While the last paragraphs of the previous page described the original Carbide Bases, the Diamond incarnation doesn't reinvent their action. It mimics the behaviour yet the degree of extra effectiveness is huge. The newcomer scores far higher. This essentially meant that a set under a component introduced all the same performance gains yet substantially more intense so far easier to hear and appreciate. This wasn't subtle. Quite the contrary. The new parts are far apart on performance. This seems unusual given their presumed ‘tweak' status. Usually moving up with such gadgets buys us a minor performance bump at mega extra expense. Not today. The Carbide Base Diamond proved a superior next-gen specimen across the board to justify both its existence and pricing. It also had a major ace up its sleeve that I didn't see coming. While the originals proved beneficial regardless of application, their most potent gains by far came under the speakers followed by my DAC then preamp. The Diamond changed this order to have the most noticeable impact under my DAC. No contest.

The last time I'd heard the Pacific DAC this muscular, raw, powerful and direct was atop Ansuz Z2S footers. Of course without them on hand for a direct A/B I can't know for certain but Jeff's versions seemed to play in the same ballpark. Perhaps material hardness as a common denominator factored big? To be clear, the original Carbide Bases had significantly improved the Pacific's sound, just not as much. This leads me to think that Jeff's extra-hard Diamond insert could well be the perfect fit for digital hardware. In his review Srajan noticed the same. He also didn't mince words under his subs. Although I don't own any and my speaker experience was limited to the sound|kaos monitors, it was far from disappointing. The Diamond isolators made these boxes spatially bigger and bolder, juicier in the midrange and even more authoritative in the bass. They also worked wonderfully under the 915R pre. Upon removing all 12 pucks from my system (3 per speaker and more trios under my DAC and preamp) the sound didn't collapse but turned noticeably more bright, coarse, gritty, hollow and nowhere near as sorted, rich and bass extended. In the context of my system's overall cost, the investment in Jeff's Diamonds struck me as more than reasonable.

It seems that tube gear particularly for low-level signal is ideal for the Carbide Base Diamond's MO. So I recommend starting there. Then again, considering their profound benefits under my speakers and Srajan's subs, you may start wherever you please. If you do, brace yourself. This expertly machined competitively priced mechanically adaptive anti-vibration invention goes far beyond a few subtle sonic touch-ups here and there. It changes things a lot while its superiority over the already accomplished predecessor is a nice cherry on top. Kudos to Jeffrey Jenkins for making that leap!

Publisher's comment: These parts work just as effectively upside down. Now components see the bottom plate's larger contact patch not the small Diamond insert. Many will rest very stably on just two isolators. The benefits relative to cost and size should be obvious. Jeffrey agrees. Turntables too seem obvious targets though neither Dawid nor I use any. All tubes are microphonic to some degree. That's particularly true for exotic power triodes as LampizatOr use in their D/A converters. It's no surprise that Dawid found the Diamond isolators so very effective beneath his Pacific DAC. If you enjoy 45, 50, 2A3 or 300B, these Carbide Diamond isolators would seem to have your name engraved on them.