[artur9]

Has anybody heard of a direct-sales turntable manufacturer called U-Turn? I get the feeling these young (<40 years old?!) guys are the future of this ridiculous(ly awesome) hobby.

They've been on the scene for a few years now. Their phonostage gets very good reviews along $$$/performance lines.

 

[433521]

I'm curious. Where have you seen xyz at a reasonable price?

Well that's a first.

my guesses:
vidar minimus will have lower rail voltages, and therefore lower rated 8 ohms power, but more able to drive lower ohm loads better & maybe Continuity S.

I've become more excited what the minimus will be. To be 'cheaper' it's gotta be no more than $500 ... that's what I'm understanding from these 'hints', not just a hundred less or a hundred fifty, I'm understanding, like, a substantially lower cost. Which is fascinating. How are they going to do that and keep up with their standards and produce in California? It's a good thing they don't do preorders because I'd get this over Vidar just to check it out.

 

[earnmyturns]

I use Rag1 with my KEF LS50s

Very good reports on that pairing, but your desk must be bigger than mine

 

[ScubaMan2017]

They've been on the scene for a few years now. Their phonostage gets very good reviews along $$$/performance lines.

If I was considering vinyl, they'd be my second choice.

 

[corndog71]

They've been on the scene for a few years now. Their phonostage gets very good reviews along $$$/performance lines.

I got their phono preamp but was disappointed with it compared to both my Bottlehead Reduction and the phono preamp in my Bryston B60P. It sounded very dark and boring.

My brother really likes the Orbit turntable.

 

[33na3rd]

If I was considering vinyl, they'd be my second choice.

While I’m sure that the Orbit would be a fine table for beginners, I would be wary of any tonearm that lacks the ability to adjust Vertical Tracking Angle.

 

[ev666il]

Paypal's mob-worthy currency fees

I always elect to convert currency with my card issuer, rather than PayPal—and it always ends up cheaper.

 

[darkarn]

I always elect to convert currency with my card issuer, rather than PayPal—and it always ends up cheaper.

But if you need to refund, somehow the seller would always use PayPal's conversion rate and thus you lose out. That was my experience for the last few refunds in the last few months

 

[ScottFree]

Because of COVID I haven't been able to open any presents yet (waiting for family to be vaccinated before the family get together) but did anyone else receive something special this Christmas?

 

[Randolf711]

With some help from The Keeper of Things, a.k.a. SWMBO, I promptly located our CD copy of Graceland. It's the 2004 remaster, not the holy grail 1986 original release.

I also went out and grabbed that Cd some months back and was very, very happy! Graceland is my favorite album and I have listened to it a million times. The original CD does the best job (I have listened to every digital and vinyl version). Same goes for Rhythm of the Saints (the vinyl for this release was always so bad).

I also STRONGLY encourage Tom Waits fans to buy the original CDs as well.

 

[Paladin79]

I also went out and grabbed that Cd some months back and was very, very happy! Graceland is my favorite album and I have listened to it a million times. The original CD does the best job (I have listened to every digital and vinyl version). Same goes for Rhythm of the Saints (the vinyl for this release was always so bad).

I also STRONGLY encourage Tom Waits fans to buy the original CDs as well.

I am a Waits fan so I have original CD's and a few records.

Because of COVID I haven't been able to open any presents yet (waiting for family to be vaccinated before the family get together) but did anyone else receive something special this Christmas?

My son thinks a lot like me so he bought me Starrett combination squares for Xmas as well as other woodworking items. I use those in conjunction with amps I build so in a way they have to do with music.



I have given him such things as the Freya + and Bifrost 2 so often our gifts relate to music.

 

[RCBinTN]

Because of COVID I haven't been able to open any presents yet (waiting for family to be vaccinated before the family get together) but did anyone else receive something special this Christmas?

Half of my Christmas cards returned as "undeliverable" despite the same addresses for years.
And ... a new way to not enjoy the song Downtown.

 

[Paladin79]

Half of my Christmas cards returned as "undeliverable" despite the same addresses for years.
And ... a new way to not enjoy the song Downtown.

I have some horror stories involving the USPS; one package was shipped to me from Georgia, it took 28 days to get to me, satsuma mandarin oranges. I sent two packages the same day, one took four days to get to California, the other took 11 days to get to Indianapolis, 50 miles from me lol. I do think Amazon saw this coming and started recruiting their own delivery people, I still get packages from them in one day.

 

[filthy mechanical]

[snip]
Because of COVID I haven't been able to open any presents yet (waiting for family to be vaccinated before the family get together) but did anyone else receive something special this Christmas?
[snip]

I have some horror stories involving the USPS; one package was shipped to me from Georgia, it took 28 days to get to me, satsuma mandarin oranges. I sent two packages the same day, one took four days to get to California, the other took 11 days to get to Indianapolis, 50 miles from me lol. I do think Amazon saw this coming and started recruiting their own delivery people, I still get packages from them in one day.

On the receiving end not so much (although having a pot large enough to make a batch of tomato sauce in 1 go rather than dueling (not dualing) pots is nice.

Gave my immediate family a set of (built) Schiit Coasters with the right cords and it went over so-so. Both parents are in their 60s so they remember the heyday of tubes, and my father uses headphones and likes it once he has something playing through them, but (and this is my mistake) his hearing isn't so far gone that his can still hear the ringing with no audio going. My mother on the other hand (oversight on my part, she has been 100% WFH for a while so I ASSuMEd) doesn't like headphones... woops. She did like the fact when I 3d printed a little retaining disk for it to cover the solder pins on the bottom incase it ends up on a metal table to prevent shorting it out I included some penguins in the design on hers. My brother is my brother, I knew he would and could hear the ringing, but has included it, afaik, in his setup - Magni/Modi 2U set with Cthulhu powering all 3 devices now.

Best part is the package transit time issue. I had received my parent's CD collection (100-150 disks all said and done) to digitize it for them, and did so in the fall (original plan was to do it while I was home for Xmas but surprise downsizing/job change/current human malware stopped that) and shoved the Xmas gifts in the extra space in the boxes. Shipped box 1 and 2 on a Tuesday, went 2000 miles cross country (was mailing before I moved cross country in a different direction) to SW Washington in a week. Box 3 shipped the next day on Wednesday and took a month to go from the same post office to the same address.

 

[mbritt]

I also went out and grabbed that Cd some months back and was very, very happy! Graceland is my favorite album and I have listened to it a million times. The original CD does the best job (I have listened to every digital and vinyl version). Same goes for Rhythm of the Saints (the vinyl for this release was always so bad).

I also STRONGLY encourage Tom Waits fans to buy the original CDs as well.

After getting a ModiMuti a few years ago I started listening to more CDs and stopped buying as much high rez stuff. I researched music forums for tips on best mastered versions and matched that info with the database at http://dr.loudness-war.info/. In addition to knowing what eBay discs and thrift store gems to look for, I found out that I already owned the best versions of my favorite discs. Being older and coming to age in the 80's has some advantages. BTW, the common "knowledge" that cds from the 80's sound terrible is a big misconception. Worst case scenario was the discs being mastered for vinyl and not taking advantage of the bass extension available in the new format. A good R2R ladder or Multibit DAC helps level the playing field for an impactful analog sound. I would bet that a Loki really ices the cake on vintage CDs. I'll probably add one when there's a Bifrost 2 sized version for my stack - which I don't think is even on the drawing board yet. Maybe I could get the bigger Loki in the pipeline to match the Urd transport and start upgrading my living room audio.