Vinyl playback - lack of bass?
Alright, hopefully this isn't a dumb question.
I split my audio listening between analog and digital. Both setups use the same preamp/amp/speakers etc. I noticed that when listening to records, there isn't as much pronounced bass vs lets say when listening to tidal/qobuz. I'm wondering if its my phono that might have a lack of bass? or is it because my cartridge hasn't fully broken in yet? For fun , I connected my sub when I switched to side 2 yesterday, it helped pronounce the bass a bit more as I elevated the volume on the sub. But nothing crazy. but was decent enough.
Besides that, everything sounds fantastic and great on LP vs digital. Also, to mention, lately have been playing some older original rock records. I should try popping in a newer record for fun to see if it makes a difference (most likely not analog sourced of course). or I can try the new Black Sabbath Rhino release.
Setup - analog - rega p6 w/ ania cartridge (only 30 hours on the cartridge so far). Phono - Moon 310lp.
Digital - moon 280d mind2 w/ dac
Rest - Preamp Moon 740p, amp pass labs x250.8 , speakers Sonus Faber Olympica III
I agree with others that your cart may just require more breaking in. I'll also share that I had the same feeling when I switched to a Hana ML going into my Sutherland 20/20. Added in a Bob's Devices Sky 20-S and Boom! Nice full bass was back. Not sure if that will work for your system, but it worked for me. |
I haven’t “confused” anything. I was referencing early production cdp’s. I thought I said that. Also, of course the term “brick wall” is a metaphor for very steep slope. I probably was remiss in not acknowledging that SACD and DSD ameliorated the problem. But I still hear an unnatural abrupt cutoff of extreme low bass with physical discrete CDs. For whatever reason. Research doesn’t support me. I was wrong apparently about the low frequency limit built into RBCDs, but I still hear a less natural extreme low frequency response with RBCDs. I have to re-read some 1970s literature to remember why. |
I did a quick comparison of the first few minutes of Scheherazade, between the SACD and the reissue Vinyl. I adjusted the volume so that the opening (bass heavy) chords were within a dB or so. The levels of the violin entry were subsequently somewhat different. Roughly 4dB difference, the vinyl louder. The opening is bass heavy, do that would suggest that the bass levels are depressed in the LP. Part of this is probably that loud passages tend to have higher bass content and LPs, were (are?) dynamically compressed owing to limitations of the medium. (NO judgement of sound quality but the dynamic range of an LP is 70dB at most, SACD or high res PCM at least 96dB).
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alright, so I did some testing last night on 2 songs. Daft Punk album. With the LP version it was very similar in bass vs tidal. one song had more pronounced bass on the LP version and another on the streaming version, but very very slight. Seems like maybe the last few albums I spun on record caused me to think there was a lack of bass. When I said older it was 80s rock. So I know one Skid Row I had listened to a few months ago and the one from 2 nights ago lacked some bass, but it seems like this must be the recording and not an issue with the LP itself. Also, like most are mentioning, I will need to wait for the cartridge to fully break in. I just wish I could fast track it. 100 hours is probably something like 133 records. I am keeping track as I mark the ones Ive listened to. I guess I need to be a bit more patient. Will probably put some Black Sabbath on tonight. |
@tomrk I love Styx and I think that might be the only LP I don't have of theirs. lol I'm going to check it out though. Not to get too far off topic but have you listened to Crash of the Crown. It took me a minute but some of the tunes are really good imo. Def a dif kind of Styx but pretty interesting. |
