A game of hot 'n' heavy footsies? Many listeners couldn't be bothered. Shinier primary hardware has all their attention. Fair enough. Today's Vibra 30 isolators are for obsessives who have committed themselves to squeezing their hifi's potential to the last drop. Sooner than later this must consider power delivery, noise filters and resonance control. Those claiming that none of it matters are still surface surfers. They haven't taken the deep dive yet where it's all about thresholds.

As long as big basic flaws dominate, tweaking seeming minutiae matters naught or little at best. First things first. It's once basic flaws are remedied that we cross over a threshold of intelligibility and meaning. Things that previously didn't matter suddenly do. Their demonstrable effects lower our participatory barrier of entry into musical performances. Once we exhaust that realm, we could cross another threshold. Now we can begin to work with a still subtler realm. Such depth-mining explorations tend to go hand in hand with developing our listening skills and sensitizing ourselves to ever finer aspects of the playback art. To be sure, sticking to the basics is perfectly fine when there's so much more to life than hifi, be it kids, their or our own education, securing a house, the lot. But often later in life, many of us have more time and money at our disposal. Now certain personal interests can mature into deeper significance. Their appreciation grows out of lengthy involvement. It keeps honing itself in the process like eventual mastery in any endeavour.

Size comparison of Carbide isolators vs. Vibra 68 and Vibra 30, thread adapters in foreground. Cosmetically, smallest definitely stands tallest here.

The appreciation of fine audio is no different. It has many layers. These clever sound|kaos isolation footers work a number of layers down from the beginner and casually engaged levels. But when one arrives at a greater depth of noticing and caring, they become a surprisingly effective and handsome tool to improve mechanical interfaces. Cleaning up structural resonances with their time-delayed drone and lumpiness is an important part of system fundamentals. The following video touches upon the systemic approach to hifi curation by one of the true masters of the craft.

Now that you know of the Vibra 30, the rest is up to you.

Qualio IQ and Gravitas 15 on Vibra 68, DAC on Carbide Nano, upstairs sub and DAC on Vibra 30.

"Watson, I can't find the last of my cocaine stash. Did you hide it by any chance? I can take care of myself perfectly well, you know."

Knowing better than take the bait, Watson just raises one bushy eyebrow and continues reading the news in the real world…