Gave up on vinyl

[Macca]

I would not like my turntable to sound like a CD player or even remove all the colourations that it has. I am not into totally neutral devices, either amplification, turntables or speakers. In fact they are all coloured to a certain degree and add a certain amount of their own distortion to the music. What you hear is not what they heard in the recording studio as obviously they were using different equipment in a different environment.

The system you put together played in your acoustic space ( room) adds loads of its own colouration, you can't take away from that.

I was warned to be careful when choosing a Turntable as indeed some of the super high end stuff does have exceedingly low colouration and adds very little of itself to the sound. In fact it can then sound a bit like CD! I don't want my system to sound like this!

As I said in my previous post I like the distortion I get in my system as it produces a fabulous sound which makes my vinyl playback addictive. And yes my turntable also completely vanishes leaving just the performer and music as witnessed by a fair few folk on this forum.

What I don't want to do is iron out all the small amounts of distortion as it would become very dull and lifeless. Its a bit like totally sound treating a room where you have no reflections and the music dies. A little bit of reflection in the right place and done to right degree gives you a great sound and great imaging.

So finally what I am saying is yes my vinyl playback is distorted in many ways before it enters my lug holes but that sound is simply marvellous and this is why I don't want my system to sound like a CD or playback music that sounds like a CD.

I thought Marco's TT was too clinical with a modern Ortofon SPU. But with a Denon DSL1 on it, it was spot on. So it isn't just down to the TT, the cart and I suppose the arm play a part.

Oliver seems to have got the balance about right too with his SP10. Digital levels of transparency to the recording but at the same time not soulless and analytical. There's only a few TT set ups I have heard that have managed this. They had all been heavily modified from stock, with the exception of Oliver's I think. Most vinyl set-ups sound a little crude to me compared to digital, but it is possible to go beyond that with enough money and effort.

[Marco]

Fancy a Modded 1210 Vs SP10 MK2 ?

Obviously this is a little more tricky.

Done it before, dude, many times (against some top-notch SP10s), with interesting results. You forget how long I've been at this game for!

However, always up for another comparison sometime

Marco.

[Bigman80]

Done it before, dude, many times (against some top-notch SP10s), with interesting results. You forget how long I've been at this game for!

However, always up for another comparison sometime

Marco.

I know you have, but I haven't. Be good for me if no one else

If it's happens, cool.

[Marco]

I thought Marco's TT was too clinical with a modern Ortofon SPU. But with a Denon DSL1 on it, it was spot on. So it isn't just down to the TT, the cart and I suppose the arm play a part.

*Exactly* my point... The motor unit side of the T/T is so well sorted now, and essentially neutral in character, that the arm/cartridge combo is simply allowed to 'do its thing'. Therefore, that's primarily what you hear, not the turntable itself, and thus why a change of cartridge is so significant!

Oliver seems to have got the balance about right too with his SP10. Digital levels of transparency to the recording but at the same time not soulless and analytical. There's only a few TT set ups I have heard that have managed this. They had all been heavily modified from stock, with the exception of Oliver's I think. Most vinyl set-ups sound a little crude to me compared to digital, but it is possible to go beyond that with enough money and effort.

I don't doubt that Ollie's SP10 sounds exactly as you describe. Plinths aside, which can fundamentally change their presentation for better or worse, turntables, such as SP10s, don't need modifying, as they were originally built as pretty much 'cost no object', unlike the SL-1200, which was rather more built to a price.

That's why the latter make such good projects for modifying, as the basic motor unit it top-notch, but pretty much everything else attached to it can be judiciously improved, and which *can* result in the creation of something even better than an SP10, particularly if the 40-year old electronics haven't been expertly looked at and brought up to spec, if necessary.

Your last sentence, in bold, also reflects the results of my experience, which is pretty much what I've been saying to Jim!

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

I've been using Qobuz 16/44 (CD quality) streaming for about 4 months now (as per my siggie below). I've cancelled my Spotify account.
Yes, I can hear the difference!
Switching back and forth between time-aligned Qobuz and CD the sound is pretty much identical.

Qobuz does have the ability to incorporate ASIO or WASAPI drivers with the desktop player https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/info/qob...-desktop179419
It's worth experimenting with them, because they completely prioritise music playback and shut off all other system noises, bringing improved sound quality by bypassing the internal Windows sound mixer.

[Marco]

I would not like my turntable to sound like a CD player or even remove all the colourations that it has.

Well, you've heard my T/T at NEBO, with the Denon DL-S1, which others and you positively raved about. Did that sound "like a CD player", in the way you're inferring?

Think about that one....

So you're not really getting where I'm coming from, mate.

Marco.

[Haselsh1]

Though Shaun is happy with his decision ( and money ) I m sure
he s had many pleasurable years of listening to the black stuff. Good luck with the profits and spend or safe wisely !

I first got into hi-fi back in 1979 and have had some wonderful experiences with analogue gear and made some bloody wonderful friends but they moved on to other parts of the World and new things and I now feel it is time to let go of the past and move on to whatever the future holds. With that in mind I have no bloody idea what is next but I doubt it will disappoint.

[Haselsh1]

Oh yeah but in family terms I started in 1965 with our Dansette Tempo..!

[Marco]

I had a free trial of the hifi service a while ago, and generally found it to produce better sound quality.
I also had a 3 month free trial of the standard (MP3) service earlier this year, and and it does not produce better sound quality than Spotify.

Tidal also has a lousy interface via my Squeezebox setup, and there's no way I'd use a laptop or desktop as a source unless I happen to be doing something on the machine.

Fair enough, mate. That would be a pisser then, no matter how good it sounded. I have no such issues here with Chromecasting Tidal, via my Mac and network-enabled Sony home-cinema amp, through the rest of the downstairs system, where I then view the track content, etc, on my 49" HD Sony TV

Marco.

[Marco]

I've been using Qobuz 16/44 (CD quality) streaming for about 4 months now (as per my siggie below).

Lol - so what took you so bloody long, daftee, to discover the SQ limitations of Spotify?

IIRC, before that you'd been using it for years!

Marco.