Taiko Audio Daiza platforms.

[Blue58]

Second Daiza installed under the SGM2015 today, using the stock feet, and immediately there is another uptick in sound quality. Timing appears to be faster with more bounce to bass notes as in Blue Rondo they just bounce along with such swing and precision.

Music just sounds more fun.

I’ve never heard the deep bass note in Yulunga - Dead Can Dance explode and then bounce in waves like a rubber ball along the floor. I’ve heard it plenty deep before but never like this. Vocals have great density and presence and a certain clarity that doesn’t turn into thinness. This clarity allows you to hear much further back into the soundstage too.

MikeL and Audiophile Bill were right.

Blue58

 

[Blue58]

I can’t resist posting another pic as the Daiza look so cool against the white and they are sounding even better today. Emile did say 2-3 days to settle.
Oh! And the RevOpods are up on the ‘Gon already.
Got to find some way of buying another 3 to complete the set.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Are the Daizas applicable in situations like my Symposium Acoustics rack and Ampstands, where isolation is via hard spiking to floor and hard ball-bearing based Rollerblocks isolating each tier and under each component?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Are the Daizas applicable in situations like my Symposium Acoustics rack and Ampstands, where isolation is via hard spiking to floor and hard ball-bearing based Rollerblocks isolating each tier and under each component?

ideally the Daiza sits on some sort of solid surface, where it's own footers can be an impedance break from the surface to the platform. and ideally there is a quality footer of some sort between the Daiza and the piece of gear. by quality footer i mean not some casual stock rubber footer. my opinion is that there are many passive footer approaches that can work between the gear and Daiza including no footer (chassis rests directly on the Daiza). whatever sounds best is best.

it might help to understand that the Daiza footers fit into three round sections on the underside each filled with a foam plastic of a particular density which then de-couples vertical resonance. with a solid surface you get optimal de-coupling. with a soft surface like carpeting you would lose that precision and be better off coupling to the underfloor with spikes through the carpeting.

i have three Taiko Tana LPS's (linear power supplies) that are on the carpet. for those i use spikes into the carpet since the Daiza footers would not work well. otherwise all my 10 (i also have 5 Daiza's on top of my Tana active shelves) other Daiza's are with Daiza footers. my 5 Tana LPS's all have dedicated panzerholtz footers between the LPS and the Daiza's.......but those are purpose designed by Takio to work that way. all the others use the Trina de-couplers.

so you just apply common sense to each situation. if you have carpet then spikes are necessary below otherwise you are going to cause some sort of smear or distortion.

 

[dminches]

Yesterday I had the RevOpods under the Aqua Formula and my initial thoughts were, ‘this isn’t right’. I was prepared to try them in their correct orientation today but thankfully Emile intervened, slapped my wrist, ‘naughty boy!, and told me to use something that couples the Aqua to the platform and creates a pathway for vibrations to be sunk into the Daiza platform.

I rummaged through my box of bits and came across some BDR cones and a set of Aurios. Both are hard footers, ie. no soft elastomeric material in them and today I started with the BDR cones in place of the RevOpods. Phew! What a relief to hear a significant improvement in sound quality. Tight bass, much clearer than before, and a clarity one hears only when noise is removed. So step up and smiles all around.

Can you post a picture or 2 to show how the component is coupled to the platform?

 

[Blue58]

Can you post a picture or 2 to show how the component is coupled to the platform?

Aurios roller bearings under the Aqua and stock feet on the SGM. I’m sure there will be better coupling feet soon from Taiko. Here’s a pic.

 

[dminches]

Aurios roller bearings under the Aqua and stock feet on the SGM. I’m sure there will be better coupling feet soon from Taiko.

Thanks. Am I correct in saying that "coupled" does not mean "bolted"? Coupled implies only hard materials between the 2?

 

[bazelio]

Coupled doesn't mean bolted. Metal spikes are coupling devices for example. Many footers isolate. Or partially isolate and partially couple.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Very pleased for you, Barry. As I said before, the Daiza is the absolute no brainer system enhancer. The value is incredibly high with no downside to my ears. Try them under your 45 amps too if you dare

 

[Esotar]

Korean audiophiles call DAIZA as [[Texture Booster]].

 

[spiritofmusic]

When is Emile gonna get around to providing a Daiza system to go under spkrs?

 

[Taiko Audio]

Are the Daizas applicable in situations like my Symposium Acoustics rack and Ampstands, where isolation is via hard spiking to floor and hard ball-bearing based Rollerblocks isolating each tier and under each component?

Yes, they will still "drain" vibration induced distortion from the components placed on top. It is not an "isolating" platform, arguably nothing really isolates, it just dissipates vibrational energy.

 

[Blue58]

A couple of days in and I could hear a slight recessed quality from upper mids on up so put my thinking cap on and removed the coconut wood shim that I needed to raise the Aqua off it’s feet. Old age strikes again and I’d forgotten I had the Aurios extra tungsten ball set somewhere in a box. So, I used just the metal ball cup on top of the Aurios which was just enough to raise the Aqua feet off the Daiza. Adding the Tungsten balls would have been too much. Result? recessed frequencies returned in natural balance and as an added bonus a reduction in the occasional hardness from singers like Cecile McLorin Savant.

It just proves that there does need to be a solid connection between component and platform to enable them to work optimally.

And for those wondering, I just placed an order for 3 more to complete my set. They’re that good.

 

[CKKeung]

A couple of days in and I could hear a slight recessed quality from upper mids on up so put my thinking cap on and removed the coconut wood shim that I needed to raise the Aqua off it’s feet. Old age strikes again and I’d forgotten I had the Aurios extra tungsten ball set somewhere in a box. So, I used just the metal ball cup on top of the Aurios which was just enough to raise the Aqua feet off the Daiza. Adding the Tungsten balls would have been too much. Result? recessed frequencies returned in natural balance and as an added bonus a reduction in the occasional hardness from singers like Cecile McLorin Savant.

It just proves that there does need to be a solid connection between component and platform to enable them to work optimally.

And for those wondering, I just placed an order for 3 more to complete my set. They’re that good.

I guess the two models of Couplers of Symposium Audio may serve the same purpose well too?
www.symposiumusa.com/psupercouplers.html
www.symposiumusa.com/pcouplers.html

 

[spiritofmusic]

CK, other than my tt, all my gear is on a 3-tier Symposium rack and 3 ampstands, utilising Rollerblocks to isolate each shelf, and under components.

I think Emile confirmed Daizas could be installed in conjunction w all this, and hard coupling gear to Daizas via Rollerblocks.

Having got to know Blue58's sound in great detail over 5 years, it'll be fascinating to pick up on his Daizas-inspired impvts, and could encourage me to Daiza-out my system in time.

 

[bazelio]

Hard coupling via Roller Blocks doesn't seem quite right as those do have damping properties. The idea seems to be pure coupling so @CKKeung had the right idea, I would think. "SuperCouplers should be used like any footer device, to make a bridge between the bare chassis of the component and its mechanical ground, i.e. the shelf, platform, etc."

Also another simple and effective coupling solution would be DH Cones.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Ideally you'd have a solid mechanical connection to the Daiza, with a small surface area contacting both appliance and shelf. As non fixed surfaces create micro oscillations between them when exited. These micro oscillations harm sound quality.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Oh well. Maybe if I ever transfer my Symposium to AV duties, I'll consider Blue's idea of fixed inert Rogoz rack w Daiza platforms and solid couplers.

 

[tima]

Taiko - Two question if I may:

As non fixed surfaces create micro oscillations between them when exited. These micro oscillations harm sound quality.

I'm guessing by 'non fixed surfaces' you mean couplers such a Rollerballs or Stillpoints, where vibration transferred from a component causes internal micro oscillations that yield friction within the coupler, converting the mechanical oscillation into heat which dissipates. How do these micro vibrations harm sound quality?

I speculate the choice of coupler has a modestly significant influence on the resonance frequency of the component and that use of different coupler materials 'tune' the sonic effect of the Daiza.

What happens if you use Panzerholz footers (blocks?) to couple a component to the Daiza platform? TIA

 

[Taiko Audio]

Taiko - Two question if I may:


I'm guessing by 'non fixed surfaces' you mean couplers such a Rollerballs or Stillpoints, where vibration transferred from a component causes internal micro oscillations that yield friction within the coupler, converting the mechanical oscillation into heat which dissipates. How do these micro vibrations harm sound quality?

I speculate the choice of coupler has a modestly significant influence on the resonance frequency of the component and that use of different coupler materials 'tune' the sonic effect of the Daiza.

What happens if you use Panzerholz footers (blocks?) to couple a component to the Daiza platform? TIA

Thank you for asking as that may indeed be unclear. I was not referring to rollerballs, those would have a very minimal contact surface area, about as small as it gets. I was referring to a footer with a flat surface touching either component or shelf. A traditional simple spike for example would have a small and large area of contact. The large area would have significant micro oscillations going on between its surface and the surface its coupled to. This would be much worse if it was not bolted to the chassis (which is what my "non fixed" reference was meant to address). So you will often see aftermarket footers with a surface area covered by a layer of felt or rubber to avoid this from happening. This in itself is a sub optimal solution as it will interfere with energy transportation.

Panzerholz footers would be the arguably perfect interface, but it's not easy to get right. We have 20mm high interface footers available, they are simply the same footers we use underneath the Daiza but without the copper discs. Unfortunately most appliances require something higher then 20mm. We are working on 30mm high footers, but the iterations we have right now all perform less well then the 20mm footers which is not a concession we are willing to make. This just takes tremendous amounts of time, the current 20mm footers went through hundreds of iterations and took months to get "just right". We also have to test these in a multitude of systems, have multiple people evaluate them, so I have no eta on higher then 20mm footers right now.