deepak

Happy birthday Naaman

Never heard Clearaudio, but IMO the SME only really start to shine when you get to the 20 series. The 10 is pretty underwhelming, doubly so given the cost.

Happy birthday Dan

I was debating moving up to another Zyx, but decided to try a Soundsmith instead. I think it will be a step up in terms of tracking, I have a Carmen being built now. Also I am hoping I will have some time after the summer to start working on my L75. Decided I will probably do a wood plinth, the slate was getting too complicated and the manufacture would have been completely out of my hands.

Happy birthday Colin!

Happy birthday Steve

Jacob, I bet this will be a nice step up from the NAD PP-2. $100 with case, you assemble. I hope Jim is able to get the required backing. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1907446723/bugle2-a-diy-phono-preamp

I looked at the 413j on their website. That looks like a very nice solution, the cloud system looks attractive. $400 on Newegg as well. Looks like less ease of access to installing/removing drives is the drawback. The convenience of a NAS trumps any cost issue for me, which is not a whole lot at $400-500.

Rowan Atkinson's McLaren F1 repair bill, $1.4 million http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/mr-bean-wrecked-mclaren-costs-1-4-million-repair-article-1.1258678

Same. Got so sick of the crescendo/decrescendo core. I am however still a huge fan of the band Grails. Also the recent Earth stuff is not too bad. Not something I come back to frequently though.

Happy birthday!

Oh man am I good

Brent will offer you an orange colored tube amp for it

This thread made me check if Isis had released a new album... didn't realize they'd broken up

Lots of snow here and still coming down. Snowblower got stuck in a few spots Fortunately it's a weekend and I have nowhere to be.

Anyone using the Aero prefer a finer grind? I've been using my Bistro to make finer grind, but not quite as fine as espresso. Using a single scoop with water at 190 F to the 1.5 mark, letting it brew for about 10 seconds before stirring then plunging. I'm finding I'm getting more full flavored American style coffee vs making medium grind in the Bistro. One thing worth noting is the rate at which the coffee passively passes through the filter is greatly reduced with the finer grind. There is also more crema after extracting. YMMV with 2 scoops, I've been drinking single since it makes me much less jittery.

Happy birthday!

Just curious do you feel the same about line level input transformers for stepping up gain?

Understandable. But it's IMO essential down the line. Probably more so than a new phono or table. But not as sexy

Yeah if you buy a lot of used vinyl. You don't have to spend crazy money on one either. I had a Nitty Gritty, VPI 16.5 and Loricraft. Sold the Loricraft and bought another 16.5. I realized the type of cleaning fluid makes a far far bigger difference than the machine.

Cool, just didn't want you to be out a lot of money/time. It adds up when you start cleaning vinyl, buying setup tools, replacing inner sleeves, etc. For $300 I would personally get a Soundsmith Otello: http://www.sound-smith.com/cartridges/otello.html While I have not heard it I've heard The Ebony and have a lot of needle drops done with a Sussuro Paua. They track very well, and have nice sound quality. Unfortunately for phonos under $1000 the only ones I've really heard are DIY.

Reks I would replace the cart, just so you know your vinyl is seeing a fresh stylus, worn stylii can damage stuff. Then I'd hold off on upgrading anything else to see if vinyl really is for you. A few hundred is a pretty decent budget. I would personally avoid any Grado, they do some weird stuff like hum, track poorly, odd frequency response, blah blah. I would probably go for an Ortofon or Soundsmith that fits your budget.

It would occasionally happen to me over wireless with very high bitrate 24/96 FLAC (usually quite compressed rock albums)

I was not a big fan of the 3440. Taking it out from before my Pearl and turning up the headphone amps (or preamp) was my preference. YMMV though, I am a tube lover, but generally prefer more modern implementations like CCS loading and stuff so I guess I lean more towards the neutral/analytical preference wise.