drmuso
Responses from drmuso
| OT: Espresso machines I can second the DeLonghi espresso machine in the reasonably-priced category. I also have one of their dehumdifiers that has lasted much longer than Chinese-made ones. I use a La Pavoni burr grinder to grind espresso beans. It's loud, but works... | |
| How Much to Spend on Turntable, Cart., Phono Pre I would suggest looking for a used SOTA Star Sapphire turntable. They're bargains, and you can use the $$$ you save on the rest of the analog system. They have great isolation, and once you've used a TT with a vacuum hold-down platter, you won't... | |
| Critical listening and altered states I hadn't joined AG when this thread was started, or I would have contributed then. To address the OP's issue, I have not used substances for critical listening, although I enjoy their ASCs for pleasure listening. One issue for critical listening... | |
| Cable Quest I can second the recommendation of Morrow cables. I replaced Cardas Hexlink speaker cables and van den Hul Thunderlink preamp to amp interconnects with their SP6 speaker cable and MA4 interconnects. Heard more transparency, mainly. My system is... | |
| Best Holographic Speakers ~$7k per pair @julesg13th I haven't heard the box speakers others have mentioned. I have long been a fan of panel speakers, however. I owned Magneplanar 3.xs and upgraded to the Apogee Duetta IIs that I still use. A consideration that none have mentioned i... | |
| Vinyl Care @twangy57 tI think Music Direct may stock anti-static guns, maybe even the Zerostat. You might also look on eBay--there may be used ones there. Just make sure there's a return privilege in case it doesn't work. You can hear, feel and even sme... | |
| Vinyl Care @twangy57 If you don't want to wait until you can get a VPI, you might consider a Nitty Gritty or Record Doctor vacuum record cleaner. My Nitty Gritty 1.0 still works like new after over 30 years. It does take 3 manual turns to remove all the ... | |
| Develop a hierarchy for phono playback Interesting discussion. I hadn't realized that the phono stage would make more difference than the cartridge, as some seem to say. I am also partial to the notion that the record should be at the top of the list, however. No matter how great y... | |
| Received my Denafrips Venus 15th I've had a Venus 15 and a Hermes DDC since the beginning of the year. I noted that one particular 24/96 Qobuz track of female choir had some stridency. It is now almost gone. It could be due to the BluOS upgrade I did last night for my Node 130... | |
| What are the most balanced relatively neutral cartridges at each price level ? I don’t think this is such a vague question, but I think it may be difficult to answer, since we all hear cartridges through our systems that have certain deviations from neutrality. At level 3, I think my Lyra Kleos is pretty neutral, but when I... | |
| Streaming apps' album info @gkelly Could you drop the schadenfreude and just answer my question? I'm not trying to stick with my Node; I just want to know what I'd gain or give up by switching, and I'd probably get myself a ZENith, actually, not an entry-level unit like t... | |
| Streaming apps' album info @ghdprentice Yes, I get that if I use Qobuz on my laptop, but not on my iPhone. The BluOS app on my iPhone doesn't give the original album info like that, but it does give external reviews and often good histories of the performer--providing an... | |
| Best Audiophile Album in terms of Dynamic Range and Mastering Quality? Maybe this is a bit off-topic, but I can't see how The Nightfly merits such a high dynamic-range ranking in the list presented by the OP. It's mostly a constant volume level, except for fadeouts and the end of "The New Frontier," where all the in... | |
| Durable record vacuum cleaner recommendation? I've used the same Nitty Gritty 1.0 since the 1990s and haven't had to do anything to service or repair it. I'm not sure how it compares to the VPI noise-wise. I think you could use it for a 7-inch record with the same adapter for the center hol... | |
| Attempt to re-EQ "Katy Lied" @docknow I used the 2025 remaster from Qobuz to make my tape. It still sounds muffled in the high frequencies, not very different from my MCA LP or the MFSL Original Master Recording LP. I would think AI could be used to correct the EQ, but ma... |