SO WHICH SPEAKER ISOLATOR DID YOU THINK WAS THE BEST? I WOULD BE INTERESTED TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS! I ALSO REVIEWED THE ISOACOUSTICS ISO-130 HERE ---> ua-cam.com/video/RCWNGHfyBw4/v-deo.html MORE VIDEOS COMING! AS MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF UPGRADING MY PRODUCTION ROOM ETC TAKE CARE GUYS AND GALS - MDT
Isoacoustics without a doubt. However for "The Best" isolation....you cannot escape physics in this matter. Which mean's the more mass you have the better your isolation will be!!!! For instance instead of putting your speakers on your desk, they should be off the desk on heavy stands(100lbs or more, the heavier the stands, or more mass the stands have, the better!). So you'll see many people will use concrete cinder blocks, which are great and will typically be better than most stands costing upward of $1000. Point is though that Isoacoustics makes an metal stand that's more expensive but is metal so it will work better than the plastic ones! So if you want "The Best" for table top stands like these, you'll want an all metal or stone design! However since the metal can ring, you'll want rubber with it, or some sort of Mass Loaded Vinyl barrier between the stand and your speakers, and also the stand and your desk! I however did appreciate the fact that you included audio with your test. However in the future could you include the microphone you used, and could you please make sure you include whether you measured for "listening position" from speakers, and height position from desk for each different speaker? As all the stands are different heights so the position of the mic is very important. Thanks.
With no acoustic treatment, in an empty and highly reflective room? This test is basically useless. Just sayin'. With no acoustic treatment, in an empty and highly reflective room? This test is basically useless. No disrespect my dude, and... I'm saying that mind you, not to just be some negative unknowing comment thread troll, but more rather because of very important and measurable physics variables pertaining to wavelength phasing, cone filtering, and standing low frequency nodes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ With all of that said tho? I genuinely did appreciate the effort put forth, and if anything? You honest did somewhat help me decide to save some coin and spring for a pair of Fluid Audio DS8s for the Kali Audio LP-8 monitors I've been working from home on to mix. Perhaps this demo was potentially geared more for the listening audiophile enthusiast and not so much for a mixing enthusiast like myself? I dunno... If so? My bad, but regardless, and as a genuine token of respect for potentially having made you read all of my longwinded nerdishness? I went ahead and hit that subscribe button mi amigo. Cheers! 🤓🖖
The effort for the test is appreciated, but it is not at all a comparison that can help to define if it is better auralex foam or isoacoustic/fluid bases, since you are doing it at different heights, with the isoacoustic/fluid the tweeters are at the height of the microphones representing the "ears" and the foam is below the "ears", therefore what is at the height of the tweeters, will always sound better in microphones .... The test does not help to know which material produces less vibration on the desk, which is basically what you are looking for with this type of materials and if you were looking to make a fair and more "scientific" comparison you needed to solve so that the foam was at the same height of the Isoacustics and same position.
Fluid sounded best, but not the most attractive looking. Not sure I want to see that on my desk every day. Haha. ISO had less decay on the drums and reverb, as you noted (great observation!). However, that doesn't mean it is less accurate. It actually might mean the opposite. Could be that the Fluid has less stability, which transfers the vibrations more than the ISO, which is causing the extended decay. As for the foam pads, they just soak up too much of the highs. Might sound easier on the ears, but might also be less accurate. Just my thoughts. Thanks for the detailed review! Keep it up!
Thanks for making this video - I can appreciate the time which must have gone into putting it all together. Useful for me in helping to decide the best solution for my set up.
Thanks for noticing! It does take time but when I receive a comment like yours it makes me continue with a happy heart! Thanks again and good luck with your set up!
The Isoacoustics are far and away the most transparent and tight solution. Your instincts on which example tracks to use were spot on. The difference is ISOLATION and yeah I reckon it's worth the money if translation matters.
Bro i got a suggestion. Use a glass of water but put the glass on the table. Since these devices were designed to decouple the speaker from the surface it sits on e.g. the table, the device which transfer less vibration to the table should be the best. Please let me know if you retest them. I'm in the mood to buy iso acoustic one but waiting for your result
I just spent the last hour or so looking for info on speaker stands that narrowed it down to exactly these options and this was absolutely the most useful thing I came across. Thanks! (Going with the Isoacoustics)
Hey man, nice video! I appreciate the effort that goes into these comparisons. I just got the PreSonus 3.5s and I was wondering what I should do to isolate them. €100 for stands costs more than the active speakers, so that's hard to justify, but I am sure the sound would be much improved! Cheers!
Hi Tom (I presume it's Tom and not 'Coffee Corner' lol). I totally get where you're coming from and this is a dilemma that many face in the initial stages of the setup. I would say that the isolation pads do make a difference (the IsoAcoustics pucks are my favourite) - however, they are expensive. What gets me over the fence is if I were to buy the isoAcoustics version, then at least I'll be able to keep those for future setups. They'll never go out of date and if you buy used then you can't really lose as they should retain most of their value. If you think you are not likely to upgrade your speakers to more serious ones in the future, then perhaps get whatever makes the most sense - I agree spending more on isolators than the speakers themselves is probably not the best idea. I'd rather use the budget to buy better speakers! I hope this helps
pretty close to the walls right? might be some reflections from the desk (tho its close to the edge). I figure there is no audio treating on the walls also. Anyway, can you actually hear the disaster in the recording here?
Also, just noticed we were both watching the video at the same time. I commented 1 minute after your comment was posted. Haha I like that coincidence. I HAVENT SEEN IT before posting my reply to you.
Haha crazy your here for the same stuff than for the stands right lol anyway I find this so weird guy talks about audio but his room has so much reflection horrible thing he need to treat that room asap
i think the only set that sounds naff is the foam set as they absorb alot of the sound just purchased a pair of Fluid Audio DS8 and im happy and half the price of the isoacoustics...great video cheers
Which do you think is better? At first I thought it was Fluid Audio because I could hear all the details of the instruments. Then I felt that the Fluid Audio version sounded a little unbalanced. The percussion instruments were always too loud. Now I'm not too sure which one is better.
I own Isos and I can 100% tell you the Fluids are better. Way less resonance. More open, less weird 250-400 hz mud. Stereo field is better as well. Track 3 you can tell the difference a lot cuz the track selection. The snare sounds like it was mixed by a different engineer from fluids to iso. Might have to sell the isos
Missed: coin test without isolation :) High-hat difference was the most audible on an AKG K712 like yours. But as you said, room acoustics.. Thank nevertheless!
Haha! I did think about that, but to be honest I was scared of scratching the underside of the speakers 😂😂😂 Yeah it's tough to say for sure as the room acoustics suck at the moment, but I guess they're all present in the same room and I'm sure there was a clear difference in some of those tracks (especially tracks with many layers)
the idea of a stand is to either couple speakers to the floor, or decouple them. Coupling would involve the use of spikes and this would aid excess energy from the speaker cabinet to be transferred to the room. Decoupling would be isolating the speaker from the ground and it really depends on your speakers/environment which approach would be best. The end result is that the audio is cleaner, stereo image better with less smear. I tend to notice that the biggest advantage is for the bass when using stands or isolators. The other advantage is getting the right stand height to get the speaker to the correct height with respect to your ears - that will help alot with mids and highs
Thoughts ..... Very hard to hear differences when the room acoustics dominate. I'm guessing you used your camera / cellphone ? mic to record this ...... The mic sounded very omnidirectional, so the room acoustics dominated. But all that aside, the Fluid Audio had the punchiest / tightest bass. IsoAcoustics were a close second, and Auralex sounded way less good than the other two stands in every way (the bass was not punchy at all and the high mids and up were much more attenuated). But there's no way to judge these stands objectively unless the test is done under controlled conditions. So yea ... I'm really none the wiser after listening to this.
well, yes the room is not treated but the result wouldn't change tho. The purpose of these pads is to separate the speakers from the desk. We can clearly hear that the foam one gets you a more "muddy" result because it doesn't separate as well and makes the desk resonate more, both speakers are creating a resonance on the desk and room acoustics won't change that
Lol well I am so glad you speak for the vast majority then 😂. Do you run a consultancy service? Next time I'll run these videos by you before I publish them 😉
@@geezerintotech i found it really helpful,, i bought the Fluid Audio DS5 yesterday from amazon for my yamaha hs5 studio monitors , and i'm expecting them soon
if those were the options then i'd rather fashion an isolator myself - like those small rubber feet you can get from amazon. I don't think the foam made much difference. Most important thing by far though is getting the speakers set at the right height
Bro! You didn't do a Control test, (Speakers on the table, without an isolation device). On my Headphones, Acoustic Audio was best for clarity. Best Regards.
you make a good point actually..maybe i should have done a control as you say but.. .. the idea was to compare if expensive isolation stands (isoacoustics) make any difference compared to cheap ones (fluid audio and auralex foam) ..and i believe the answer is yes - it does make a difference
@@geezerintotech for those of us who are completely new to sound isolation platforms, it would be very informative to hear the before and after each isolation product, ie control before listening to each product. That way it would be most informative as to whether we prefer the sound with or without each product. As it stands...we get to hear whether we like the sound of the system with those products in use but without the control, we don't know if we would prefer the sound without any isolation at all.
that is an excellent idea - I appreciate your help! Though the water would have to be very precisely measured I guess. I will try and incorporate this into my future videos!
Well, there is no sound without vibrations, but it's desired to have intended vibrations created by the speaker drivers/cabinets and not impacted through placement/positioning environment.
SO WHICH SPEAKER ISOLATOR DID YOU THINK WAS THE BEST? I WOULD BE INTERESTED TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS!
I ALSO REVIEWED THE ISOACOUSTICS ISO-130 HERE ---> ua-cam.com/video/RCWNGHfyBw4/v-deo.html
MORE VIDEOS COMING! AS MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF UPGRADING MY PRODUCTION ROOM ETC
TAKE CARE GUYS AND GALS
- MDT
Isoacoustics without a doubt. However for "The Best" isolation....you cannot escape physics in this matter. Which mean's the more mass you have the better your isolation will be!!!! For instance instead of putting your speakers on your desk, they should be off the desk on heavy stands(100lbs or more, the heavier the stands, or more mass the stands have, the better!). So you'll see many people will use concrete cinder blocks, which are great and will typically be better than most stands costing upward of $1000. Point is though that Isoacoustics makes an metal stand that's more expensive but is metal so it will work better than the plastic ones! So if you want "The Best" for table top stands like these, you'll want an all metal or stone design! However since the metal can ring, you'll want rubber with it, or some sort of Mass Loaded Vinyl barrier between the stand and your speakers, and also the stand and your desk! I however did appreciate the fact that you included audio with your test. However in the future could you include the microphone you used, and could you please make sure you include whether you measured for "listening position" from speakers, and height position from desk for each different speaker? As all the stands are different heights so the position of the mic is very important. Thanks.
With no acoustic treatment, in an empty and highly reflective room? This test is basically useless. Just sayin'. With no acoustic treatment, in an empty and highly reflective room? This test is basically useless. No disrespect my dude, and...
I'm saying that mind you, not to just be some negative unknowing comment thread troll, but more rather because of very important and measurable physics variables pertaining to wavelength phasing, cone filtering, and standing low frequency nodes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
With all of that said tho? I genuinely did appreciate the effort put forth, and if anything?
You honest did somewhat help me decide to save some coin and spring for a pair of Fluid Audio DS8s for the Kali Audio LP-8 monitors I've been working from home on to mix.
Perhaps this demo was potentially geared more for the listening audiophile enthusiast and not so much for a mixing enthusiast like myself? I dunno...
If so? My bad, but regardless, and as a genuine token of respect for potentially having made you read all of my longwinded nerdishness?
I went ahead and hit that subscribe button mi amigo.
Cheers!
🤓🖖
ISO sound more transparent, I hear every transient. Foam sounds more muddy, but more thick. Great review, thanks! Greetings from Ukraine 😉🙏🏻
Hmm clearly hearable difference... Thanks for video, find it's useful.
The effort for the test is appreciated, but it is not at all a comparison that can help to define if it is better auralex foam or isoacoustic/fluid bases, since you are doing it at different heights, with the isoacoustic/fluid the tweeters are at the height of the microphones representing the "ears" and the foam is below the "ears", therefore what is at the height of the tweeters, will always sound better in microphones .... The test does not help to know which material produces less vibration on the desk, which is basically what you are looking for with this type of materials and if you were looking to make a fair and more "scientific" comparison you needed to solve so that the foam was at the same height of the Isoacustics and same position.
Fluid sounded best, but not the most attractive looking. Not sure I want to see that on my desk every day. Haha. ISO had less decay on the drums and reverb, as you noted (great observation!). However, that doesn't mean it is less accurate. It actually might mean the opposite. Could be that the Fluid has less stability, which transfers the vibrations more than the ISO, which is causing the extended decay. As for the foam pads, they just soak up too much of the highs. Might sound easier on the ears, but might also be less accurate. Just my thoughts. Thanks for the detailed review! Keep it up!
Wow this is amazing man thanks for this. Those IsoAcoustic stands are a must have for music production....... you've sold me.
Glad I could help!
Thanks for making this video - I can appreciate the time which must have gone into putting it all together. Useful for me in helping to decide the best solution for my set up.
Thanks for noticing! It does take time but when I receive a comment like yours it makes me continue with a happy heart!
Thanks again and good luck with your set up!
I just ordered these today, the Fluid Audio ones but for a different situation, home theater system for my surrounds. Getting them tomorrow.
The Isoacoustics are far and away the most transparent and tight solution. Your instincts on which example tracks to use were spot on. The difference is ISOLATION and yeah I reckon it's worth the money if translation matters.
i have the IsoAcoustics and love them. also love that you can tilt them.
i now have the isopucks which I also think are awesome :)
Bro i got a suggestion. Use a glass of water but put the glass on the table. Since these devices were designed to decouple the speaker from the surface it sits on e.g. the table, the device which transfer less vibration to the table should be the best. Please let me know if you retest them. I'm in the mood to buy iso acoustic one but waiting for your result
Thanks so much for the suggestion. I will use this test methodology in future videos!
@@geezerintotech The good old Jurassic Park test.
I just spent the last hour or so looking for info on speaker stands that narrowed it down to exactly these options and this was absolutely the most useful thing I came across. Thanks! (Going with the Isoacoustics)
Glad I could help!
Hey man, nice video! I appreciate the effort that goes into these comparisons. I just got the PreSonus 3.5s and I was wondering what I should do to isolate them. €100 for stands costs more than the active speakers, so that's hard to justify, but I am sure the sound would be much improved! Cheers!
Hi Tom (I presume it's Tom and not 'Coffee Corner' lol).
I totally get where you're coming from and this is a dilemma that many face in the initial stages of the setup.
I would say that the isolation pads do make a difference (the IsoAcoustics pucks are my favourite) - however, they are expensive.
What gets me over the fence is if I were to buy the isoAcoustics version, then at least I'll be able to keep those for future setups. They'll never go out of date and if you buy used then you can't really lose as they should retain most of their value.
If you think you are not likely to upgrade your speakers to more serious ones in the future, then perhaps get whatever makes the most sense - I agree spending more on isolators than the speakers themselves is probably not the best idea.
I'd rather use the budget to buy better speakers!
I hope this helps
My friend first you need to make your room treatment kill that reverb before you start making something about audio studio stuff your room is disaster
pretty close to the walls right? might be some reflections from the desk (tho its close to the edge). I figure there is no audio treating on the walls also.
Anyway, can you actually hear the disaster in the recording here?
Also, just noticed we were both watching the video at the same time. I commented 1 minute after your comment was posted.
Haha I like that coincidence. I HAVENT SEEN IT before posting my reply to you.
Haha crazy your here for the same stuff than for the stands right lol anyway I find this so weird guy talks about audio but his room has so much reflection horrible thing he need to treat that room asap
Hahahaha….
i think the only set that sounds naff is the foam set as they absorb alot of the sound just purchased a pair of Fluid Audio DS8 and im happy and half the price of the isoacoustics...great video cheers
Which do you think is better? At first I thought it was Fluid Audio because I could hear all the details of the instruments. Then I felt that the Fluid Audio version sounded a little unbalanced. The percussion instruments were always too loud. Now I'm not too sure which one is better.
i liked the Iso
I own Isos and I can 100% tell you the Fluids are better. Way less resonance. More open, less weird 250-400 hz mud. Stereo field is better as well. Track 3 you can tell the difference a lot cuz the track selection. The snare sounds like it was mixed by a different engineer from fluids to iso. Might have to sell the isos
Missed: coin test without isolation :)
High-hat difference was the most audible on an AKG K712 like yours. But as you said, room acoustics.. Thank nevertheless!
Haha! I did think about that, but to be honest I was scared of scratching the underside of the speakers 😂😂😂
Yeah it's tough to say for sure as the room acoustics suck at the moment, but I guess they're all present in the same room and I'm sure there was a clear difference in some of those tracks (especially tracks with many layers)
when you're using iso, does it make a difference with the longer tube?
I’ve got my monitors on stands with foam between them, would these as well be pointless or ?
your reviews are excellent...answered so many of my questions
are stands meant to toss more bass towards you instead of the surface they are sitting on? Does it adjust highs & Mids at all?
the idea of a stand is to either couple speakers to the floor, or decouple them. Coupling would involve the use of spikes and this would aid excess energy from the speaker cabinet to be transferred to the room. Decoupling would be isolating the speaker from the ground and it really depends on your speakers/environment which approach would be best.
The end result is that the audio is cleaner, stereo image better with less smear.
I tend to notice that the biggest advantage is for the bass when using stands or isolators.
The other advantage is getting the right stand height to get the speaker to the correct height with respect to your ears - that will help alot with mids and highs
Very useful, I think any vibration guage apps(with your phone) may do better their job than a coin test can do. : )
didn't even know that existed - thanks for sharing buddy!
isoacoustics gives more dynamics to the sound
super useful review, cool work man, you are very natural and i can feel you really love what you do, perfecto ! +1 for me thanks !
Thank you for the kind words :)
Thoughts ..... Very hard to hear differences when the room acoustics dominate. I'm guessing you used your camera / cellphone ? mic to record this ...... The mic sounded very omnidirectional, so the room acoustics dominated. But all that aside, the Fluid Audio had the punchiest / tightest bass. IsoAcoustics were a close second, and Auralex sounded way less good than the other two stands in every way (the bass was not punchy at all and the high mids and up were much more attenuated). But there's no way to judge these stands objectively unless the test is done under controlled conditions. So yea ... I'm really none the wiser after listening to this.
well, yes the room is not treated but the result wouldn't change tho. The purpose of these pads is to separate the speakers from the desk. We can clearly hear that the foam one gets you a more "muddy" result because it doesn't separate as well and makes the desk resonate more, both speakers are creating a resonance on the desk and room acoustics won't change that
I'm guessing reviewing monitor stands on how "re-sellable they are" is not something a vast majority here are interested in...
Lol well I am so glad you speak for the vast majority then 😂.
Do you run a consultancy service? Next time I'll run these videos by you before I publish them 😉
@@geezerintotech i found it really helpful,, i bought the Fluid Audio DS5 yesterday from amazon for my yamaha hs5 studio monitors , and i'm expecting them soon
My question is, is it worth it for me to buy foam vs having the speakers on the table?
if those were the options then i'd rather fashion an isolator myself - like those small rubber feet you can get from amazon. I don't think the foam made much difference. Most important thing by far though is getting the speakers set at the right height
Bro! You didn't do a Control test, (Speakers on the table, without an isolation device). On my Headphones, Acoustic Audio was best for clarity. Best Regards.
you make a good point actually..maybe i should have done a control as you say
but..
.. the idea was to compare if expensive isolation stands (isoacoustics) make any difference compared to cheap ones (fluid audio and auralex foam)
..and i believe the answer is yes - it does make a difference
@@geezerintotech for those of us who are completely new to sound isolation platforms, it would be very informative to hear the before and after each isolation product, ie control before listening to each product. That way it would be most informative as to whether we prefer the sound with or without each product. As it stands...we get to hear whether we like the sound of the system with those products in use but without the control, we don't know if we would prefer the sound without any isolation at all.
Спасибо за честный тест
Change the title of your vid if the item you are reviewing is not auralex brand.
Instead of coin test, why don't you try to put a glass of water? It's easier to tell by looking at the waves
that is an excellent idea - I appreciate your help! Though the water would have to be very precisely measured I guess.
I will try and incorporate this into my future videos!
Here in The United States we use the Metric system. Europe uses the imperial system.
i think you better fact check yourself on google bud cause i'm afraid you're talking right out your butt at the moment
I believe some vibration is good different school of thought .
Well, there is no sound without vibrations, but it's desired to have intended vibrations created by the speaker drivers/cabinets and not impacted through placement/positioning environment.
Worst test EVER.
what a plonker
@@geezerintotech lol
@@geezerintotechOnly a wally would use a word "plonker". Its 2023 not 1980