Yes indeed!

ISO stands are pretty inefficient - as are the Auralex foam pads or "Recoil Stabilizers". In particular in the low frequencies. They do some very marginal work in the mids. ISO have a very high natural frequency with barely any deflection, so basically no decoupling characteristics, just basic damping. Pads and Recoil stabilizers are purely damping and have the disadvantage to allow too much speaker cabinet movement. So create a lot more issues than they solve.

Standards stands are plain okay as long as they don't resonate (metal ones in particular are no good in that area) are structurally sound (multiple legs) and some form of damping is added to them: leg cavities filled with rockwool.

Adding 5 to 6 balls of blu-tack in-between the speakers and stands has proven to be just as effective at damping the plate resonance as anything from ISO or any type of pad.

In all cases, biggest and often only differences measured with ISO, Recoil etc are because height of the speakers is modified by inserting the products in-between the speaker and the stand. Keeping the same sweet-spot height, Early Reflections on desks and nearby equipment are shifting in frequency which creates an audible difference in the midrange.

But it is a difference, not an improvement.

We're working on speaker stands that effectively decouple to a very low natural frequency - based on our in-wall and in-glass decoupling systems - but the issues we are running into are weight per unit (they're crazy heavy) and the dangerous kind of tensions we have in the dummy loading system with up to 50kg / 0.5kN / 110lbs per top springs (4 to 6 units) and... 150kg / 1.5kN / 330lbs for the dummy load spring + Sylomer (1 to 2 units).

Should one of these snap in someone's face while tuning the system, we're in trouble.

Currently working on solutions to make sure they are safe to use. But clearly, it's not going to be a lightweight system. A lightweight, low tension / low pressure system simply cannot work. So don't fall for it.

Low budget: go for Blu-tack and DIY damping!