jsaliga
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2007
- Posts
- 2,256
- Likes
- 13
I'm probably not going to say anything that any number of people haven't already said, but I want to share my experience nonetheless. To all who have blazed a trail back to vinyl after decades away from it...thanks for inspiring me to follow your lead.
I've been listening to CDs for some 25 years or more. I made the switch mainly because I joined the US Navy in 1978 and hauling a big home audio rig and tons of records around was not practical. Moreover, as a junior enlisted you live in an open barracks or BEQ with others. Tonight was the first time I spun a vinyl record since 1980, when I returned home on leave from the Navy and sold off my record collection and audio gear.
I became interested in vinyl again mostly due to other Head-Fi members describing their very positive experiences and my own occasional disatisfaction with CD audio. My CD source is a modded Denon DVD 3910. Overall I find it quite satisfying with good quality redbook audio and it's very good with DVD-A and SACD. I thought long and hard about buying a Meridian G08 or other audiophile grade CD player. I've been making big investments elsewhere in my setup in recent months: a new Woo Audio 2 headphone/preamp a few months ago and a pair of 300B monoblocks are being built as I write this, also from Woo Audio. But ultimately I decided to investigate vinyl rather than spend a wad of cash on an expensive CD player. I did not believe that even a Meridian G08 could truely improve most of my poor sounding CDs.
I spent weeks reading up on what others were doing here on Head-Fi and also on Vinyl Asylum. Originally I had planned on buying a brand new Rega P5, a Ortofon Rondo Red MC cartridge, and a Pro-ject Tube Box II from Needledoctor. My budget for the entire setup was $2,000, and their quote came in at a shade under that price. Shortly after I received the quote from Needledoctor I started thinking about what sort of used rig I could get for the same money. I also considered buying equivalent quality and spending less by buying used. So I started scouring Audiogon and eBay for used turntables. On Audiogon I found a used Rega P7 with PSU and a Benz Micro Glider H2 MC cartridge with 80 hours of use on it. I made contact with the seller, who had a very strong feedback record. He supplied his telephone number and I gave him a call. We chatted for about 30 minutes and concluded the deal on the phone. Since there was no phono preamp in this deal I had go shop for one. I was considering a Dynavector P75 but could not find a used one and I was reticent about spending several hundred dollars since it would have put me over budget. So I opted for a Cambridge Audio Azur 640P MC/MM phono preamp. It was less than $200 delivered and allowed me to complete my vinyl rig and leave a few hunderd dollars left over to buy more records with.
I got everything set up last night. The placement is not ideal: right now I am still using an older Lovan stand that is not especially rigid. I have a new stand on the way but it won't arrive for another week or two. I wish I could do a wall mounted shelf but the room arrangement really will not accomodate it.
Here are some pics of the turntable:
The platter is ceramic, is very heavy, and driven by a pair of belts. I leveled the turntable and checked the cartridge alignment, which was perfect. I then zeroed out the tracking force and bias adjustments, installed the counterweight on the tonearm, and rebalanced it. Finally, I set the tracking force and bias.
Moments later I put on my brand new 180g copy of Somethin' Else, by Cannonball Adderley. I plugged in my Sennheiser HD650s, cued the tonearm to the record and.......that was it, I have just found heaven. Honestly, within a few moments I could already tell I was experiencing something special. I have the Rudy Van Gelder remaster of this title on CD, which I thought was a nice improvement over the original CD issue of this recording. The 180g vinyl record had a tonality, a sense of depth, of richness that is completely absent on the RVG remaster CD. The vinyl was spacious, with an enveloping soundstage that made me feel as though Adderley was blowing his sax right there in my room. I simply was not expecting the contrast between the vinyl and CD to be so striking. The CD sounded tinny, restrained, even muted in the mids. I was comepletely unprepared for and stunned by this experience.
Then I grabbed my copy of Slint's Spiderland, some Gastr Del Sol, and Jim O'Rourke. The differences between the the CD and vinyl versions of Spiderland were not as pronounced. But again the Gastr Del Sol album Crookt, Crackt, or Fly was a revelation, as was Jim O'Rourke's Bad Timing. I was really having a blast.
As has been pointed out by many others, one potential issue with vinyl is surface noise. But I feel it is a non issue for the most part. I'm just getting started (but have bought a lot of records) and the amount of surface noise will vary. On the Slint album there was more than I would have preferred but my Cannonball Adderley, Gastr Del Sol, and Jim O'Rourke records were nearly dead quiet. Not as noise-fee as a CD, but given the rich soundscape my vinyl rig is delivering I don't see it as a problem. The only time I really hear it is when queing a record or at the end of an album. I suspect that a good cleaning with a Nitty Gritty machine will clear up much of the surface noise on my Spiderland album.
I won't go so far as to say that I have bought my last CD and am exclusive to vinyl. But so far I am inclined to make vinyl my preferred audio format of choice. I need to go and buy a record cleaning machine (probably a Nitty Gritty), and will very likely spring for a Ginko Cloud 10 isolation platform.
There are a number of Head-Fi members I want to expressly thank. I owe a debt to Mulveling for his inspiring posts and the wonderful pics of his gorgeous Sota Star Sapphire turntable. Reading about his experiences is what motivated me to start seriously investigating vinyl. I also want to thank Memepool for all of the helpful, sage advice. He is a veritable fountain of knowledge on analog gear. It was his suggestion about how to carve up your budget that led me to buy used instead of new. This decision allowed me to get the Rega P7 and a very high quality MC cart for not too much more than I would have paid for a new Rega P5 without a cartridge. I also need to thank the countless Head-Fi members who were kind enough to share their wisdom and experiences. It has made my return to vinyl extremely rewarding and worthwhile.
Time to go spin some records...
--Jerome
I've been listening to CDs for some 25 years or more. I made the switch mainly because I joined the US Navy in 1978 and hauling a big home audio rig and tons of records around was not practical. Moreover, as a junior enlisted you live in an open barracks or BEQ with others. Tonight was the first time I spun a vinyl record since 1980, when I returned home on leave from the Navy and sold off my record collection and audio gear.
I became interested in vinyl again mostly due to other Head-Fi members describing their very positive experiences and my own occasional disatisfaction with CD audio. My CD source is a modded Denon DVD 3910. Overall I find it quite satisfying with good quality redbook audio and it's very good with DVD-A and SACD. I thought long and hard about buying a Meridian G08 or other audiophile grade CD player. I've been making big investments elsewhere in my setup in recent months: a new Woo Audio 2 headphone/preamp a few months ago and a pair of 300B monoblocks are being built as I write this, also from Woo Audio. But ultimately I decided to investigate vinyl rather than spend a wad of cash on an expensive CD player. I did not believe that even a Meridian G08 could truely improve most of my poor sounding CDs.
I spent weeks reading up on what others were doing here on Head-Fi and also on Vinyl Asylum. Originally I had planned on buying a brand new Rega P5, a Ortofon Rondo Red MC cartridge, and a Pro-ject Tube Box II from Needledoctor. My budget for the entire setup was $2,000, and their quote came in at a shade under that price. Shortly after I received the quote from Needledoctor I started thinking about what sort of used rig I could get for the same money. I also considered buying equivalent quality and spending less by buying used. So I started scouring Audiogon and eBay for used turntables. On Audiogon I found a used Rega P7 with PSU and a Benz Micro Glider H2 MC cartridge with 80 hours of use on it. I made contact with the seller, who had a very strong feedback record. He supplied his telephone number and I gave him a call. We chatted for about 30 minutes and concluded the deal on the phone. Since there was no phono preamp in this deal I had go shop for one. I was considering a Dynavector P75 but could not find a used one and I was reticent about spending several hundred dollars since it would have put me over budget. So I opted for a Cambridge Audio Azur 640P MC/MM phono preamp. It was less than $200 delivered and allowed me to complete my vinyl rig and leave a few hunderd dollars left over to buy more records with.
I got everything set up last night. The placement is not ideal: right now I am still using an older Lovan stand that is not especially rigid. I have a new stand on the way but it won't arrive for another week or two. I wish I could do a wall mounted shelf but the room arrangement really will not accomodate it.
Here are some pics of the turntable:
The platter is ceramic, is very heavy, and driven by a pair of belts. I leveled the turntable and checked the cartridge alignment, which was perfect. I then zeroed out the tracking force and bias adjustments, installed the counterweight on the tonearm, and rebalanced it. Finally, I set the tracking force and bias.
Moments later I put on my brand new 180g copy of Somethin' Else, by Cannonball Adderley. I plugged in my Sennheiser HD650s, cued the tonearm to the record and.......that was it, I have just found heaven. Honestly, within a few moments I could already tell I was experiencing something special. I have the Rudy Van Gelder remaster of this title on CD, which I thought was a nice improvement over the original CD issue of this recording. The 180g vinyl record had a tonality, a sense of depth, of richness that is completely absent on the RVG remaster CD. The vinyl was spacious, with an enveloping soundstage that made me feel as though Adderley was blowing his sax right there in my room. I simply was not expecting the contrast between the vinyl and CD to be so striking. The CD sounded tinny, restrained, even muted in the mids. I was comepletely unprepared for and stunned by this experience.
Then I grabbed my copy of Slint's Spiderland, some Gastr Del Sol, and Jim O'Rourke. The differences between the the CD and vinyl versions of Spiderland were not as pronounced. But again the Gastr Del Sol album Crookt, Crackt, or Fly was a revelation, as was Jim O'Rourke's Bad Timing. I was really having a blast.
As has been pointed out by many others, one potential issue with vinyl is surface noise. But I feel it is a non issue for the most part. I'm just getting started (but have bought a lot of records) and the amount of surface noise will vary. On the Slint album there was more than I would have preferred but my Cannonball Adderley, Gastr Del Sol, and Jim O'Rourke records were nearly dead quiet. Not as noise-fee as a CD, but given the rich soundscape my vinyl rig is delivering I don't see it as a problem. The only time I really hear it is when queing a record or at the end of an album. I suspect that a good cleaning with a Nitty Gritty machine will clear up much of the surface noise on my Spiderland album.
I won't go so far as to say that I have bought my last CD and am exclusive to vinyl. But so far I am inclined to make vinyl my preferred audio format of choice. I need to go and buy a record cleaning machine (probably a Nitty Gritty), and will very likely spring for a Ginko Cloud 10 isolation platform.
There are a number of Head-Fi members I want to expressly thank. I owe a debt to Mulveling for his inspiring posts and the wonderful pics of his gorgeous Sota Star Sapphire turntable. Reading about his experiences is what motivated me to start seriously investigating vinyl. I also want to thank Memepool for all of the helpful, sage advice. He is a veritable fountain of knowledge on analog gear. It was his suggestion about how to carve up your budget that led me to buy used instead of new. This decision allowed me to get the Rega P7 and a very high quality MC cart for not too much more than I would have paid for a new Rega P5 without a cartridge. I also need to thank the countless Head-Fi members who were kind enough to share their wisdom and experiences. It has made my return to vinyl extremely rewarding and worthwhile.
Time to go spin some records...
--Jerome
