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My son is getting into vinyl and I'm not much into it myself so I don't know what a good entry turntable is. Any good suggestions?

So I've been researching a problem I've had for a while now. Mostly since I switched to the Denon DL-110 cartridge I've been encountering groove echo. It hits between tracks, or during quiet parts, and I'll hear a faint echo just before the sound hits (one revolution before, to be exact). It also tends to be a faint echo on the right side, even if the actual music is shifted more to the left. I have never heard a post-echo but can assume that they are present but being masked by the music. My copy of Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert is especially annoying, since there are so many pauses followed by a quick stab of piano. I've also heard it strongly before The Rolling Ston…

Anyone check out the measurements from the Zanden review in the November issue of Stereophile? Not that Stereophile or in particular Michael Fremer had any credibility left. But how the hell did he manage to be floored by a combo that had a roughly 4 db channel imbalance and a thd+noise of 25% at 50hz.

http://www.dagogo.com/CambridgeAzur840C.html "That

Ok, so I know you guys don't like long posts or reviews, so I'll make this as short as possible. I recently got to spend some time with the PureDAC and found it to be a really interesting DAC. I'm very sorry if this ends up being an unwanted topic, but maybe someone's interested in it, so hey... maybe it's worth the risk. I found it to be a fine use of a Sabre chip. Sounds colder than both my Abrahamsen V6.0 and Electrocompaniet ECD-1, but comparatively more tonally correct. Mids take a step or two backwards and are more relaxed. The V6.0's mids, surprisingly, end up sounding harsh in comparison. It's just a very cohesive, linear and incredibly refined and transparent…

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone knew the output voltage of Cambridge Audio Azur 840c? Oddly enough, the information isn't in the manual (or I'm an idiot and may have simply missed it) and I haven't heard back from Cambridge Audio about it.

Listening to one right now... sounds excellent for the cost (~$25) and time spent building (~3 hours). I wish the position on the PCB where the coupling caps are could alternately accommodate a PCB mini-jack, as I'd prefer to use input coupling caps on each of my amplifiers (as opposed to the output coupling caps on the Bantam)..... this way I could tune the input cap values to the impedance of the specific amp I'd be using. Probably the output caps are more idiot-proof though. I've tried both the suggested Wima and Black Gate coupling caps and now prefer a pair of blue OS-CON caps that I stole off of swt61's old Opus More info: BantamDAC Overview

AudiogoN ForSale: Nottingham Horizon with Benz I've never heard a Nottingham table in my life before, but this deal looks decent. I remember Mike and someone else here had Nottingham tables, but it's a table much higher up in the product line, but does Nottingham have a family sound?

I got an HRT Music Streamer II for my parents Mac Mini. Just needed a cheap DAC and wanted one that didn't need a power supply. In theory, this DAC fits the bill. In practice, that's not the case. For anyone out there considering the HRT, be forewarned that you very likely will need to run it off a powered USB hub. It appears to simply draw to much power to run reliabily out of a 'puter's USB ports. There are a bunch of posts about this on the internets, but I figured I'd give a heads up here, too.

There is a basically new Pro-ject RM-5 SE table on the 'Gon right now for a pretty good price, and I know someone here has one (can't remember who right now). Just wanted to know what the owner thinks about the table.

Been looking at 'gon and notice that there are few Ayre D-1xe on sale at somewhat attractive prices. Right now I use a Linn Klimax DS to feed a speaker system with headphone amps connected via loop out from the preamp using RCA. If I were to get an Ayre player, I would use that as a dedicated source for my headphone amps using the balanced connection, instead of RCA. I have heard Ayre's current line of CDPs, but have not done any comparsion with the Linn (never saw the point). Will I be totally bumbed going from a top Linn to a very old top Ayre? Anyone heard both and can comment?

So I have weed to enhance my listening experience, Grado RS-2s, and a Millet Minimax I'm almost done making. I just need a dac with optical input for my only listening source - a laptop with optical output. What would you recommend to a lazy stoner with $400 who wants to buy something through a link?

I've recently bought a Lite DAC-39 second hand. At that time I did not have a proper coaxial line-out cable so I substituted it with a box-standard rca cable. I got imbalanced sound. So I bought a Zu audio Firemine and I thought the problem went away. But upon closer analysis, the problem persists in a different form. The left channel of the unbalanced output sounds "out of phase" the highs are pretty decent but the mids and bass are washed out. The right channel on the other hand is full bodied and sounds fantastic. I've troubleshooted my entire system and the problem definitely lies with the DAC. Both coaxial and optical inputs produce the same imbalance. I have alre…

Interesting that PS Audio is still putting money into SACD at this point. I wonder if they are planning to release a new DAC as well:

Got in the Seduction today. No SUT until at least thursday, so I swapped out headshells (once again, Technics for the win. I love having multiple carts on hand, prealigned for quick install) and went from the DL-103 to the AT440MLa so I could go ahead and give the Seduction a listen. Wide open, warm sound, lifelike midrange, very detailed without being too neutral or boring. The brightness of the AT440MLa is greatly reduced, which is a surprise. While I have always respected this cart, I am seeing now that it scales remarkably well with a better phono. My one complaint at this point is the bass is a little muddy and lacking definition. When the mid…

I know APL's slow speed and poor communication aren't new, but I stumbled across some more interesting posts here. Someone finally called him out in public, and it gets even better toward the bottom of the page. Just another headsup to anyone, like me, who is considering something APL. I still really hope the mythical APL DAC pans out...

Hey Guys, A head-fi'er larryminator is bringing a couple turntables to the Toronto meet that look interesting: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=248953 What do you think of these two offerings? I know next to nothing about vinyl, but Thorens seems to have a good name, and the other one looks pretty nice. I've talked to the seller through PM and have been reading his posts in the meet thread and a few Grado threads and he seems to be a good guy. Is the price good? They look to me in nice shape, and it would save me delivery. Since Ray and Peter are coming to the meet, I am sure I will have enough people on hand to make sure it is setup properly. I've ask…

So here's my problem. I have a Powerbook G4 with 80 gigs of hard drive space on it. I have 672 songs in my iTunes library after clearing it out and it comes to a whopping 27 gigs because everything is ripped in ALAC. I recently sold my home gear because I just don't use it enough to warrant having it anymore and I need the money since I'm in college. I've been using my portable setup and my cheap ass computer speakers as of late. So basically it's onboard headphone jack for the speakers and my 3G 10 gig iPod. This leaves me with little space on my hard drive on both the computer and iPod, which is a problem cause I can't put anymore music on either, and I always want m…

Friend is looking to setup a cheap audio/video system and looking to spend $600-750 on a receiver. Anyone have a suggestion in this price range? He's leaning towards a couple Denon and Yamaha models, neither of which he or I has any experience with. Any help would be much appreciated. Thought of the Outlaw RR2150, but he wants HDMI if possible.

I've made sure all of my cart is correctly connected but I'm not getting any music through the right channel and there is a loud buzzing hum that sounds like perhaps it's not properly grounded or something. Can anybody help me figure out how to fix this problem?

Available at late June, ~ 6500 Euro There will be a new turntable at above the level of P9 from the brochure: Matched laser Archiving During manufacture we will match 3 identical laser units. One will be fitted in the player the other two will have the product serial number marked on them and will be archived here at the Rega factory offering guaranteed product longevity and peace of mind for every customer. http://www.my-hiend.com/leoyeh/2009c/ISISinfoflyer.pdf

For sale on Agon for a very decent price This is an outstanding CD, SACD and DVD-Audio player. AudiogoN ForSale: Denon 3930CI ps. Not mine by the way, this is just a public service announcement

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Headamp Pico vs. Headroom Single-Ended Desktop with DAC Surely someone has had the opportunity to do a shoot out between these two, or has heard both and has a firm enough memory to compare them? Though I don't really have a practical use for either of them, these all in one headphone-centric units just fascinate me.

I bought and returned a Yamaha S1800 universal player (that apparently does pure DSD) because it was a joke. The regular CD layers sent from my Mac over optical to my Monarchy 18B beat it in every way--I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Is there any SA-CD player under $1000 (used or new) that can do things with SA-CD (greater detail, more realism, bigger soundstage) that the aging Monarchy 18B can't do with CD? I'd really appreciate your recommendations. I'm quite pleased with the front end of my system--Gilmore Lite and the 650s.