Anybody celebrating New Year's 2018 with some gear purchases?

Howdy.

My reply from your thread. .

M6si phono stage is top notch.
The only reason I have other phono stages in my setup is because I wanted to experiment with tubes and needed an extra AD converter for my vinyl rips.

Regards

 

The HD 380 Pro purchase for the office has proved to be an excellent idea. My large ears are comfortable, the music is flowing, the sky is blue, the stupid little birds are chirping noiselessly outside and the office drones vocalization is blocked , which saved me from descending into a sociopathic crisis involving large staplers and the forehead of other employees.

Bonus: I brought the previous HD 4.20s back home and the GF decided they are much better that her loaned ATH-M50x. So there is also the potential for saving money down the road.

 

VPI Prime Scout just arrived Tuesday, amazing tt! now looking at the McIntosh MP100 or the Parasound for a phono premp, or maybe Jolida...

 

Ahh details...

I got the P5 a couple of weeks before Christmas as a factory refurb unit from Audio Advisor. I had hooked it up to the Adcom and couldn't help but notice just how much the sound had changed over the NAD.

I have a Bluesound Node and a Polk XM Radio receiver which was using the analog outputs which I transferred over to the P5.
The sound was still good but warmer. I switched to the digital outputs and let the P5 DAC take over and wow, so much more clear and detailed. So I'm going to stick with the digital inputs on those.

The turntable is another story. I have a Cambridge Audio 651P phono pre which I was using on the P5. The sound was good but wanted to try the P5 phono input. Not a better sound but different, both good in their own way. The 651P is a bit warmer and the P5 seems to have more of a wow factor. I'll be leaving the 651p out of the chain for a while and do some long term listening before deciding permanently.

The A23 came about 2 weeks ago and I am very happy with it as well. It pairs nicely with the P5 and has more than enough power for the MMGS's. It's a lightly used demo unit off of the bay
Didn't really notice much difference with the A23 over the Adcom but the integration with the P5 is nice. Now I can turn them both on and off with the remote.
I did order a pair of balanced interconnects from Blue Jeans cable for the P5 - A23 connection.

I am using a Sub with the P5 but have the sub output crossover on the P5 off. I am using the main output crossover set to around 50. Still playing with this though.

I just turned the big 6-oh my god on the 27th and I'm very happy with my selection of gear which I'm sure will last a long time. Got both for 1600 total, not a bad deal from new.

Now, about those Mangepan .7's....

 

In your opinion would I be better off with the Parks Audio Budgie or good with the internal phono stage of the M5si?

Currently I swapped out the power cable for an Audio Quest NRG-2 and I much prefer it.

 

I went with a pretty major upgrade: Sonus Faber Olympica 3’s, McIntosh 8900 and some Nordost cables. Im still trying to get everything situated. I’m glad we have a 3 day weekend.

 

Yes, I sort of did a major purchase for the new year. Last November I bought a pair of Magico S7's and about a week ago the dealer came back up from NYC to help me get them really dialed-in. Given that they replace a fifteen year old pair of Audio Physic Virgo III's (already sold) I guess they could be called a serious upgrade.

 

I'll be ordering a new preamp in Feb. The Audio Note Kits Mentor.

 

I can't say. Never heard Parks Audio or M5si phono stage. The demo setup of M5si I listened was hooked up to an CD player.
Assumption is that both M6si and M5si share the same phono stage.

Regards

 

Well, after reporting back on page one that my Lyra Kleos cartridge was due to arrive that day (last Saturday) I was made a liar as my package got lost in the Fedex twilight zone. Eventually, it did arrive. I installed it onto my SL-1200G yesterday.

Here's the official pic.


So far, I've listened to six titles. In order of play they were...

Smoke And Mirrors - Percussion Ensemble
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - One Size Fits All
Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D+evolution
Allan Holdsworth - Metal Fatigue
Andreas Vollenweider - White Winds
Mastodon - Crack The Skye

My thoughts thus far?

Well, I am enjoying this cartridge immensely. The Kleos is a healthy step up from the Ortofon 2M Black in pretty much all parameters.

First and foremost, this cart does NOT accentuate surface noise. The sound of the Kleos gliding through the grooves was a whisper--especially when compared with the 2M Black. I was taken aback when I first dropped the stylus. (Where's the noise? Is the volume control up?) Also, tics and pops were comparatively subdued.

On the music reproduction front, the treble was clean, pure and concise. High frequency percussion (chimes, bells, triangles, etc.) lit up the air in my listening room in a way I hadn't heard from my vinyl setup before, and their decays vibrated to silence in a smooth (non-mechanical) fashion. Treble detail was on another level, and, hand-in-hand with the lower noise floor, provided a clearer picture on whatever musical goings on I was enjoying.

The soundstage gained some depth, and (with some recordings) the various levels to that depth were more apparent. Aural 3D was definitely in affect.

As for the bass, in comparison to the 2M Black the Kleos seemed to have a bit more low frequency extension, heft and power while--at the same time--it had less mid-bass punch. These differences weren't night and day, but they were apparent as one record followed another.

The tracking ability of the Kleos is on another level from the 2M. Where a very slight fuzziness/haziness would become apparent as the Ortofon rode the inner grooves of some records the Lyra stayed the course and held its composure to the end. That super fine stylus and boron cantilever really do pay off.

The midrange seems to have a proper balance of warmth vs brightness. Vocal positioning (depth) depended on the recording as did vocal timbre. Esperanza Spalding sounded glorious via the Kleos as did bass-baritone Frank Zappa. So far, the Lyra seems to love all voice types.

OK, that's all I've got for now. I'll finish by saying that with the Lyra Kleos my analog reproduction chain has made a big gain on my Esoteric SACD player. I look forward to spinning more records.

 

I have a pair in for review and I like em a lot. Much lighter and more comfortable than the originals.

 

Great speakers! Going to listen to my friends S3 mark 2s tomorrow. He has the latest Levinson monoblocks on them.

 

My Victor QL-Y44F turntable just showed up from Japan to my office today. Hope to have it cranking by Sunday.

 

I like them too. It's the old LCD-2 style sound that I like. I've never been bothered by the weight or comfort of the original LCD-2 headphones. These are lighter, better distribute the weight, and the pads are better and more plush and fit the contours of my face better.

For me, the new LCD-2 Classic was a no-brainer to get. Especially at the introductory pricing. I bought my Cavalli Liquid Fire amp because of how it sounded with the LCD-2 R2 headphones. And I bought the LCD-2 R2 headphones because of what I heard them do when driven by the Liquid Fire amp. I needed to have a backup LCD-2 with that same style of sound in case my old LCD-2 ever die. It will be interesting to find out if I end up preferring these new LCD-2 Classic over my old LCD-2 r2. My old LCD-2 are in Oregon. And I'm in Georgia with the new LCD-2 Classic. I haven't been able to compare the two head to head yet. My suspicions are that I'm going to like the new LCD-2 Classic better. Audeze has done well on this one, assuming you like the somewhat recessed midrange thing the older LCD-2's did.

 

Thought i'd better include a photo of the preamp i'll be getting in Feb.....Audio Note Kits Mentor.

 

I've been working on my office system. This week, got the Nuforce STA-200 and the Schitt Saga preamp. With a Schitt Modi Multibit you're looking at $1100 all in. I've owned a lot of all-in-ones (PS Audio Sprout, NAD D3020, Quad Vena, etc) in search of compact, visually pleasing solutions. This sounds miles better than any of them. A Chromecast and an Onkyo 7030 round out the system. I grabbed some new tubes from "The Valve Lady" at Vacuum Tube Supplies here in Denver and have been playing around with the preamp. Good times.

 

Scored a bluesound vault 2. Analog is my primary but I wanted a way to rip the 500 or so cds I saved, stream from tidal and do so in a fuss free way that sounded good.

Ordered from crutchfield for the 60 day return period and so far it has exceeded expectations.

Ripping could not be simpler, sound is very good and it gives me the flexibility to add their speakers in other rooms as I go. You don’t hear much about this but if you’re looking for a fuss free path into streaming/computer audio it should be on your list.

 

Oh dear..... a Technics SL1200G ordered yesterday. Do I really need five turntables?

 

If this counts....I just picked up a Marantz 2230 to refurb!

 

Yes. Yes you do. Hope that helps in case there was any question in your mind lol . Enjoy the new wheel-o-steel

 

Welcome to the club, Drewan77.

As to your question regarding five turntables, my suggestion would be to have a shootout with the various tables you have now and keep the best one or two to go with the direct drive SL-1200G. Selling off a couple would provide some $ to take the sting out of the purchase of the Technics.

 

Just picked up a new-to-me set of Mission 737R's. Bought them from the original owner who is an audiophile and is selling some of this gear due to downsizing. Came with the original stands, pikes, and owners manual. After some clean-up and grill repairs they're ready to go. They will be going into my office system, however, I don't think I'll be able to use them on an everyday basis until September ish but in the mean time I'll pull them out every so often for a listen

 

It's on back order so hopefully the guilt will have faded a bit by the time it's ready - the guy in the shop couldn't believe I said "take as long as you like".

Have to make do with the others till then....

 

Yes, I will probably sell a heavily modified RP6. I've recently got rid of a Chord 64 DAC & a few other bits + I got a 17% discount so overall it's (already) cost 'only' £1800/$2400.

 

Didn't need it but I splurged for an Oppo UDP 203 to watch the 4K Blu Rays I've bought in 4K and HDR. This is not so much a purchase of new gear but I sent my malfunctioning PS Audio P500 regenerator to the factory to have them refurbish it.