[jono454]

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HE-500, Bellari amp, source is a Audio ReQuest server running FLAC files.

How is the HE-500 with the Bellari? On paper it should provide enough juice but how's synergy between the two?
 
Doesn't seem like that amp gets as much love around here on Head-fi....compared to the Schiit stuff.

 

[Rawdawg3234]

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I'll bet that looks great in the dark!

Doesn't glow as much as the sophia princess or the stock rectifier. But, yes it looks great at night.

 

[lm-mike]

 
Schiit Magni and Superlux HD681... Just about to mod my headphones!

 

[OPR8R]

Some people have expressed interest in the analog piece of my rig, so I snapped a few more pics.
 
It's very black.

 
You have to look closely to read the model.

 
The RB303 tonearm.

 
The delicious Ortofon 2M Black cartridge.

 
 
Comes with a wool mat.

 
 
 
Glass platter, without mat.

 

[LugBug1]

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@OPR8R...
 
I love your setup!! Everything looks wonderfully and I'm lusting over the Rega. I keep telling myself to get back into vinyl, but when it comes down to it I can't decide on vinyl or sacd. 

Bit like the tube vs solid state discussion a few posts back..... Warm and organic or clinical and dynamic.... (yes yes vinyl can be that too blah )

 

[calipilot227]

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Some people have expressed interest in the analog piece of my rig, so I snapped a few more pics.
 
The delicious Ortofon 2M Black cartridge.

 

 
Oh man, that's like my end-game rig right there! 

 

[OPR8R]

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Oh man, that's like my end-game rig right there! 

I really hope it's end-game for me too.

 

[Silent One]

OPR8R is doing some good operating to 

me! What record is spinnin'?

 

[OPR8R]

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OPR8R is doing some good operating to 

me! What record is spinnin'?

OPR8R is spending too much time on Head-Fi today 

 
That's 'Miles Davis - Kind of Blue'.  It epitomizes why vinyl.

 

[autoteleology]

I've never heard a nice vinyl rig in person before, but if the surface noise is as bad as it sounds on a lot of the pro vinyl rips I've got, I would be hard pressed to be able to enjoy a vinyl rig of any quality.

 

[khaine1711]

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I've never heard a nice vinyl rig in person before, but if the surface noise is as bad as it sounds on a lot of the pro vinyl rips I've got, I would be hard pressed to be able to enjoy a vinyl rig of any quality.

That's what you get for using cheapo TT + cartridge and drop-in 50 bucks soundcard 

. I guess it has something to do with the LP used too. Thankfully the "vinyl rip" trend tends to calm down a bit now and we don't have to swim through a load of noisy rip to find a decent one.
 
There's some rare rip by people with multi thousands rig, and sound noticably better than the red book cd (mostly coz the cd version was brickwalled/crapstatically mastered) - and noise-free too. Vinyl rips got potential, I myself would pay more to get them rather than brickwalled but high res recording - but DSD is buzzword on today market.

 

[OPR8R]

My table picks up more surface noise on some LP's than on others.  On my best LP's (Kind of Blue is a good example), there's little-to-no surface noise.  A dirty record can sound pretty bad though.  The upside is that good, clean LP's can sound better than CD's.

 

[LugBug1]

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I've never heard a nice vinyl rig in person before, but if the surface noise is as bad as it sounds on a lot of the pro vinyl rips I've got, I would be hard pressed to be able to enjoy a vinyl rig of any quality.

Yeah I know what you mean. A lot of the ones going round aren't that great...  I recently compared the Radiohead discography 24 bit vinyl rip to my other 320 mp3 one and the mp3 was like a cleaner window onto the music. But! you are still playing the music through a digital medium. I'm sure a great deck>phono stage>amp will be a much more rewarding experience. ?

 

[MohawkUS]

That's what you get for using cheapo TT + cartridge and drop-in 50 bucks soundcard 

. I guess it has something to do with the LP used too. Thankfully the "vinyl rip" trend tends to calm down a bit now and we don't have to swim through a load of noisy rip to find a decent one.


There's some rare rip by people with multi thousands rig, and sound noticably better than the red book cd (mostly coz the cd version was brickwalled/crapstatically mastered) - and noise-free too. Vinyl rips got potential, I myself would pay more to get them rather than brickwalled but high res recording - but DSD is buzzword on today market.

Even with an inexpensive turntable you can get your records quiet. I had a Dual 701 with AT70 cartridge, the key was cleaning the records prior to listening to them. I've got an old discwasher brush and some DIY cleaning fluid. Works great. With that setup my records were near as quiet as this guy's: http://www.youtube.com/user/BSD2000 Of course I wasn't getting the sound quality of his various turntables. And none of my records are 'audiophile grade', in all honesty I haven't a clue who pressed them. Most are the Back on Black label, the rest just random indie labels. Although you do need a good phono stage. My old Sherwoods introduced a bit of noise to the signal, but I've had none with my Graham Slee.

I can listen to ambient electronica on vinyl no problem. Just stay away from the picture discs if you hate surface noise.

 

[khaine1711]

I don't have a clue on how to do vinyl rips. But most of the distributed vinyl rips are noisy as hell. I've heard many budget vinyl setups that are noise free. But we're talking about transferring vinyl to flac here =p.
 
I'm still chewing through them everyday, hoping to find decent rips of stuff that won't see the light of a decent cd mastering anytime soon.