For the past 1 months I have been busy testing out various isolation pucks, I have tried these (Finite Elemente Cerabase $720 for a set of 3 and Cerapuc $390 for a set of 3)
and then these (shunmook Mpingo Ultra Diamond Isolator and Walker Audio Valid Points)
and these Aurios Pro Max
I have bought these: (From the right is the Alto-Extremo Lyd II, middle are two myrtlewood cuboids, and on the left is a puck made from Borneo Ironwood)
I tried all of these under my CDP, preamp, and amp, these equipments originally sit on 2 inch thick maple platforms. I found that it doesn't really matter where I put these isolation devices, the effects they have on the overall sound are very similar.
The only one that didn't make any improvement over the maple platform is the myrtlewood cuboid, the bass became bloated.
The rest all improves over the maple platform, the bass become tighter to different degrees, the balance between midrange and high frequency changes as well.
The Finite Elemente Cerabase and Cerapuc sounded very similar, except that the Cerabase give more bass than the Cerapuc. They clean up and sound really well, I hear less distortion, less noise floor, it's like wiping off a dirty windows.
The Shun Mook UDR, relative to the Cerabase, sounded a little less metalic, but the bass isn't as authoritative as the Cerabase.
The Walker gives even less bass than the Shun Mook.
The Aurios Pro Max sounded relatively muddy in the bass, the midrange become more pronounced, human vocal jump out 2 feet closer to the listening position.
The Alto-Extremo Lyd II is not as neutral as the Cerabase, it has more bass (100 Hz and below) than the Cerabase, the high seemed a little roll-off. It's add extra sense of dynamic to the sound.
The biggest surprise of all is that the Borneo Ironwood blocks sounds the best in my system, outperforming the much more expensive Cerabase and Shunmook. It has the same powerful bass as the Cerabase, but it doesn't have the metalic sound, in fact, it has the most 'organic' and natural sound of all. The Borneo Ironwood have scientific name "Eusideroxylon zwageri", it's 50% harder and denser than maple and it's one of the hardest wood on earth. This tree took 100 years to grow and can only be found in the island of Philipines, Malaysia and Indonesia. If you have friends in those countries, ask them to ship you some wood..
I think I am perhaps the only person in this country that use this kind of wood to make pucks.
Overall, this shoot-out represents another example that spending a lot of money in this hobby does not guarantee performance... aa aa aa
