postjack

huzzah! congrats! can't wait to see pics! i don't know you but I'm glad you are back as well, since you are going to share sweet ass vpi pics with us.

dude you cannot pwn nubs with a trackpad.

you left him in your avatar over there to the left, with the cheese there.

^^BUMP, make offers, I'm willing to entertain interesting trades and all that entails.

Thats some good horse sense right there.

Absolutely. I also want to make clear that this isn't a "your a chump if you don't listen to vinyl!!" post. And the setup is a huge pain. In fact I've ordered another integrated cart from Kevin at KAB because I love feeling confident that my cart alignment is perfect, and I am pretty sure something is amiss with my AT440MLa alignment, even though it sounds fantastic. This time I sprung for the Ortofon, since it supposedly has a bit more of the brightness I was missing with the Groovemaster. I have to hand it to Kevin, he has done a lot to make vinyl playback as simple as possible. Plus it helps that he is great about responding to emails and giving honest responses.

free shipping though.

To answer "Is it really that bad?", the answer is no. The 999es is a fine player, and I hope to continue to get lots of enjoyment out of it. I wasn't trying to knock it in my OP. I am just finding that more and more often, I am craving and growing into the vinyl sound. This didn't happen as soon as I got my TT, it has taken a few months of listening. When my first cart busted (due to my own ignorance) was when I realized how much I liked that vinyl sound. And I didn't even LIKE my first cart, not enough treble "sparkle". I actually thought my table was to blame for this dullness until I got the AT440MLa in last week. Regardless, in the interim I really was missing spinning records, and this past weekend I have had many enjoyable listening sessions. But perhaps the price for my vinyl rig is a bit misleading, because vinyl is such a money sink. In addition to the costs detailed above, I also have to consider the record cleaning machine, shure stylus gauge, hi fi news TT setup and test lp, spendy disc doctor brushes and fluids, onzow zerodust stylus cleaner, audioquest carbon fiber dry brush, and of course all the storage supplies from Bags Unlimited: four corrugated plastic storage boxes, hundreds of plastic lined paper sleeves, and hundreds of resealable plastic sleeves. Not to mention the crazy high prices of current production vinyl, though the majority of my records are older.

Vinyl Source: $400 direct drive turntable first manufactured in 1978. It has gone through no changes since then. It is generally believed that there is too much rubber in the design, and the tonearm is obsolete. $200 phono stage with a 12ax7 tube from some company called Bellari $85 Audio Technica cart. Total: just shy of $700 Digital Source: Modwright Sony 999es. The mods alone cost $1150, I don't know what the 999es goes for on the used market. Mods include: So what we are probably looking at is the digital source runs roughly twice the cost of the analog, and it just doesn't sound as good. There is a realness, a presence, and a delicious liquidity all swirling in a limitless black space with the vinyl. I don't even hear the pops and crackles on my old crappy records anymore. I remember these used to really bother me, but now they don't. I think my ears are being spoiled. On the other hand, the sound from the 999es, at least with redbook, very much exists in a space. Sometimes I feel like my recording has been placed in a 16-bit box and when I put on my headphones and hit play I am just looking down in that box, "hey, there is my music there." Whereas with vinyl I am there with the music in infinite space, sharing in the universal groove, weaving in and out of all the sounds. About the only time the 999es approaches vinyl is with a very well mastered SACD. I'm not trying to make any kind of grandiose statement here, or put either of my sources up on some kind of pedestal, I'm just telling you what I'm hearing. In my system, to my ears, my budget-priced, outdated vinyl rig sounds better then my heavily modified digital rig, and for half the money. An aside: I really need a new redbook player with a satisfying, analog-esque sound. Will I find my answer in the Rega Apollo? Dare I pull the trigger?

Shit man, I'm stumped. Returning the silver records is probably the best idea.

Basically you need a 1200. There is not enough rubber on your turntable. More rubber = more playable media. also you need those little red lights there, those are crucial for playing the shiny silver records.

what cart ya got on that mmf-5?

I propose there be a rule that no one can start a thread with a title indicating that something "has landed" or "is in the haugh".

i had a touchpad on my laptop, and actually used it to play wow for a full nine months, up to and including full molten core runs. But when I had to do the hunter up quest to get my Rhok Delar Longbow, I had to buy a mouse because I couldn't do the winterspring demon without one. and i've been using one ever since! at work I use a trackball and its great as well. hell i like all three technologies. now you have me all thinking I might buy a trackpad just for kicks for the desktop.

Initial cart impressions: MUCH livelier then the KAB Stanton Groovemaster! Which is exactly what I was going for. The Groovemaster seriously lacks in the treble sparkle. The AT440 has loads of sparkle, to the point of approaching shiny sibilance, but it doesn't quite hit that point. Its actually quite pleasant. Midrange can come off as a bit tipped up and fakish, most noticeable with male vocals, but its still smooth and wonderful. Bass is in control, but can feel a little large sometimes. Midbass has nice punch. Attack and decay & imaging are magnificent, but I think that is just a product of vinyl. Pretty big soundstage, but again thats probably just the medium. Vinyl is such a magnificent pain in the ass. I have spent a good 25% of my "listening time" tonight fucking with the cart in the technics overhang gauge, holding up little pieces of paper and knives to it to make sure it is all aligned perfectly. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the whole vinyl thing is just a dirty trick the Universal Force is playing on neurotic OCD audiophiles.

Well, it was the first headphone amp I ever owned or heard. The only cans I listened to out of it were the K701, the SR60, and iM716 (my one ill-fated trip into iems). So I'm not in much of a position to judge it. I can say I liked the HA-2 MKII SE, which I bought next, better, and I liked the PPX3 Slam a hell of a lot better then either of them. It was a total gateway amp though. It added enough warmth and energy to the music to make me think "maybe there is something to this audio thing". I'd love to hear another one someday and see how it stacks up to what I've heard since then.

I sold my Nano back in August to buy a Headfive. Sold that too.

I guess all asians look the same to him.

I know Modwright doesn't do the 555es, but while we are talking about it, the "signature modwright sound" is full and warm. I wouldn't describe it as analog sounding, more like a full, warm, digital sound. SACD sounds superb, and redbook playback is also very good, but there is a hint of sony treble harshness still present. This is why I am considering either more mods or a separate dedicated redbook player. The only Modwright mods left available to me are to convert my power supply to a tube rectified one, aftermarket clock, and of course the bybee filters, but reks shit all over them real fast.

I'm running the Ei's right now, but its with unfamiliar gear, namely the new AT440MLa cart, so I can't tag down any certain signature. But so far, they aren't doing anything wrong.

Cool pictures! I love seeing all that esoteric weird japanese stuff, then all the sudden, BAM! HeadAmps! I guess justin's stuff must truly rok sox. my favorite: Ultrasone pencils!

The biggest question you have to ask yourself when considering SACD is "do I like classical?" FWIW, I went from a DA100 to a Modwright 999es, and the 999es does everything better. Better soundstage, detail retrieval, more warmth, blacker background, etc. I can't comment at all on the 555es though, I know nothing about it. Nor can I comment on any other modification company except Modwright.

No, I'm quite content just spinning them. I wouldn't want to risk misaligning the cart and causing inner groove distortion.

tracking says the cart is at my house! i can't wait to get home and spin records.