 A month ago I reviewed the Townsend seismic podium for loudspeakers. This time I take a look at Townsend's products for sources. Why in Heaven's name do we need to isolate sources from vibrations? For loudspeakers it might be logical giving the mechanical energy that they handle. But sources? Yes, sources are sensitive to vibrations too. Of course turntables are the best example. The groove in the final record varies between 40 and 80 µm depending on the signal amplitude. So a vibration of only 4 µm can already cause 5% distortion or more if it happens to have the same vector as the groove modulation. A µm is 1 millionth of a meter. But also digital sources are sensitive to vibrations. Take for instance a CD mechanism that has to read a 0.5 µm narrow track with only 1.6 µm separation. The pits are only 0.85 µm to 3.5 µm long and have to be read by the laser at a track speed of about 5 km per hour or 3.1 miles per hour from a wobbly disc. I know there is error correction and if that fails interpolation. But it all takes time, while we need a constant stream of 44100 bits per second. So there is more provided you aim at the highest quality sound. For all electronic components are sensitive to vibration as well. Some more than others and one of the most sensitive being the clock crystal in digital equipment. When the voltage is applied to the electrodes the crystal changes of shape and when the voltage is removed again it changes back and while doing so it returns a small voltage. When applied properly it does that at a very precise frequency that is used as a clock signal. But mechanical disturbance will cause variations. Temperature changes do the same, by the way. That is why I have digital equipment switched on all the time to keep them at operating temperature. Since we know that our hearing is extremely sensitive to timing errors you don't want that to happen. This is the reason that some manufacturers use very sturdy heavy housing for their equipment. A good example is the Aurelic Aries G2 that weighs 7.2 kg and has spring loaded damper feet. Other manufacturers encapsulate the clock crystal in special damping materials like the Grimm Audio Mu1. I mentioned them since I will use these two quality digital players for testing. It might be clear that all other digital equipment like CD players, network players, DACs, DSP based devices like upsamplers, DDCs and room correction systems use clock crystals and thus are sensitive to vibrations too. But it is not only digital equipment that can contain microphonic components. Vacuum tubes are notoriously sensitive to vibration. Some high end designers use spring mounted phono pre-pre-circuit boards to fight microphony. Other place rubber rings around tubes to dampen vibration. But even solid state equipment can be sensitive to vibrations. Capacitors and potential meters as used for volume and balance are potentially risk factors. There are even those that claim that resistors can have influence on the sound quality as a result of microphony. Getting rid of vibrations as such is a well known technology in many industries. Schematically drawn, it's like this. The audio device, the digital music player in this review, is placed on a spring system that in combination with the mass of the player has a very low resonance frequency, typically 5 to 10 Hz. To avoid the mass and spring to get all oscillating, a damper is added to dampen the movement. It is essentially the same as the suspension of a car. The spring and damper don't necessarily be two separate devices. On the isolation platform on review here, as with the loudspeaker platform I reviewed a month ago, there are four so called load cells. They have a foot plate for stable placement. On that mounted the spring base plate. The spring rests on the base plate and has an airtight synthetic rubber gaiter around it and is topped by a top plate. That has a small hole that lets the air in and out at a limited speed, which provides the damping. There are materials that are said to have a combined effect of spring and damper, like sorbitane like materials. I don't think these kinds of materials have a resonance frequency below the audible spectrum and I don't know what that will do to the sound so I will review those at a later date and report back to what degree they are of interest to us audiophiles. The platform is a heavy metal plate with a smaller plate of the same thickness glued against the bottom. As said these are supported by four load cells that can be adjusted in height by turning them. The top of the platform is minimal 65mm above the shelf so you do need an audio rack that offers that space. The platform comes in 3 sizes, 43 x 30 cm, 48 x 35 cm and 52 x 40 cm and 7 weight categories ranging from 2 to 200 kg, 4.4 to 440 lbs. For higher weights you can simply add more load cells. The isolation pots are essentially the same as the load cells on the isolation platform. There are 7 load categories ranging from 1 to 50 kg. When you use 4 of them under your device, the 4 together will hold 4 times the weight of a single one. If your device is heavier on one side, you can place the load cells asymmetically or adjust the height of 1 or 2 so they will carry a larger portion of the weight. I use my set of 1A. The Air Acoustics AX520 amp drives the AudioPhysics Scorpio loudspeakers. Connected to the amp is the Core Dave DAC that receives its signal from the Grim Audio Mew 1, alternatively placed on the isolation platform and directly on the rack. It talks to the network over the Network Acoustics Eno system and the SOTM SNH10 switch. Then I exchanged the Grim Audio Mew 1 for the Auralic Airs G2, again alternatively placed on the isolation platform and directly on the rack. I also tested both players with the isolation pots but the result did not differ notably from using the isolation platform. For full details on my reference setups watch my video about my reference setups in November 2021. The effect on both players was about equal and relatively subtle. There is somewhat more resolution, the spatial projection got further improved and the bass gave more definition. Rock clear but subtle differences between the placement on the rack directly and the placement on the isolation platform placed on the rack. Where the sidespeak podium for loudspeakers give an unmistakable, audible improvement and I am sure they will with almost all floor standing loudspeakers of any decent brand. The result of the isolation platform on review here is more subtle. It's like going from a cheaper cable to a higher class cable. And if you do both, the difference is even clearer. It's more fine tuning the system with smaller steps than chasing to a more upmarket loudspeaker type. But several small steps is what makes high end perform to perfection. I would buy the isolation platform for both the Grim Audio Mule 1 and the Core Dave DAC if my rack would allow for placement. There is real science behind the Townsend products and I would have loved to meet founder Max Townsend in person who unfortunately died the last day of last year. He apparently has an endless list of clever inventions on his name. The seismic range of products have proven to improve the sound quality. Of course the isolation platform reviewed here might perform differently on different products. A tube amp with a phono stage brings to mind as potential big success. On the two network players I used, the results were convincing but subtle. That might be due to the measures both manufacturers have taken to fight vibrations. The Aurelic has isolated feet and the Grim has its crystal inside the plastic housing filled with damping materials. To what extent your equipment will benefit from the isolation platform is difficult to predict. But if you're in for further tweaking of your stereo, find a way to try them out. Some dealers have demo models and online shops often allow for a trial period. With that advice we come to the end of this program. I'll be back next Friday at 5pm central european time. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. Help me reach even more people by giving this video a thumb up or link to this video in the social media, it is much appreciated. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially. It keeps me independent and lets me improve the channel further. If that makes you feel like supporting my work too, the links are in the comments below this video on YouTube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on the HB Project.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.