Oh shit....spoiled by 24/96...

[deepak]

I'm listening to a 24/96 needle drop of Black Sabbath's Paranoid. Exceptional drop from the first pressing of the USA vinyl. Comparing it to my retail CD (which is also an early pressing really good quality) and the difference is great.

Hearing the impact from the drums, and weight to the electric guitar

As if 300-500 mb FLAC rips weren't big enough

[postjack]

Having spent a bit of time with my TT now, I can relate to what you are talking about when you say drum impact and instrument weight. When listening to certain clean records I have, I get this weird feeling like the music has infinite space and could go anywhere, not trapped in the upper frequencies of a 16bit CD.

Having said that, my biggest complaint about the 1200Mk2 + Vp129 combo is that it can be too bright and fatiguing, which is actually the opposite of how I thought it would be. I'm not sure if this is more attributable to the TT itself or the MM cart, which I've heard are, in general, "jumpier" then MC carts (meaning the sound jumps out at you more, more of a rock cart to over generalize). Or maybe I'm just startled coming from the deep warmth and smoothness of the 999es.

However, the TT is extremely sensitive to tube rolling in my PPX3, so a trio of Sylvanias helps tone that down enough to make the experience quite enjoyable. I am hoping that swapping the cheapo tube in the phono stage will help as well. I've gotten in a new production Ei 12ax7, but I need an allen wrench to get to the tube in the Bellari. \

I'm grateful that I did go for an integrated cart, because not having to worry about cart alignment etc. is one less thing to worry about. Its insane the amount of shit that can greatly affect the way a record sounds. Probably the biggest single change in the sound of the TT was when I changed the tonearm height from 1 to 0.5. I had no idea that could smooth out the sound so much and, again, take the edge off the brightness. Then I finally bought myself a small level and adjusted the legs of the TT to make sure it was all level. Again, improved the sound. Also, apparently my whole house is leaning towards the northwest.

Its only been a week, but getting a turntable setup is a lot of work.

[DigiPete]

Hi-rez is it....

I wish it would catch on, but the trends are in the other direction, with CD sales falling due to MP3.

Scary to think even CDs will become a nitch...

[deepak]

My guess is the sound I was enjoying had more to do with it being vinyl than just high res.