ghdprentice
Responses from ghdprentice
| DAC DIRECT IN TO AMPLIFIER OR TO PREAMPLIFIER @markalarsen +1 Yes… Logic says no… listening overwhelmingly says yes… the better the preamp the better the sound. | |
| Quandry +1 hire a competent technician. Since I bought my first audiophile table… I will not touch them. My dealer loves turntables. He loves to adjust them to perfection. I love him. He comes to my house… in all honesty he is also a friend after 20 y... | |
| Which Would You Choose? @mazian +1 I must admit, @mazian is correct. Your Olympica are capable of way better sound. But they need to be feed with electronics a couple levels up. I used to own Olympica 3s for many years. I supplied them with a $18K DAC / CD play... | |
| cleaning gritty surface noise on LPs OP, Oops, I did not read carefully enough. I still use VPI cleaning fluid… non alcoholic. Long ago I did a ridiculously deep dive into cleaning fluids. One rule was no alcohol. I have tried a few fluids. My take is that if you have a really good ... | |
| Network Streamer using Wifi connected to a MHDT Orchid Get a wall wart wifi extender. Plug in next to audio system… then plug in streamer to this. I have, and know of a number of $150K systems running like this… and producing vinyl quality sound. This gets away from getting a streamer with internal Wi... | |
| Can you provide context on First Watt? Yes First Watt is still in business and producing new products. You get service through Pass Labs now. I would not be concerned about service… Pass has always been committed to long term service. About five years ago I got my 1980 Threshold 500s s... | |
| Entry CD player question? Very nice system. Looks like you put it together with thought. Also looks very nice. Well, I can’t definitively say the Rotel would sound better. But I think it is very likely. I have a lot of experience with Rotel. The Rotel is purpose built w... | |
| cleaning gritty surface noise on LPs Yes. It is pretty easy… but requires a bit of effort. For most albums the answer is a vacuum disk washer. There are many on the market… like VPI, I use the German Nessie… there are many. Some are ultrasonic, these may be slightly better than trad... | |
| Next step? Amp or Streamer or… +1 for Aurender. I would not worry about the connection type… especially a new and relatively unusual one. The difference in sound you will get by carefully choosing a great component will vastly outshadow a special connection type. Also, well... | |
| Which Streamer/Dac Sounds like you are on the right path. Sim makes very well built quality components. While I would purchase a separate DAC and streamer. I would not worry about a ripper. You can always do it on a PC… although these days there is less and less... | |
| I need a phono pre amp for my ARC VSi75 Used Audio Research PH8 plus or minus. I have owned a PH2, PH2SE, PH3, PH8, and REF 3, REF3SE. The gains were huge until the PH8. To me the PH8 is the minimum standard to get the phonostage out of the way. After over 30 of having an Audio Researc... | |
| As An Experiment I Stuck A Few Things Under My Pre-Amp And Am Now On A Quest In order of increasing efficacy. vibrapods, NobSound springs, Townsend Seismic Isolation Pods, Silent Running Isolation Base. The last is by far the best. They are custom made for your particular component. I have one on my turntable… highly r... | |
| Which Streamer/Dac What is the rest of your equipment? This is necessary and it would be really helpful to see your system. There is a place under your ID to create your virtual system. My rule of thumb is that the streamer and the DAC should be at the same inve... | |
| I’m getting a hum in my integrated tube amp and it’s bugging me alot Any hum is not a characteristic of tube amps. Definitely do not give up on tube amps. I have more than 15,000 hours on tube equipment and have had to replace one tube that misbehaved. Typically, you get at least 2 - 3,000 hours between tube change... | |
| Resolving CD Transports Crowd Sourcing There is nothing fishy here. My dealer had a close relationship with owner at the time and heard about this straight from him. ( my friend is very savvy in manufacturing and has good EQ, so he was not being deceived. Audio Research keeps a stock ... |