ghdprentice
Responses from ghdprentice
| Analogue pre amp recommendation I would always go for a tubed preamp. After fifty years at this… we’ll executed tube preamps will always be more musical than solid state designs. Rouge is the best choice in my opinion. | |
| Power cable upgrade or sideways move? Over the last year I upgraded all my cables, interconnects, and power cords (see my system under ID). I have contemporary (Gen 6? 5?) Transparent Ultra. On power cords, I compared WireWorld, Cardas (several levels), DH Labs, JPS, and Transparent. ... | |
| Aurender N20 My experience is with the N100, N10, and W20SE. Each increment is absolutely worth it, assuming you have appropriate ancillary equipment. My W20SE streamer is the most expensive piece of equipment in my signal path (~ the same as my turntable) and... | |
| Thoughts on My Dedicated Listening Room I am fortunate enough to have an outstanding audio space. It was acquired quite by accident. The best my dealer/friend has heard in thirty years of installing high end systems, many are $200K+ systems built for the purpose. Unfortunately, it is th... | |
| Every day I see another turntable recommendation... So happens I had an AR turntable from the late 70’s. I treated it with great care. Had it maintained a couple years ago. It was not remotely competitive with the VPI I bought in 1995 and certainly not in the same league as my current Linn LP12. | |
| Is there a facility that test cables? Unfortunately it would probably require comparisons of say three major high end brands at different levels to properly position them. The largest selling brands are Audio Quest, Transparent, and Wire World. So, if you got a pair of each at the sam... | |
| The mystery of good acoustics OP, I think you hit on the big items. I stumbled on my current audio space rather by accident… I bought the house. My dealer/friend says it is about the best space he has ever heard (in 30 years). It is asymmetric in about every way. The side ... | |
| My Next Upgrade: Speakers or Turntable? I would look at it as new speakers would improve everything… hence a better investment. Also, spending money on a small vinyl collection unless you are craving playing with albums, cleaning (getting a record cleaner… etc). Then the money would... | |
| Well mastered Compact Disks OP, ”CD’s are coming back. And rightly so. If one has a good dedicated red book CD player then the SQ is still better than any streaming, if the CD has been mastered well.” I certainly appreciate your enthusiasm, However your statement is ... | |
| Every day I see another turntable recommendation... Having owned turntables since the 1960’s and decent turntables since the ‘70’s and audiophile turntables since the 80’s as well as constantly evaluating and listening to them since the 70’s I can assure you the sound quality has improved dramatica... | |
| Boutique or Big Brand? Listening to speakers before purchase is really important. They need to speak to you… not just have lots of detail and bass. After decades of planar speakers… I was with a friend while he auditioned speakers.. I was really touched with the incred... | |
| Headphones Newbie; Senheisser HD 800s or Focal MG Clear I typically switch between my Sennheiser HD800s and my Focal Utopia’s. They are both great headphones. But the Focal are a lot easier to drive. The Sennheiser did not not sound as well balanced and natural until I put about $15K of outstanding ele... | |
| most beautiful (looking) speakers @nitrobob Those are very pretty. | |
| Ripping CD Optimally I have been moving along as technology progressed. Ripping, a great idea in 2005. A waste of time in 2022. Put your efforts and money into streaming. For $14.99 you will get access to all your CDs and a few hundred thousand more. I have 2,000 CDs ... | |
| Every day I see another turntable recommendation... I would not buy a used turntable under any circumstances. i don’t buy anything mechanical. I would buy amps from a dealer who will stand behind them (ss or tubed). |