The removal of the rubber ring is the thing that I credit with much of the performance increase of the Star Sound feet. If you want a rigid suspension for your turntable then I can't imagine how it would help. You don't want the table damped in the base, if you do want it dampened put in a real suspension system. Every time I have used rubber in an interface it has degraded the sound The brass washers I mentioned keep a tight lock between the feet and the table; the result is better bass and faster transients. I would not want to give up either but the SDS would go before the feet if I had to make a choice. The advantage of rigidity in the new VPIs is that speed increases over the old suspended ones, the rubber rings decrease that rigidity and lessen the speed. Of course this assumes a good platform for the table. To demo the VPIs I have one set up on the optional turntable shelf of a Star Sound rack and the other on a VPI TNT stand which is loaded with 25 Kg of Atabits [small steel shot] and had the standard feet replaced with SS brass ones. On top the table sits on a 3" maple platform with another set of brass cones between it and the platform. Both of these present a very rigid system in which vibrations are removed from the table quickly. The rubber simply slows this down. Suspended tables can work very well too, but it should be one or the other, not introducing a small element of one into the other. I have derived this approach empirically from an absurd amount of experimenting over the last year and a half.