Node Audio SS-1 isolation feet
Those of you who have followed my hi-fi scribblings for a few years (and I thank you for that) may recall that I have previously given very enthusiastic reception to Node Audio products. In 2023 The Ear published my thoughts on the extraordinary Hylixa loudspeakers and elsewhere I have given my thoughts on the SS-1 isolation system, as used under various pieces of my equipment. The latter followed a visit to Node Audio’s very hi-tech headquarters on a beautiful site just outside Cambridge last summer.
During that most interesting excursion, one of Node Audio’s directors gave me a most persuasive demonstration of what the SS-1 system could do to enhance the already very expensive system in their demonstration room. We listened to the Helix loudspeakers first without and then with SS-1s with optional tulip-shaped cable risers attached. The chosen demo track was the beautiful voice of Cara Dillon, the Irish singer/songwriter. After the second play through, with the SS-1s in place, my wife (we made a weekend away of it) looked at me with genuine surprise and said how could those little things have made such a difference? What had been an enjoyable listening experience had become a spell-binding one.
Keen to try the SS-1s in my own slightly more modest system I was very pleased to receive two three piece sets of the Node supports a few week later. I tried them under several of my boxes of electronics and in every case the sound improved. My Gold Note PH10 and its matching PSU are half width units and after much experimentation I found that the best approach was to use just two units under each box, one under the rear panel and one further forward. With that done, I heard marked improvement in music replayed through my LP12 and the Vertere Dark Sabre moving magnet cartridge fixed to the headshell of my venerable Ittok tonearm. Notes seemed to start and stop with more precision and there was better differentiation between instruments. We are not talking night and day difference but it was very easily to hear.
Fast forward to earlier in this lovely summer when Node contacted me again and asked if I would like to borrow another pair of SS-1s so that I could try them under my loudspeaker stands.
SS-1s under loudspeakers
I use a pair of Harbeth Compact 7ES-3XD2 standmount loudspeakers. They sit on a pair of Hi-Fi Racks Fortis open stands. I usually use a well-regarded American vibration reduction device on top of the four uprights on the Fortis and then place the Compact 7s on top of those. After much experimentation I liked what those stainless steel cylinders brought to my listening experience.
The good people at Node asked me to carefully set up four SS-1s per stand, and to make sure that the stands’ spikes were located in the centre of the metal receptors on top of the units, and that those receptors were centred in the SS-1 base units. Before I did that I played a few favourite albums with no isolation in place at all. The music sounded fine but had definitely lost some definition, some attack. It was perfectly listenable but slightly less engaging.
That done, I started the meticulous set-up process with the SS-1s. Once I was satisfied that toe-in was correct on both sides and that the stands were equidistant from the rear wall, I gently lowered the loudspeakers into place. The speaker cable was Tellurium Q’s excellent Ultra Silver II attached to my Primaluna EVO300 Hybrid amplifier, the analogue front end was as described previously and the digital duties fell to a Yamaha CD-S3000, which acts as both a CD player and a DAC. Streaming duties were fulfilled by my Auralic Aries Mini.
Once satisfied that the system was as well set up as I can manage, I cued up my first album, Dave Alvin’s Eleven Eleven. Oh my goodness. From the first haunting notes of Harlan County Line I was absolutely hooked, Alvin’s baritone growl filled the room and I was completely immersed in his story telling. It felt like I was standing in front of a small stage in some smoky bar, with the band absolutely locked in behind the leader’s battered Stratocaster as he paints his word pictures. As the third and final track of that first album side faded and the run-off track clicks began I was startled out of the reverie into which I had lapsed. I was struggling to process the difference that the SS-1s had made to the sound. I walked over to the system rack and is my habit turned down the volume on the Prima Luna, and was taken aback by how far I had to twist the knob to return it to zero. I had unconsciously advanced it during playback to levels which I would have balked at previously.
During that first session I played all four sides of the Alvin album, and simply lost myself in his world. I noticed the other day that this out of print record is now for sale, used, for about £250 but I wouldn’t part with my copy for that or indeed any sum of money.
I happily played that system for a few weeks, and then decided to give my small Harbeth P3ESRs a turn, placed on their custom made Hi-Fi Racks stands. As with their larger siblings, I played some albums without any vibration reduction system. The P3s are delightfully musical little loudspeakers and sounded really great as I went through this initial listening session, with familiar albums; my editor described me to one supplier as having “gone down his Rolling Stones/Pink Floyd rabbit hole”. Guilty as charged. But I added some Handel, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Miles Davis and Shpongle to the mix on this occasion. After that, I went through the fiddly process of getting the speaker stand spikes properly positioned in the Node SS-1s, making sure once again that I had the right amount of toe in and that the speakers were equidistant from the rear wall.
Gently lowering the stylus onto side 2 of Meddle, it sounded as if the P3s had somehow grown bigger. As the epic track ebbed and flowed I was struck by the added realism of the stereo image, the sense of being present in the studio. Simply by using the SS-1s I had in effect had a major speaker upgrade. This may sound hyperbolic but I can only report what I heard and experienced. Later that evening we were watching an action film with the sound coming through the diminutive loudspeakers. Dialogue was crisp and easy to follow while the action scenes lacked little in impact and scale compared with the larger Compact 7s without the SS-1s.
Conclusion
Node Audio is understandably coy about what secret ingredients are hidden within the SS-1s 3D printed central section and to be honest, I do not need to know. What I can say that, in my room and in my system, the impact that they had on loudspeaker performance was extraordinary. Yes, this was around £1,800 of ancillary equipment added to my system, but given the level of increased pleasure I got from listening it represented good value, with the added bonus that if ever I do choose to change my loudspeakers, the SS-1s will work the same magic on whatever comes next. I for one am totally convinced by these small but heavy marvels. They worked well under my electronics but worked even better under my loudspeakers. If you can, audition them, but take your piggy bank because I doubt that you will want to go home empty handed.