Under my Vox monitors, Micro had to battle not stock footers but their stablemate Base which proved far more difficult. Unsurprisingly some observations from the Statement session carried over. The newcomer acted again as accelerator and bandwidth normalizer. It trimmed the lowest bass, firmed up everything above and produced more articulated instrumental and vocal shapes. These images now occupied somewhat shallower space as though I traded some bubble-like intimacy for a more distant horizontally uniform spatial perspective. With Micro the view was again sunnier and happier. The Base Diamond had their revenge on a more expansive deeper soundfield, closer more intimate vocals and sensibly increased saturation and moisture. This organic texturally riper vibe, beefier bass and larger staging busy with denser more lifelike images were the reasons why Jeffrey's largest pucks got my unequivocal vote. It was high time to install TwinDamp spikes under Micro and track any changes. Bingo. That brought back a fair share of substance and colour yet bass output remained as is. The extra saturation applied mainly to the midrange where images felt more focused. Bass was more on point with increased smoothness.
Micro with the bottom plate of the big Base | Micro with its own bottom plate.
At this point I had a firm notion why TwinDamp spikes are popular with Carbide's clients. But there was more. I intended to exploit the interchangeable parts which the Base Diamond accepts as well. To not overcomplicate my procedure, I installed one upfacing spike each so that the rectangular Vox stand plinth rested atop three TwinDamp heads. The result had my full attention. The sound instantly grew more muscular, powerful and focused, the bass more orderly, fierce and precise. I heard no downsides, just bold quality hikes. Such an audibly more ripped, dynamically charged, lively, engaging and plain fun outcome for just €72 per speaker? Yes, please. Let's not forget that each Base Diamond belly can accommodate another three spikes. If I had enough spikes, I'd surely investigate how double ball bearings and one large ViscoRing between two additional TwinDamp stages works. I hadn't requested extra spikes going in because until recently my experience with spikes wasn't great. Now I know better. Jeffrey's are different plus obviously work in conjunction with other isolation methods. Live and learn.
My Trilogy 915R preamp makes a happy living atop three Base Diamond. My more compact loaners showed that this happiness could still increase, just not right away. The large footers under the British preamp created the most bloomy bass and highest vocal hydration and density. Upon replacing them with Micro, poof, half of it instantly evaporated and stage depth got a touch shallower. Meanwhile bass control improved noticeably, images became more specific and the entire presentation was more upfront, direct and radiant. To my ears two different profiles at the same commensurably high level had just clashed. As it turned out, I could largely combine their best assets by elevating Micro on TwinDamp spikes which became an enjoyable middle ground that did the job in the most powerful, energetic and focused fashion, albeit without any loss on saturation or spatial depth. That was key. Not only was the newcomer on its Mn-Cu legs my easy pick, it also remained a cut above Base Diamond with the same assistance installed in their top. A rather similar outcome was in the cards with my DAC but the order was different. Under it Micro did clearly more than Base Diamond. Less but more controlled bass, higher clarity and somewhat shinier more pronounced treble were the upshots. The spikes widened the gap further. On them Micro packed extra muscle tissue, higher focus and textural wetness. That became my top choice. Micro sans spikes was my second DAC pick, Base Diamond with/out followed.
One last thing worth mentioning had to do with my DAC. Its belly sports three protruding bolts which originally held the stock footers. Unless one is keen to extract half the interior, these bolts must stay on. To add salt to injury, their strategic locations coincide precisely with where we'd want aftermarket pucks to balance the deck and have it look right. The openings in the upper sections of Base Diamond swallowed these bolts to touch my DAC instead which was mechanically desirable. Micro with its wobbly TwinDamp heads didn't follow suit. Initially I tried positioning Micro next to the protruding obstacles but the visual effect was off. Then I simply turned Micro upside down and presto, their bottom openings accepted the troublesome screws for a major aesthetic win. Next I armed the reversed Micro with TwinDamp spikes whose blunt ends weren't sharp enough to leave any marks on my DAC's underbelly. The main takeaway was that Micro remains equally effective no matter its orientation. This gave me something to think about. As reviewed, Micro comprised a TwinDamp base of spikes, the first ball-bearing isolation stage, then a TwinDamp section followed by a second ball-bearing layer with yet another TwinDamp component atop. My experiments suggest that parts made out of this alloy act as potent boosters for the isolation stages between. Jeffrey's spikes are the natural ticket to take full advantage of this. It's why I'd strongly consider these spikes if I shopped for Carbide footers. One caveat is that I haven't sampled Carbide's basic spikes so don't know how they compare to their fancier TwinDamp cousins.
