Years ago, I lived nearby an audio reviewer. He had an outstanding reference system. The sound stage was so huge - wide & deep - that you could get out of the listening chair and walk a few feet into the 3D space. It was quite amazing. It took years for him to figure out how to make that happen. Various forms of isolation devices - coupling & decoupling - were utilized, depending on the component. Of course, he had high quality electronics and cabling in his rig - along with a good room - and clean power.
His goal was to review tweaks that were affordable to shallow-pocketed music lovers. Not only did he try the gadgets as the manufacturer recommended, but he also tried them upside down - or in combination with other gadgets. He was extremely creative in exploring how to maximize any benefits of whatever gizmo he was reviewing. It definitely wasn’t a ’set & forget’ approach. And there was never a ’silver bullet’ that was a miracle cure. Some tweaks showed a significant improvement, some not at all.
Frequently, he invited me over when new gadgets arrived. One day, we removed every single tweak from his system and listened. The sound stage collapsed to 2-D. The music was okay - but, the nuanced magic was gone. Over several hours, we listened as we re-installed each tweak - one by one. After being completely rebuilt, the magic was back. The vocals had emotion and sound stage was huge.
After that learning experience, I’ve take the time to experiment with different footers and devices. As with any endeavor that strives for high performance, usually it’s an accumulation of lots of little stuff to maximize the results. When I used to crew on high performance ocean-racing sailboats, that certainly was the case.
