The sound collapsed. The magic disappeared. With some writers words to that effect hit when they remove something so superior that returning to their old feels like going cold turkey. No such junkie angst factored when my speakers returned to normal. Nothing gobsmacked when instead my DAC and parallel power purifier rode three Nano each. Listening attentively and knowing my rig inside out, I simply noticed shifts. I preferred the speakers on Nano. I also preferred the DAC that way but not by the same magnitude. The Akiko filter didn't register. Money saved. The with/out DAC trials were about marginally better depth specificity and contrast ratio. This somewhat mirrored what I hear on the desktop with 4 x oversampling in Audirvana Studio's SoX algorithm and the LHY masterclock syncing both USB bridge and DAC. I could easily listen to either system without my helpers and quickly recalibrate. But the improvements are attractive enough to be desired when the requisite kit to make it so is on hand.
Nano's size is ideally proportionate to such half-width kit. Foreground Nano on spikes. The disc atop the DAC is an Artesanía mass damper elevated to not obscure the vents. The Feng Shui crystal atop that is purely decorative.
Layers. Levels. Degrees. Any craft has them. Traditional Japanese artisans consider themselves endless apprentices to their art. Full mastery remains an ever-receding horizon. I like that concept. It ties to the old saying of the master musician who admits that when he doesn't practice for a day, he notices. When he doesn't practice for three days, his top students do. When he doesn't practice for a month, the concert promoter notices but the audience still remains oblivious. In those terms these trials fell into the 1-3-day category. Meanwhile to isolate the sub or not even the least gifted listener would tell apart. In attentive mode where I'm this system's master, I'd like two Nano quads to better decouple the mini speakers from the floor. I'd consider that a 'final' polish of sorts well cognizant that in my view on hifi, any true finality is a pipe dream.
Nano nipples. Jeffrey's latest throws his original roller-ball isolation concept into the dryer. He shrinks his original XXL woollens down to a size S. He also chucks vertical 'jackhammer' isolation to focus on just one ball bearing. At $199 for a basic trio which can retroactively gussy up with harder races and basic/advanced spikes, it's the most affordable such solution I'm aware of at this level of execution. It's a neat problem solver against bad vibes. Whilst you might insist that your crib has none, experience virtually guarantees that you do without knowing it. Carbide Audio's new Nano is a cost-effective way to play a game of catch. Once you've trapped your first bad vibes by hearing positive differences you don't mean to be without, still more effective Carbide variants beckon; as well as other junctures in your hifi to address. Any journey starts with the first step. On the resonance-attenuation journey, Nano strikes me as an ideal first step. Just don't be surprised if it turns into a stepping stone for more; the first rung on Jacob's mythical ladder into the sky.
DAC and Akiko power filter on three Nano each. Listening chair is roughly at the halfway mark of the room's long axis to strategically sit in a zone where that room mode hits a suck-out.
The farther we claw up that ladder, the better our view. We just ought to know when to call it quits; or at least take extended rests. Rather than project fulfilment into an oxygen-starved future, we must make quality time to enjoy our hifi as is stands, here/now. To fast forward my future into the present moment, I asked Jeffrey for a formal invoice. His eight Nano will remain securely bolted to these Q Acoustics stands. I've carefully levelled each to avoid all bearing chatter and have smooth silent lateral displacement should I deliberately bump a stand. Not that I would. Neither do these small drivers exert sufficient force against the raw mass of their aluminium cabinet and stand to ever shimmy. This isn't the tale of Willa Wonky. Everything is perfectly stable. The difference are invisibly cut lines of vibrational transmission between floor and speakers. A movie baddie yanked out our landline or LAN. Isolated silence. I gladly let mechanical engineers explain why that's audibly beneficial…
Carbide respond: "Hi Srajan, I'm very happy to see that you like them and want to keep them in your system. Happy to invoice you. Reading about your improvements under the bookshelves in your upstairs system was a pleasant surprise. Honestly, implementing that speaker mounting method using standard bolts was a last-minute discovery. My original assumption was that they'd be used exclusively under electronics. That was until like you I discovered that they also work great under speakers especially smaller ones which don't need the greater damping action of the larger footers as much. The Nano Diamond is a bit more of a middle ground between the Nano and the Carbide Base footers, thanks to the excellent damping capacity of the manganese-copper present in that version. Later this year I have two more products coming. One is a special variant of the Carbide Base Micro which utilizes posts of TwinDamp instead of viscoelastic; and a new type record clamp based on the footer design." – Jeffrey Jenkins
