Returning to audiophilism after 20 years: a little guidance would be nice :-)

Pieter, I think one thing you will find out real fast, the last 20 years have not been kind to Mark Levinson. The 331 will probably seem flat, dry and sterile compared to a much less expensive (and powerful) tube integrated. Here in the US I am buying Raven Audio but were I over there I would be seriously looking into audiohungary.com they seem to have a couple highly regarded tube integrated amps, with maybe even a good built-in phono stage. That would be the high value way to go. Remember the importance of vibration control means putting all your money into components is leaving performance on the table. The more components the more Pods, interconnects, and power cords. These things really add up and account for why it is almost always much better to go integrated than separates.

Hi Pieter. Welcome back. 

In short I think vinyl can still trounce digital sound wise, but cost wise an analogue front end is exponentially more costly than digital. 

A $500 streamer can produce surprisingly good sound from a source such as Tidal, and provide you with a music selection of tens of thousands of titles. I spent more than 20 times that on an analogue front end, and it wasn’t anything special. 

Your dollar goes much much further in the digital world.

Thanks! Good news and a bit of bad news.

The GOOD:
Today I did my first serious listening in 20 years time. I took delivery of the MoFi studiophono, not expecting any revolutionary results, just marginal improvement, because during all these years (after selling my CD and amp in 2002) I have been using a low class Marantz SR-5500 receiver, retail around $400 at the time. But I was wrong!
My current set:
- Thorens TD126mkIII with Linn K9 cart
- DAP Pre-101 phono preamp (list price €33, bought last month just to check if the TT was still good)
- MoFi StudioPhono: new and still in return window
- Marantz SR-5500 receiver, Video amp off for maximum quality
- FiiO X5 mkI music player, featuring Digital Out and Analog Out mini jacks
- Triangle Meridien speakers, list price in 1985 around 4000 dutch guilders, equalling around $2000

I played an old Dire Straits album, especially the song "Water of love", which I have on record and as a digital source (the X5). I used the digital out jack on the FiiO, activating the DAC in the Marantz.
Record
Mark Knopfler’s guitar really opened up with the MoFi. It seemed to take a good 15 minutes to come to life after powering up, but then it was very sweet. I heard many sounds in that track that I had never heard before.
Digital
The X5 on the other hand seemed to want to push all music out through a small hole. Many details came through but the instruments appeared to be in one flat layer. This is most likely the Marantz internal DAC’s fault, which is reportedly pretty bad.
Nevertheless, I did taste a tip of real sound nirvana when listening to the TT. After that I reconnected the €33 DAP Pre-101, and had a good laugh: the MoFi really is worth its weight in gold.

The BAD
My tinnitus ear condition (a solid 10kHz tone in my head all day) is affected by this listening session. When I finished, that tone became a lot stronger, especially 15 minutes after. Then it slowly faded back and now two hours later it’s back to the usual tone level. Scary.

Wrap up
Vinyl won today. Convincingly. I sensed a tip of audiophile bliss, which I had not expected and it made me very happy. I’m hungry to see what a decent amp, DAC and streamer can do. But first, I need to do some good thinking about my ears before going nuts on new stuff (and yes - springs and all that good stuff).

Thanks,
Pieter

Hello all,

Finished a new listening session today and I’m keeping the MoFi. I totally didn’t expect to be able to separate good vinyl press releases from bad ones, even on my sub par amp.

It is dawning on me though that I probably won’t be investing big in vinyl audio sources anymore, because unlike 20 years ago, it is so easy to explore new music without having to buy records or CS's: we have Apple Music so we can explore most any music we want.

I am keeping the MoFi, if only just for the hell of it, but I will be looking into getting a digital setup that will be able to convince me, even on my current amp / speaker setup. Ideally, it should be able to play Apple Music in reasonable quality so i can listen to new music in a satisfactory manner and then decide if I want to buy that music in a higher quality sound carrier such as a record or a hi res audio file. The challenging part with buying new vinyl is I have no clue how to sniff for a "good recording" vs. average or bad.

Anyway, the good about this approach (I think) is I get to keep my Marantz receiver for now, add a streaming music player that is able to raise the bar of digital to a level above what my speakers can reproduce - even with a more expensive tube amp - and start playing music. Then if this old but new found hobby turns out to last, and a year on I find myself still doing real listening sessions, I will finally replace the Marantz. I am contemplating on spending around €1000-€1500 for the streamer and anywhere between €4000-€8000 for the amp. Obviously I will come here to learn about all of the accessories that can squeeze every drop of quality out of my components.

Best regards,

Pieter

Welcome back and there is a lot of great gear out there, no matter your preference in topology or class.

Opinions are well just that. Audition and make a choice for your self. Do not follow the herd.