Stillpoints vs Magico Pods? Anyone compare? Sonic differences?

caesar

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Looks like Magico is getting into the footers business, trying to take away some business from the reigning king, Stillpoints. Marketing and other BS aside, has anyone compared these in the same system or under same components?

What are the Sonic differences?
 

PeterA

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Looks like Magico is getting into the footers business, trying to take away some business from the reigning king, Stillpoints. Marketing and other BS aside, has anyone compared these in the same system or under same components?

What are the Sonic differences?

Caesar, what makes you think that Magico is getting into the footers business? Is there any information that these M or S pods will be marketed for use beyond specific Magico speakers? I think the QPods were marketed for use under electronics, but I have seen very little user feedback. I'd love to try them.
 

bonzo75

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Looks like Magico is getting into the footers business, trying to take away some business from the reigning king, Stillpoints. Marketing and other BS aside, has anyone compared these in the same system or under same components?

What are the Sonic differences?

Read the stereophile review of your amp, he also uses your preamp, and see what he uses for isolating the preamp
 

caesar

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Read the stereophile review of your amp, he also uses your preamp, and see what he uses for isolating the preamp

Thanks - I am well aware that the Shun Mooks could easily kill both of these products, as there are many claims of Stillpoints revealing too much "fake detail".

Yet I am always curious as to where the industry is going, whether I like it or not.
 

caesar

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Caesar, what makes you think that Magico is getting into the footers business? Is there any information that these M or S pods will be marketed for use beyond specific Magico speakers? I think the QPods were marketed for use under electronics, but I have seen very little user feedback. I'd love to try them.

"Sterile" Jon Valin has a new blog out about the magico footers on the TAS website. Here's a quote: "..Though I don’t yet know this for a fact, the MPODs may have the same astonishingly salubrious effect on any very heavy loudspeaker or component placed atop them. I’ll let you know about this as time goes by and I have the opportunity to try them under different, non-Magico items..."

Additionally, Fremer has been using some: "...Magico QPOD3: $1310 (set of 3), Magico QPOD4: $1680 (set of 4)
Comprising a complex sandwich of CNC-turned stainless steel, oxygen-free copper, black-anodized aluminum, and a blue elastomer damping material, Magico's beautifully made, luxuriously packaged QPod footers are designed to convert vibrational energy into heat. With three QPods supporting his Ypsilon VPS-100 phono preamp, MF noted smoother vocal sibilants, improved soundstage depth, and better-controlled bass. "Now I don't think I can do without the stupid things." (Vol.35 No.6)...."
 

PeterA

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"Sterile" Jon Valin has a new blog out about the magico footers on the TAS website. Here's a quote: "..Though I don’t yet know this for a fact, the MPODs may have the same astonishingly salubrious effect on any very heavy loudspeaker or component placed atop them. I’ll let you know about this as time goes by and I have the opportunity to try them under different, non-Magico items..."

Additionally, Fremer has been using some: "...Magico QPOD3: $1310 (set of 3), Magico QPOD4: $1680 (set of 4)
Comprising a complex sandwich of CNC-turned stainless steel, oxygen-free copper, black-anodized aluminum, and a blue elastomer damping material, Magico's beautifully made, luxuriously packaged QPod footers are designed to convert vibrational energy into heat. With three QPods supporting his Ypsilon VPS-100 phono preamp, MF noted smoother vocal sibilants, improved soundstage depth, and better-controlled bass. "Now I don't think I can do without the stupid things." (Vol.35 No.6)...."

Yes, I read the TAS blog about the MPods a couple of days ago. I've heard the M Pros with/without the MPods. They made quite a difference in that particular system and the owner is very pleased to own the footers. But Valin seems to be speculating. Magico designed an audio rack a couple of years ago too. I hope these footers make it to more Magico models, but I think it is too early to assume they will be marketed to owners of other brands. Time should tell.
 

ack

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"...Magico QPOD3: $1310 (set of 3), Magico QPOD4: $1680 (set of 4)
Comprising a complex sandwich of CNC-turned stainless steel, oxygen-free copper, black-anodized aluminum, and a blue elastomer damping material,

The sandwich Magico is using appears to be in principle almost exactly what I came up with roughly 10 years ago for my speakers, sans the copper; the blue material appears to be the same EAR Isodamp (in C-25 configuration/thickness in my case) that I use (see signature below), and I can tell you they hit the nail in the head, if the results are what I get. I actually had forgotten what impact they made in my speakers, so around Christmas I took one of them off of it, and couldn't listen for more than 5 minutes w/o them. I discovered Isodamp by chance while reading up on aerospace engines, and apparently that may have been the primary application back then; right now, its use is widespread. I had a thread about this years ago, and someone pointed out that the material leaves a mark on the surface it rests on, and it does, so I use an additional granite piece under it. It really works, and I expect the QPods to also work really well. The copper probably takes the solution to a higher level, as copper is soft.
 

PeterA

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I have seen the QPods at Magico's factory. They encourage demos from dealers. I'm curious if the design goal is to isolate, to drain, or do a combination of the two. It seems the MPods provide a coupling of the speaker to the floor, yet they also seem to draw away vibrational energy from the speaker and convert it to heat before it reaches the floor. When I heard the effect of the MPods under the MPro speaker, the effect was obvious. The floor was much less excited with the MPods in place, the sound became more resolving and focused. Clarity improved as well as bass impact, and the floor vibrated much less than before. I would think that they would be more effective on a suspended floor, wood or concrete, than on a concrete slab on grade, which would tend to flex much less.

I wonder if the QPods are more effective on a metal shelf or rack that has a lot of mass as opposed to a relatively light wooden shelf or platform like an HRS that has elastomers within it. I'd like to try the QPods under a component and compare it to my air isolation Townshend Seismic Sinks. I bet the sound would change, perhaps dramatically.
 

bonzo75

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ack

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The sandwich Magico is using appears to be in principle almost exactly what I came up with roughly 10 years ago for my speakers, sans the copper; the blue material appears to be the same EAR Isodamp (in C-25 configuration/thickness in my case) that I use (see signature below), and I can tell you they hit the nail in the head, if the results are what I get. I actually had forgotten what impact they made in my speakers, so around Christmas I took one of them off of it, and couldn't listen for more than 5 minutes w/o them. I discovered Isodamp by chance while reading up on aerospace engines, and apparently that may have been the primary application back then; right now, its use is widespread. I had a thread about this years ago, and someone pointed out that the material leaves a mark on the surface it rests on, and it does, so I use an additional granite piece under it. It really works, and I expect the QPods to also work really well. The copper probably takes the solution to a higher level, as copper is soft.

Confirmation that Magico is indeed using EAR Isodamp and other details here http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/magico-mpod/ - compression is the key here to get the material to work best. In addition to the speakers, I use it under my turntable's feet.
 

PeterA

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the sound of Tao

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We can all get caught up in the excitement of a perceived improvement and here Jonathan Valin is making some big claims and having a fairly big push into the boundaries of the hyper boleee, but one thing really stood out... that JV says the M3s have a much less aggressive treble with the new mpods installed. So the M3 in stock form therefore has an aggressive treble??

I love JV's writing style in general though I am at times not so much a lover of the formula applied in his findings. However his descriptions are usually great communication but any use of the word aggressive in discussing the M3s upper regions here does seem completely out of place. For us mere mortals a simple slip but seemingly out of place for a real wordsmith like JV.
 

miniguy

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Dec 18, 2013
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A few years ago I did extensive comparisons of the Magico Q-pods with all the Stillpoints variations available at that time. Under electronics and power conditioner I found the Stillpoints to be consistently less natural sounding than the Q-pods in all sonic aspects. Multiple applications of Stillpoints in my system always tended to result in a forward presentation. This was observed only in the context of my listening preferences which encompassed a wide variety of orchestral, chamber, and choral selections as well as 50s to 60s acoustic jazz.
Stillpoints may be king of the hill in the marketplace but IMHO certainly not performance-wise. Especially since fo.q introduced the HEM-25 footer as a strong competitor to the Q-pod in the last couple of years. Both employ interesting and valid approaches to dissipate vibrational energy as heat, though the HEM-25 is the only footer in the industry I'm aware of that relies on the piezoelectric effect.
http://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/652-foq-modrate-hem-25-pure-note-insulators
 

Argonaut

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Have any members experience of replacing factory or aftermarket footers with Magico QPods under transducers, in particular heavy floor standing ?
 

Argonaut

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No no, twas the single Qpods I was cogitating over, having read a comment from Magico that they do not recommend the use of the Q's under Magico speakers, however other brand speakers may benefit from their application, no mention made with regard to maximum load bearing so 50 lbs would not cut it for my requirements.

Thank you for the information miniguy.
 

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