[Derrick Swart]

I see you go for south of the Tejo wines (nothing wrong with that!), but let me plug the flinty Douro reds I keep going back to: Quinta dos Frades, Meandro do Vale Meão, Carm Reserva, Crasto Superior, Vallado Touriga Nacional, all below 25 Eur. (I'm really bad tracking my wine favorites, too busy enjoying and chatting with the dinner company to remember to write down specifics, so I had to go to the site of a favorite Lisbon wine store to jog my memory).

Carm, Vallado and especially Crasto are lovely indeed, in general Douro is always good, like very much the white Planalto.
You’re talking about this wine store?: https://www.garrafeiranacional.com
Great service and prices, they delivered our wedding wines.

 

[earnmyturns]

Carm, Vallado and especially Crasto are lovely indeed, in general Douro is always good, like very much the white Planalto.
You’re talking about this wine store?: https://www.garrafeiranacional.com
Great service and prices, they delivered our wedding wines.

Yes, you nailed it! I'm from Lisbon originally. When I have time in my family visits there, I've stopped by to get some recommendations to bring with me to the States, they package very well for shipping to. Fortunately, Crasto, sometimes Vallado, show up in a couple of wine stores near where I live in Northern California.

 

[FrivolsListener]

On a totally different tangent...

I tend to get on my soapbox about headphones, amps, and Schiit on another forum, and a friend there patiently reminds me that he's nearly deaf, so it doesn't matter to him. He got fitted with hearing-aids lately and is trying to cope with them. He put a chart of his hearing frequency response up on the book of Face and he's 80 dB down at 4 kHz and 90 dB down at 8.

He's now trying to get used to "tinny stuff," commented on how a toilet flush sounds like an A380 taking off.... I suggested that he listen to Henry Mancini's The Pink Panther. For the triangles.

 

[Paladin79]

Ok 1952 Vincent Black Lightning is very good too. There is an Americanized version I have been told about an Indian motorcycle but I doubt I will search for it. Thompson can play guitar! Thanks for mentioning him folks.I also heard a live version of A Tear Stained Letter, I knew that song a bit and Thompson was on a tribute album to Leonard Cohen, I could remember that a bit.

 

[TomSix]

Cool Video Review: Schiit Mani Phono Preamp paired with Nagaoka MP-110 Phono Cartridge

I was listening to some vinyl rips on YouTube tonight and stumbled-upon this nicely done little gear review video.

The upshot is: Both the Schiit Mani phono preamp and the Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge are individually in the affordable $130 USD price range, and evidently these rascals play quite well together.

I imagine this would be a review of particular interest to any 'Schiithead' contemplating getting into vinyl playback.

Personal Disclosure: I do not own the Schiit Mani, and I have yet to hear one in person. I do, however, have a good amount of personal experience with the Nagaoka MP-110 cart. Aside from owning and using Nagaoka carts, I have no present or past financial/ business connections etc to any of the gear shown in the video --oki-doki?

I can attest that the Nagaoka cart reviewed in the vid is just ridiculously good in general, never mind the bonus of it being so inexpensive. The reviewer makes a compelling case for the virtues of the Schiit Mani preamp as well.

At any rate... the combo certainly presents itself as being a hot prospect for netting a huge leap-forward from the generally less than fully inspiring performance of $100 USD or less phono carts and entry-level phono preamps.

I'm not sure if posting direct web links here in Head-Fi is kosher, or is a no-no? I'll play it cautious, and just post the name of the YouTube channel together with the name of the video so you can search it yourself if interested:

YouTube channel posting the video: BarakaPDub

Name of the video on YouTube: Gear Review: Schiit Mani Phono & Nagaoka MP-110 Cartridge


Cheers!

 

[TomSix]

Oops! accidental duplicate post ---a thousand pardons...

 

[Paladin79]

This thread seems to allow for all kinds of discussion but mentioning the Mani is certainly welcome I am sure. I may have to look into one myself. I use Ortofon and Grado cartridges but I am not into vinyl as much as I used to be but certainly respect those who choose that path. I like the portability of lossless audio so I move in that direction more right now. Through the years I have done reel to reel, vinyl, 4 track, 8 track,cd's and most all combinations of audio/video. (laser discs etc.) I have gone to great care to try to protect vinyl but it certainly requires patience and effort. I had just left RCA when they came out with a disk that used a cartridge for audio/video, they did this after laser pickups were already in operation. (Not a good move). Anyway with the price of digital storage and the portability, I am certainly loving new technology as well as old. Sometimes things are invented for convenience over quality, vhs over beta, mp3 compared to cd and the masses dictate which media is most used unfortunately. I no longer have time to read a book a day but luckily with new technology I can still get through 4 a week or so using various Amazon devices including Audible. Unfortunately bookstores are going the way of department stores, you either adapt or disappear. That being said, I love the resurgence of tubes and vinyl and there are still folks out there who have to have a paper book, they just need some room to store them.

I did search my music collection and discovered I have several albums by Fairport Convention after all but they were buried in a mass of albums I have on a two terabyte hard drive. It was particularly nice to find the song Who Knows Where the Time Goes by Sandy Denny, people such as Judy Collins performed it in the states.

Who Knows Where the Time Goes
Fairport Convention
Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving
But how can they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?
Sad, deserted shore, your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know it's time for them to go
But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?
And I am not alone…

 

[Mike Foley]

I use a Mani and find it to be an excellent sounding budget phono stage, if used with a decent MM cartridge. With both an Ortofon 520II and an Audio Technica AT95EX it gives an open sound with a decent amount of bass. I took it to a friends and it was not too happy with his Audio Technica MC cartridge, although that’s not really a problem, as an inexpensive device like Mani is unlikely to be partnered with a £500.00cartridge.

 

[TomSix]

We are fortunate that in 2018 there so many good-sounding moving-magnet, moving-iron and high-output moving-coil phono cartridges available to choose from in the $100 to $300 USD price range.

I find the phono preamplifier, not the cartridge, is often the weakest link in a budget vinyl playback system. Personally, I design and build my own tube phono preamps, but that's hardly a viable option for most enthusiasts. So... I think it's exciting when competent phono gear emerges at an affordable price --thus my interest in the Mani.

I sense that the headphone enthusiast sphere and the vinyl enthusiast sphere are gradually moving towards greater overlap.

FYI: I'm not an analog chauvinist, however. I listen just as often to digital formats. I have no problem at all with well-recorded and mastered digital music. In fact, I'd choose a decently recorded/mastered CD over a mediocre quality vinyl disc any day.

Plenty of room in the music world for both analog and digital recording/playback. I'll continue to use and enjoy both

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

I sense that the headphone enthusiast sphere and the vinyl enthusiast sphere are gradually moving towards greater overlap.

Uh... can you explain this?
I think you're right about all formats and media having a place.
I am a digital guy only, more into 2 channel than head phones.
The files I keep are all flac, no doubles and no other than one small jpg-file album cover for each album.
Due to OCD everything is meticulously ordered, I know exactly what I have and where it is.
Not bad with over 5000 albums

 

[SeaWo|f]

I think where he is coming from is that traditionally headphone hifi setups have emphasized compactness and convenience.

LPs but there nature are neither of those, but over time headphone setups have moved further from the desktop and portable world where they began.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

I think you're right.

 

[Seret]

Record Store Day here, not that I need an excuse to visit my local shop. Mrs F and I got all the ones we wanted. More music to feed our Schiity system!

Mike -
In your photo of Record Store Day albums, you have a CD-sized Buffalo Springfield album jacket. Is that a CD or a 45?

If it is a CD, what is the title and what songs are on it? And why do I not have it in my collection!

 

[Mike Foley]

@Seret
It’s a 7” 45rpm EP. Four songs from their set at the Monterey festival. Short, but very good.

 

[Mike Foley]

https://www.discogs.com/Buffalo-Springfield-Live-At-Monterey-1967/release/11894735