my evaluation of the Diamond Footers, as all sound particles are free to unfold in the boundless matrix of music.
Carbide Audio works quite differently than you would expect. Their mechanical inner intricacy is physically expressed in a more fluid and balanced musical flow that goes deeper and operates in far more complex areas to resolve tensions and induce harmonicity.
The homeostasis of the Carbide Audio Diamond Footers operates at a remarkably close-meshed fringe, where it can evoke a remarkable degree of expressiveness that is closely linked to the handling of variables.
Diamond Footers taps into a domain that is overlappable, it intersects and positively alters the system or a particular component in its sonic modus operandi, pushing the sound to the very limits of the musical universe.
Both the speakers and the electronics are instantly influenced by the Carbide Footers’ inner workings, transforming the specifics where they cease to be merely a derivative of higher potentials.
Our brain is triggered and pays attention to the smallest fractions of phase, decay, and delay that instigate our internal mechanisms in motion. If the music playback is not dense and varied enough, the playback becomes bland and uninteresting.
The separation of concerns widely used in software development fits perfectly conceptually with the Carbide Diamond Footers. These footers reduce metiers to the essentials without altering the fundaments, and that in itself is a virtue and an outstanding quality that deserves all the high praise.
As with high-end audio accessories, to claim that audio footers don’t matter is to lack vision. When changes within an audio system get to the level of static quality, our brain removes them from perception, and that’s exactly what should not happen to any system component at any time.
With Jenkins’ proud creations, he begs to differ, helping to relay the information or support it at strategic points. We tend to forget that higher resolution and density, which are inextricably linked to music, are always there, we just do not always have the means to realize it.
The handling of everything to do with the high-end audio system is directly concerned with perfecting the music, elevating it to a level where it is detached from any anchors that tie it to the background experience. The sheer infinite variety of music is what makes it so captivating, and this is where our inner sensors interact and where the truly great and well-researched high-end audio products come into their own.
Carbide Audio Diamond Footers are designed from the ground up to harmonize, and act in tune with the music, not work against it. Not exactly something I can say about every accessory or audio tweak.
Diamond Footers are not based on the stochastic prediction of mechanical tokens. Under the hood, many principles deal with different types of mechanical loops and eliminate mechanical hysteria. Carbide Audio deals with these in spades.
The Diamond Footers are not just a different-sounding pastiche, but a well-researched mechanical decoupling device that works with as few variables as possible.
Some high-end audio accessories deliver an illuminating difference by themselves and when used in the audio system. Carbide Audio is such an exemplary product, the polar opposite of anything ordinary.
I am more than happy to award Mono & Stereo’s first 2023 Editors Choice Award to the Carbide Audio Diamond Footers for setting an impressive path and standard for this particular high-end audio accessory segment.
For what it represents on so many levels, I grant the Totaldac d1-triunity DAC a 2023 Mono & Stereo Upper Echelon Product Award.❖
Price
- $599 USD each
Contact
CARBIDE AUDIO LLC
950 WATCH MOUNTAIN DR.
LLANO, TX 78643-2090
USA
web:https://carbide.audio
e-mail: info@carbide.audio
mobile phone: +33 6 18 03 14 08