What do vinyl lovers do when they only like about half of the music on an LP? Do they suffer through the bad stuff or continually jump up and down to drop the stylus crashing into a new groove?-- yes, I'm serious. Any takers? I get a tremendous amount of pleasure from listening to my CD collection, and in fact just added a mere $600. CD Recorder. I can't believe the quality of CDs I've been making-- it's excellent. In fact, the recorded CDs actually seem crisper and more dynamic than the originals. I don't understand this except to say that the CD-R blanks are an extremely clean and transparent green color. |
Thanks to Bmpnyc and David99 for your responses. I have nothing against vinyl, but have always been curious about this aspect. Actually, I've lived through 78s, 45s, and LPs, and to me CDs were "liberating". I've never had a good LP front end though. A good friend is into LPs, and has an excellent turntable set-up-- Well Tempered I believe. But when queried about what he actually listens to, he says 90% CD-- because of convenience and available music, and 10% vinyl because of sound quality. And thanks to Bmp re: CD recording character; it makes sense. Happy listening. |
Hi Bmp; Vibrapods are a tremendous product, especially when placed under digital components and pre-amps. I liked them so much I put them under EVERYTHING except my big DNA-2DX amp which already has good vibration control. Clarity and dynamics improved across the whole music spectrum, including tighter bass. I'm even considering putting them under my rather stiff speaker cables. |
Hi Audiogang; Early in my professional career, a friend and mentor advised me (relative to my job); "be courteous, be professional, and be true to your convictions". That advice has served me well in private life as well, and seems germane to some of the discussion that has been going on relative to this topic-- definitely spirited. Please note that it's not my intent to lecture, and I've enjoyed the postings. Thanks. |
10-4 Bmp, and thanks-- you've further whetted my appetite. And I agree, I'd like to see an upsampling system in the $2000. to $5000. range that you mentioned. As for now, I'm tenetively interested in Bel Canto's DAC-1. They have a good reputation for high quality products, and I've heard nothing bad about their DAC-1-- but it's early. How about anyone else re: the Bel Canto DAC-1? |
Hi Bmpnyc; If you can live with a single disc player, The Sony XA7ES has a disc/track/delete program memory for 224 discs. The XA7 is an excellent stand alone CD player or transport-- Stereophile Class A since it was introduced. I recently saw that it had been discontinued, but they are common on the used market, and are built like a tank ($3000. MSRP). BTW I also have a CA9ES. I run it into a Sonic Frontiers Ultra Jitter Bug via toslink, then to a Muse Model 2 DAC-- it sounds excellent, as good as the XA7, and I still have the convenience of the carosel and delete track programming. The SF Jitter Bugs are also available pretty inexpensively (MSRP $700.) either used or from SF, and besides jitter reduction, they convert toslink to Coax. The UJB was Stereophile class A when introduced. The Theta TLC and Monarchy DIP do the same things the UJB does, are effective, and available. I use Cardas Lightening digital cables with good results-- fast and neutral. Happy Listening. |
Hi again Bmp; The SF UJB has to be used between a transport (or CD player with digital out) and an outboard DAC. It has two inputs-- coax. and toslink, and one output-- coax. Its purpose(s) is to 1. reduce digital jitter (a timing distortion or error), and 2. to convert toslink to the more desireable and robust coaxial. As the Sony XA7 has coax out and the CA9 has toslink out, I can connect both to the SF UJB with a single coax cable to the DAC. Using this setup, I cannot tell the XA7 from the CA9. The UJB has a front panel switch to change from one CD player to the other. I like this system a lot. I like Burr Brown DACs too-- the Muse Model Two also uses them. No, I have not yet heard SACD, but I sure would like to-- my nearest dealer is a long way. It doesn't tempt me much yet though because of the limited number of titles available. Have you any experience with SACD? I'm beginning to research "upsampling" devices though to improve the quality of my large and growing CD collection. |
Hi again Bmp; I meant to ask you about your experience with the dCS upsampling units, ie is music quality significantly improved with these devices? I don't know if dCS is within reach of my budget, but if the improvement really is great-- well, you never know. Thanks. |
Hi Redkiwi; I bet you're from "down under"? Thanks for your thorough and articulate response. I can see that you've done much more experimenting with vibration control than I have. At about $25k, my system is not obscenely expensive, but based on your experience, it sounds like some of my components could benefit from the well regared seismic sinks, and I'd like to try them (don't know if I have enough room though). Regarding Vibrapods, they were really my first attempt at vibration control under digital products, and the improvement was so spectacular that I became a really enthusiastic supporter of the little buggers. Thanks. |
Oops-- just noticied that it's the Townshend sinks (small) that you recommend, NOT the seismic sinks. My mistake. |
Hi Redkiwi; I'm surprised to hear that you did not like Vibrapods-- in fact, yours is the first negative report I've heard. On my 1st order to Audio Advisor, I ordered just two sets because I just wanted to try them out. Well, AA screwed up the order and sent me a set of #1s, and a set of #2s-- I had ordered #2s and #3s. The only component I had that was light enough for the #1s was a Sonic Frontiers Jitter Bug, that was sitting on top of my Muse M-2 DAC (a temporary thing). Anyway, I put the Vibrapods under the Jitterbug, and under the DAC, then fired up my system and could hardly believe the improvement in detail/clarity of music. I obviously had a significant vibration problem between these two components. Anyway, based on that experience I got really enthusiastic about Vibrapods and put them under everything. I noticed a further slight improvement with them under my Line 2 pre-amp, but beyond that I could not actually identify an improvement by putting them under other components. I had heard of the inner tube technique but didn't have room for them under the UJB and DAC. |
Hi Bmp; I've read literally dozens of positive reviews or comments on Vibrapods, and you'll note that Redkiwi (above) admitted they were "good" under some components. He did not like them under "his" speakers. I did see a magazine review where the reviewer put them under his large speakers to good effect (as I have carpet, I have not tried them under my big 3A speakers). I've not tried Audioquest Little feet (they also make big feet), but I think they work on a similar principle to Vibrapods, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them. They have been well reviwed. I also like Vibrapods because they are relatively flat and don't take up much space under a component. They come in five different weight bearing capacities, so you have to use the ones that best match the weitht of you components. At $24. bucks for a set of four, if you don't like them under your equipment, you could put them under a potted plant and smile:) Happy listening. |
