[]eep]

Just a small update. I mounted the $10 AT3600 and put the signal through the Douk Audio T13 mini. That means another cable to the phono, the standard 5pin cable for the Acoustic Signature arm.. The hum was totally gone. I ran the T13 from a USB powerbank. A €10 cart on a €73 phono. It sounded really good. Really really good. Very even and balanced. Real synergy. Not super detailed or spacious but in essence what music should sound like.

I gave it as a present today to the friend I made a super cheap setup for. She had a bad traffic accident (drunk on the road, head-on collision) and will be affected for life. So I thought this better than a fruit basket. She's was very happy with it.

I just like, when I assemble a set, it to sound really good. I don't like to do a half job. I repaired the my speakers (my, as in; designed and made by me) that for damages in a hasty move. It's always nice if friends help you move, but they're not always as careful as they should be. I think it's nice to help young people to get up to speed. We compared her speakers to my speakers (siblings as it were) and she is really pleased with them. She also commented on my 'loaners' (also modified by me). It fun to hear 'noobs' who claim to know or hear nothing characterize it exactly right.

Next up fix a loaner TT and an old subwoofer. I also got a $7 dac so now they can play tv over the Douk T13 mini phono (the extra aux) to the speakers. It's just fun to get such cheap gear and with the right knowledge to get it to sound really good. Very satisfying.

 

[]eep]

Just in I mounted the 0.8mV Zhige cartridge. I had to dismount 2 cartridges and rearrange things so I could put this on the cheap Douk Audio T13 plus (and the mono Miyajima on the 12" arm). I put the T13 plus on MC and 200 Ω. And whaddayaknow...It reached normal level without turning up my amp. And it sounds like a promise. I'm just playing 5m and I miss bass. But it's quiet and it sounds good. Not like my other arm. This is low budget, real low budget. And it works. It sounds smoother that the other Douk with the AT3600. And airier. It needs more playtime to accurately judge this combination but for just under €300 for phono+MC... Not bad. Not bad at all..

 

[Headonist]

A chinese MC cartridge on an italian deck, but it sounds superb

 

[]eep]

Not surprising. That's an expensive cartridge from a 'German brand'. It's the same as Ecxsoni OEMs. They don't disclose their OEM but for the most they are honest about them.
Sapphire cantilever. Yum.

 

[]eep]

I just received the latest cartridge (probably not the last ) together with a luxury headshell. It's the nude ebony (better not google that term) low output version (0.4V) super elliptical. I thought it would be mounted, but no. Two seperate boxes, which is fine with me.

This cartridge plus headhell was €240. The headshell has adjustable azimuth and silver plated wires. Very sturdy and a far cry from the cheap Technics clones and others that twist under stress. On its own it's €55.
That makes this a very affordable cartridge. And it looks very well made.

What makes it easy for mounting: if I take another head and measure the distance from stylus to collar and make sure it's the same with any cartridge I mount (so the overhang is all the same) then all I need to do is put it on straight. Then it's exactly on Nearesld or Lofgren, whatever you prefer. And how easy to check this cantilever sticking out.

And away we go.
First record was one that I got from a friend who cleared his attic. U2's Joshua Tree. I played it first on the Douk T13 plus. And it already sounded very good. A bit grainy on the voice but nice presence. It even had good bass. And space. In a quick cable swap I changed it over to the Gold Note PH10 (still on the cheap arm) and it sounded really good. Already after 30m of total use. Its just a great cartridge. Groove noise was very low, thanks to the super elliptical. That means this deserves a better arm and phono than budget level. Forget headshells, get a straight arm with fixed headshell and decent wiring (try Cardas or Origin Live continuous loom).

 

[]eep]

I fot my latest vinyl order in. I didn't realise iMusic was in Denmark. They had many records that I couldn't find on Amazon and elsewhere. And after they collected the whole order (took 2 weeks) they sent the whole stack. Very well packed postage free. Worked exemplary. I vastly prefer this over Amazon where they sent every package seperate either in a bag or double boxed in a huge box. And everytime you have to stay home for the delivery.

These were all hard to find. Highly recommended. And six more, Moloko, Air , Shpongle, Interstellar OST, Fatboy Slim and Leftfield.
Lots of special editions. Which is fine if <2000 per batch.

 

[Charli]

Bonjour à tous, voici ce que j'ai reçu aujourd'hui, une nouvelle cellule Zhige rouge avec bobine argentée et impédance de sortie 4 ohms 0,35 mv et séparation stéréo à 32 dB. Je l'ai placé sur mon Reloop turn 5 réglé à 1,8gr. Impression très large de la scène avec mon préampli phono Line Magnetic LP 33. Beaucoup de détails sur les micro informations comme la sonnerie des cymbales du tambour, les cloches, le carillon. Le stylet est en céramique avec un diamant super elliptique nu. Cette cartouche sonne vraiment fantastique après seulement 1 heure et continue de s'améliorer.

 

[]eep]

I have the same one and its really remarkable! Only the packaging is really strange. Normally they use the bolts to fix it in the box.

I had a good day today. I installed a new Douk phonostage and a cheap Neoteck DAC for a friend (the one you can see above) and everything worked fine. A big upgrade. A really simple €7 dac but still a decent AKM to the extra aux input on the Douk T4 phono. I had to install it because I made a custom bamboo shelf for the turntable with the amp + PS+ phono built in.
The turntable sounds a lot better now and watching Netflix is now on another level. Just that one extra input makes all the difference

 

[Charli]

Il y a comme une tige qu'il faut retirer avec un outil d'horloger pour bracelets de montre qui se situe en haut à l'avant de la cartouche, puis avec un tout petit tournevis cruciforme, dévisser la petite vis cruciforme qui se situe vers l'arrière des contacts électriques . Puis la coque en ébène se décolle.

J'ai le même et c'est vraiment remarquable ! Seul l'emballage est vraiment étrange. Normalement, ils utilisent les boulons pour le fixer dans la boîte.

J'ai passé une bonne journée aujourd'hui. J'ai installé un nouveau phonostage Douk et un DAC Neoteck pas cher pour un ami (celui que vous pouvez voir ci-dessus) et tout a bien fonctionné. Une grosse mise à niveau. Un dac très simple à 7 € mais toujours un AKM décent pour l'entrée auxiliaire supplémentaire du phono Douk T4. J'ai dû l'installer car j'ai réalisé une étagère en bambou sur mesure pour la platine vinyle avec l'ampli + PS+ phono intégré.
Le son du tourne-disque est bien meilleur maintenant et regarder Netflix est désormais à un autre niveau. Une seule entrée supplémentaire fait toute la différence

Le mien est également venu avec les boulons fixés, c'est moi qui l'ai démonté, j'ai pris la photo après. Pour l'instant je n'ai que 1h30 d'utilisation.

 

[]eep]

Ah. D'accord. C'est pas moi, c'est toi.

I played some of the new LP's I recently bought. It wasn't easy to find Dominique Fils Aimee's (n'est ce 'fille Aimee'?) 'stay tuned' but I think it's her masterpiece so far. Although I haven't heard her latest yet (the green cover). Really great ambiance and that Acoustic bass goes deep. A wonderful recording. But I'm not really convinced about the mastering. But I just had to have it if only for the cover photo. That is just stunning. As is the music, but I also have it on high res PCM (that sounds better?). Indeed; stay tuned.

 

[UntilThen]

I'm vinyling it again.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

I'm vinyling it again.

And with a great album too.
Nice.

 

[]eep]

Sorry guys. I've been absent for a while. I got distracted by getting a better dac. The new Laiv Harmony brings it a lot closer to vinyl. But still a long way from the cutting edge. Or this edge. Uhm. Different album.

I picked up 2 boxes of los just now. And now I can't keep my hands steady from exertion. Had to walk from the pickup, and started to talk to a nice lady. A neighbour who also likes vinyl. And this one.

Of course I already had this one for a long time. One ofy favorites. And I'm not in the habit of buying the same thing over and over again in different pressings. But after listening to my original (bought 2ndH) I didn't think it sounded all that great. I saw a comparison by 'The pressing Matters ' (nice channel from the tropics/Florida). Then I saw his favorite, the transparent Syeor pressing. Not the Atlantic 75 (to expensive for my conscience).

And must say, this one does sound good! Not absolutely quiet (some whoops on start side 2 and some faint crackles ie 2 times). The album cover and everything is completely the same as the original except for the mention of Warner Music Group. Nice matt fold open cover, black lined inner, half size booklet.
And it's a normal price!

It's like delicious sushi: so simple but perfect.

PS: as you can see I also bought an antistatic sweep brush. Cheap and somewhat effective. It's just the arm is to short (6"?) so it needs a lot of anti skating force, for which there's no solution for pulling it sideways so it follows the groove. Unless... you put it on a sloped underground (it's not an FBI counter sniper ). I had to fidgle with that to come up with a solution. It would just swoosh to the center in no time.
Maybe I can make a longer arm with a bicycle spoke.

 

[]eep]

I finally bought the cartridge I really wanted.

I have not mounted it yet. So nothing to report yet other than I that I only payed €860 in total (summer discount+coins and VAT was minimal). For a shibata mounted on a sapphire cantilever. The coils are 6N OCC and not silver. Maybe that would get to treble oriented.

Also, on the other end of the scale I wanted to try a promising cheap phono preamp; the Aiyima T3 Pro. Only €75 with the summer discount.

I wanted a small one that doesn't hog any space in my rack for the third arm. I put it on the side. Why this one? It is fully adjustable for MC with continuous variable (not just 3 steps!) gain. Because I put so much research and work in my Jolida JD9 I know what that means. And... It has 4 socketed dual opamps. That should give it plenty of headroom without strain. And there is (limited) room for upgrades.

The first pair of opamps have variable gain to exactly match your cartridge ranging from 0-39dB on top of the second pair that does the main amplification plus the RIAA. So more than enough. The volume on the right is for direct connection to my Fosi ZA3's poweramps. So one is the gas, the other the brakes as it were. I leave the volume fully open so the opamps don't have to work as hard and sound better.

To my pleasant surprise, I had 4 discrete SX52B opamps from AliExpress that didn't work in the Fosi amps I intended them for, and they worked excellent! They look and sound like the Sparkos only at 1/6 the price, 4x€15=€60. That means €135 in total. And it totally changed my mind about MC on a budget. Yes, it's a total gamechanger. It is really good. My Jolida, even modified, didn't sound as good on MC. I dare say it's hard to get a phonostage under 1k that sounds better on MC. Pair that with the cartridge above I showed in April and you have a fully viable MC solution for €350!

Sound is balanced with plenty of bass, detail and even some air. Soundstage is good. Voices are really good. It does have a little bit of grain compared to my main system.

One caveat: inside there's those hex distancers to hold the case together. One is in the way so I had to leave it out. The case closes well enough with 3 screws. So space is limited. I don't think Burson opamps will fit.

 

[]eep]

I just installed it in 20 minutes. It was a bit fiddly because the holes (Linn 3 hole) stand off a bit so I couldn't use my bluetack trick. Make a 1mm ball and use that to fill the room between both surfaces. No resonances and the cartridge is already fixed while mounting.
I mounted it on my FFYX 982 12" arm with copper wires. To silver Audio innovations T1000 transformer to Gold Note PH10 MM on 22kΩ.

First was a cheap Dole Getz Gilberto (from digital). In case the stylus is crooked I won't damaged a good record. It had a level of transparency I hadn't heard before from this record.
Now playing Air - Talkie Walkie.
It sounds really transparent, just like it looks, without getting bright. Great tone. Very spacious. Very clean. And it isn't even run in.

I'm very, very pleased with this cartridge.