Vibra 30 & 68

This review first appeared in December 2024 on HifiKnights.com. By request of the manufacturer and permission of the author, it is hereby syndicated to reach a broader audience. All images contained in this piece are the property of HifiKnights or the manufacturer – Ed.

Reviewer: Dawid Grzyb
Transport: Innuos Statement, fidata HFAS1-S10U
DAC: LampizatOr Pacific (KR Audio T-100 / Living Voice 300B + KR Audio 5U4G Ltd. Ed.)
USB components: iFi audio Mercury3.0
Network: Fidelizer EtherStream, Linksys WRT160N
Preamplifier: Trilogy 915R, Thöress DFP
Amplifier: Trilogy 995R, FirstWatt F7, Enleum AMP-²3R
Speakers: Boenicke Audio W11 SE+, sound|kaos Vox 3afw
Headphones: HifiMan Susvara
Interconnects: LessLoss Entropic Process C-MARC, Boenicke Audio IC3 CG
Speaker cables: Boenicke Audio S3, LessLoss C-MARC
Speaker signal conditioning: LessLoss Firewall for Loudspeakers, Boenicke ComDev
Anti-vibration conditioning: 1²x Carbide Audio Carbide Base under DAC, preamp and speakers
Power delivery: Gigawatt PC-3 SE EVO+/LC-3 EVO, LessLoss C-MARC, LessLoss Entropic Process C-MARC, Boenicke Audio Power Gate, ISOL-8 Prometheus
Equipment rack: Franc Audio Accessories Wood Block Rack 1+3
Music: NativeDSD
CHF retail price of reviewed component in EU (incl. VAT): CHF140/ea. or 1'008/8 for Vibra 30 | CHF270/ea. or 2'000/8 for Vibra 68

Size antimatters? My short Favourites of 2024 page includes the sound|kaos Vibra 30. Now Dawid Gryzb of Warsaw reports on his own findings. Be forewarned, they sign on the same dotted line. I get to keep working. Because my review already covered background and tech, we'll skip those passages from Dawid's own review. If you want to read that in its entirety, use the above link. – Ed

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Strings attached. The sound|kaos Vibra 68 measures 60x42mm (Ø x H) and weighs 210g so sizes like a regular albeit enjoyably lightweight isolator. Three short 3mm-thick 2g steel wires with end stops inside are strong enough to handle up to 60kg combined. Three footers will thus support any component or speaker up to 180kg. Add one more puck and that's 240kg. With load capacity this stout, many racks busy with several audio boxes will comply. Vibra 68's exterior comprises a nice carbon-fibre barrel between anodized aluminium end plates. Vibra 68 sells for CHF270/ea., a set of eight priced at CHF2'000 saves you 10%. Threaded top and base caps with anti-slip cork pads accept included M6 and M8 adapters which can regulate height by up to 8mm. And this design performs upside down so inverted as well.

Considering its niche which elsewhere tends to mean larger sizes, the Vibra 68 is compact already. Meanwhile the companion Vibra 30 measures just 29x42mm (Ø x H) and weighs 52g to be adorably tiny. I've seen larger spikes under components. Although Vibra 30 rocks a single 1mm-thick wire with a safe 70kg load limit, the soldered brass-ferrule stops cap out at 25kg to set the footer's real-world weight limit. Three such isolators available in silver or bronze-anodized aluminium can therefore carry a speaker or electronic component up to 75kg. Although the larger costlier Vibra 68 packs more parts, machining and assembly time, audible performance is identical. The difference between the two Vibra models narrows down to looks, size and load capacity. Let me stress that 75kg per speaker, DAC or amp is a lot. From that practical standpoint Vibra 30 will be the perfect choice for most. It's smaller, sells for CHF140/ea. or CHF1'008/8 and does exactly the same as the 68. It's very nicely made and quite elaborate. The base accommodates a cleverly machined internal post that locks one wire end in place while its other end connects to a floating centre piece that threads into the top cap. This knurled outer cap adjusts height by up to 8mm and accepts M4 adapters while M6 bolts go into the hole on the bottom. Just like its beefier sibling, the conceptually alike Vibra 30 can be used upside down without any performance loss.

I looked forward to this assignment for two reasons. One, Srajan already had his say on the Vibra matter here and here. One review even netted his award. That was telling. Two, while my Carbide Audio Base Diamond pucks are super effective under my sound|kaos Vox 3a speakers, they're very bulky to look way out of proportion. I don't mind because Carbide's largest isolators work so well. But I don't bolt them to the monitor-stand plinths because that makes the full assembly with attached speakers too heavy to move about which happens a lot. So I wouldn't mind a far lighter smaller alternative that works as well. Finding one was the tricky part. Although the Ansuz Z2S fit that profile, its staggering €3.5K/each sticker removed it from contention.

The elastomeric sleeves inside the Carbide Base Diamonds are ace under the Vox because they render its bass just a touch fluffy and bloomy atop an inherently shredded core. This gives the impression of a speaker that's audibly more majestic, grounded and full than its petite size implies. In my room the brilliantly supportive interaction between Swiss speakers and Carbide isolators nets truly awesome results. Let's now move to Carbide Base Micro infused with optional Nano Diamond inserts, TwinDamp bullets and TwinDamp spikes. I use these inverted under my DAC and preamp to not scratch their housings but add percentile performance. Most importantly, where the elastomers inside the large Bases love the Vox speakers, the Micros packed exclusively with various hard non-compliant means love valve electronics. Their comparison under my Innuos Statement server/streamer went as follows: "These acted like an accelerator and bandwidth normalizer. They trimmed the lowest bass, firmed up everything above and produced more articulated images which occupied somewhat shallower space as if trading some bubble-like intimacy for a more distant horizontally uniform spatial perspective. All in, the view with the Micros was sunnier and happier. The original Base Diamond footers had their revenge with a more expansive deeper soundstage, closer more intimate soloists and increased saturation and moisture. The resultant organic texturally ripe vibe, beefier bass and larger denser more lifelike images were the reasons why Jeffrey Jenkins' larger pucks had my unequivocal vote. It was high time to install his TwinDamp spikes under the Micros and track any changes in their favour if any. Bingo. That move brought back a fair share of substance and colour but bass weight remained unchanged. The extra saturation applied mainly to the midrange, images focused better, bass was more on point and increased smoothness registered, too."