But I am mostly leaning towards your opinion of the situation. @rauliruegas. But I feel like if I can get even close to the sound of what I just heard at the dealers, I would be more than happy to jump into the analog rabbit hole. This is what's keeping me up at nights wondering if I should go for it or not.
Should I buy an SME 30/12A for 15K?
I am a vinyl newbie with maybe 100 LPs (or less) in my collection. I have had a Technics SL1210GAE for past 2 years, I just plugged and played it. It’s good but my digital is almost as good or sometimes better.
I recently heard a SME 30/12A at the dealer’s, and it blew my mind, and my digital was no where close (the dealer had almost the same digital -- mine is Nagra Tube DAC, his was the Nagra HD DAC -- and we did on spot comparison, not an apples to apple of course but still best that we could under the circumstances).
Now given my relative inexperience with vinyl (I know next to nothing about setup), should I plunge for this offer which is offered to me at 1/3rd the retail price and probably an endgame TT for me.
Thoughts?
Also, is this as great an offer as I think it is, are there better TTs at 15K$ retail price (I cannot/will not buy used) than the SME 30/12A?
Showing 5 responses by essrand
Thanks for the responses. Apologies forgot to mention my system: Devore O96. Accuphase E-650, Nagra Tube DAC, Acoustic revive cabling. @dogberry , it includes the V-12 tonearm. My phono is the AD-50 card in the Accuphase E-650 amp. @lewm, the phono in the dealer's was a Boulder 508, the speakers were different than my home (a Rockport Lyra, I think), so yes, it was not an apple to apples comparison, but it was the best I could do. @lalitk : For the sound I heard, I WOULD expand my vinyl collection. @pindac: the 100 LPs were bought over a period of 7-8 years. @rauliruegas I don't need to upgrade my digital rig, as of now IMHO (from reading forums) the Nagra Tube DAC is probably the 4th best DAC available in the market right now and 15k wont get me any higher in the ranking :) ---> okay this is a controversial statement but not the point of this post.
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@noromance my cartridge is the Nagaoka JT1210 cartridge specially made for this TT, it came with the Technics 1210GAE ( only in europe, in the USA this TT didn't come with a cart). The dealer used a Clearaudio Davinci cart (which costs more than my entire analog rig). |
@ronboco Please re-read my post :), I was comparing digital and analog on the same rockport/nagra/boulder system.
@lalitk Thanks, it does look like we have a similar system. I took a look at your digital, looks like I have a long ways to go before I can claim that I have my digital setup fine-tuned, which bolsters @rauliruegas advice/opinion on this issue. I read somewhere else (I could be wrong) that you are planning to upgrade to an Etsuro Gold cart, is it to make your analog come closer to your digital? And yes, it looks like it will be another 15K to make the 30/12 sing, which gives me a pause. @yoyoyaya Good points worth pondering on. But at least I have an answer to the question if this TT is the worth the money. And most of you have confirmed that this is a fantastic deal. Now it's more of a personal question, of whether to take a "real" plunge into analog.
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