This is my first encounter with a Daedalus Audio product. Daedalus is the father of Icarus in Greek mythology and a skillful craftsman and artist. The story of the wings fashioned by him to enable the escape of both Icarus and himself is most well-known - in particular, the tragic end of Icarus who did not heed his father's advice not to fly too high lest the wax holding the feathers together melt.
Coming back to the present time, Daedalus Audio is most well-known for it's hand-crafted speakers, featuring hand-crafted cabinets and high efficiency designs without the use of horns.
The DiD (Daedalus isolation Devices) are footers that use dissimilar materials to dissipate resonance coupled with bearings to isolate the component from vibration. The DiD is made from highly polished Aluminium, solid Cherry and Brass with steel bearings.
Additional felts pads are supplied to further tune the sound. A smaller pad fits in between the bearings and the wood top, while a larger pad can be used under the base of the DiD. I did not use either of the supplied pads since I needed the return the DiD after evaluation.
The DiD is very nicely made and all parts fitted together with very close tolerances. This is certainly made with pride and it shows !
Sonics wise, the DiD falls somewhere in between a bearing type footer (e.g. the models from Finite Elemente and Stillpoints) and wooden cones, combining precision with warmth and smoothness. It cleaned up the soundstage, improving placement and separation of instruments. It also added a very natural decay to notes. The warmth and smoothness imparted is quite subtle and you never get the feeling that information is being obscured or smoothed over. If you like your music sweet, overtly warm and with a lot of bloom, the DiD will not satisfy. Neither will it tick the boxes if you like your music with a razor sharp edge and pacing with military precision. Instead, the DiD strikes a careful balance between both. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it ? This is an easy one - Highly Recommended.
LessLoss Bindbreaker
Here is an accessory that sounds more like a magic spell. LessLoss should be a familiar name to many of you, with their reputation made on their power cables and conditioners.
The Bindbreaker is made out of three parts. The small wood hexagon on top is connected to the large midsection via a hard metal bolt, and has a small amount of free play built in. The idea is to transmit vibrations rapidly to the steel plate underneath, and the matrix of attached bolts. The bolts in turn transmit the vibrations to the bottom wood hexagon which damp the vibrations.
I noticed that in practical use, not all the steel bolt heads would make contact with the bottom wood hexagon. I would guess that the wood would flex slightly under heavy weight, but certainly not under my rather lightweight Totaldac DAC.
Sonically, the Bindbreaker is cooler in tone compared to the DiD. It cleans up the soundstage and improves imaging, but it has a more analytical presentation with drier albeit tighter bass lines. While the Bindbreaker never sounded sharp or sterile, it had less bloom, with tightly focussed images. The sense of air and decay was also less.
While I preferred the DiD in my setup, the Bindbreaker turned in decent performance and is worthy of further investigation - it really is a matter of taste.
Both the DiD and Bindbreaker can be purchased from Horizon Acoustics. Thanks to KM Poon of Horizon Acoustics for his review samples !
Daedalus Audio DiD
Price : USD 160 each
Lessloss Bindbreaker Footers
Price : USD 160 eachHorizon Acoustics
144 Upper Bukit Timah Road
#03-15 Beauty World Centre
Singapore 588177
Singapore 588177
Telephone : 91259149
Website : http://www.horizonacoustics.com