vinylvalet
Responses from vinylvalet
| Tidal or Qobuz I initially went with Qobuz since I wanted high resolution PCM when available and not MQA. Now that Tidal has moved away from MQA to high resolution PCM, my advice would be to pick the service that has more of the music you prefer. I think 99.99% ... | |
| Manley Chinook SE MK2 Often, at shows, many exhibitors, outside of the brand they represent use other products because they have been given these products at no charge. Very typical with cables and power conditioners. So, when you see certain products in many rooms, it... | |
| Soundsmith cartridges I’ve never been a fan of MC cartridges after owning many and prefer Soundsmith or Grado on my turntables. As mentioned above, Soundsmith offers the best value of any cartridge manufacturer due to its very generous rebuild policy. Those that use W... | |
| What Holiday Gifts did you ask for or Give to Yourself? I had eyeball lens replacement this year. I no longer need glasses but much more light. This low cost magnifier with light now allows me to easily see the writing on LP spines. A gift from my wife. I bought her a new car. Always better to give tha... | |
| Anybody heard the new Audiolab 9000CDT yet? Check out this thread about the $729 Shanling ET-3 CDT, preferred over the more expensive Schiit Urd. Shanling ET-3 CD Transport | |
| Best Options For A Tubed Preamp - $2500 Or Less, Preferably Used To Maximize Value I've owned and like the Black Ice Audio F360 line stage. Punches way above its retail price with some unique and useful features. Uses one 6SN7, so inexpensive to roll NOS tubes. IMHO, all Black Ice products offer great value. I see a used F360 a... | |
| Nowhere to hear speakers and amps anymore! Consumers have voted with their money; very accurate Chinese counterfeits at aliexpress for a fraction of the price including many popular cable brands, buying out of state from small mail order dealers to avoid local sales tax, plenty of great ge... | |
| Any normal size speakers that sound like Volti Pi Speakers fly under the radar. Look to be similar in design to Volti for far less money, especially if you can build a pair (they come in kits or built). I built a pair of 4 Pi speakers with all the upgrades and some mods of my own and they are... | |
| *DAC Based on what you are looking for, I believe that you will like the Weiss DAC204. This review compares it to a more expensive, currently well regarded DAC. Weiss DAC204 Review | |
| *DAC I have a modified R26 with external 10MHz clock and prefer the Weiss DAC204 with the stock power supply. I hear a small improvement by swapping the stock power supply with a linear power supply. With that said, I find the R26 to be a good value a... | |
| DAC RECOMMENDATIONS PLEASE +1 Weiss DAC204 Weiss DAC204 Review | |
| Logical next step from Legacy Signature SEs? Around $15K... BTW, Jim Smith of Get Better Sound replaced his Joseph Audio floor standers, which I heard when I visited him in 2019, with Fyne F703 speakers. I believe he still uses the F703s for his RoomPlay Reference sessions. Get Better Sound | |
| Logical next step from Legacy Signature SEs? Around $15K... I replaced my Legacy Focus XD speakers with Fyne Audio F703 speakers and am happy with that decision. | |
| Rutherford Audio +1 | |
| What was the best (most impactful) piece of new equipment to hit the market in 2023? Most of the expensive linear power supplies sold in the states are Chinese rebranded or in a fancy case with greatly elevated prices. I've seen exact units sold for five times more in the US. All of these power supply types have an internal trim ... |