My experience of the SC-1 Mini is exactly the same. It's a little miracle box (and level 3 is also my usual go-to setting). I have a lot of records from my late father-in-law that are not in great shape (he took care of his records but a lot were bought second hand in varying condition) and it's a joy to hear them through the SugarCube. Weirdest experience so far with my own records is having the SugarCube on when playing Beastie Boys' Root Down and having the crackle from the sampled Jimmy Smith LP disappear.
Another night with the Sugarcube! This device is blowing my mind. It's completely opened up thousands of records that I had put into a possible giveaway stack. Where it's really proving itself is on classical. I bought tons of thrift store classical when everyone dumped it. It's in good shape but not up to the condition of my newer records. I've been going through and listening to some and it's truly amazing to hear just music. This got me thinking - I love my analog records and love the whole vinyl experience. What this device has done is allow me to turn off the analytical part of my mind that expects to hear a tic or pop and enjoy the music on a new level. It's still the same joy of vinyl listening but with that worry or expectation of occasional pops or tics erased, it's like a deeper connection with the actual performance. I can not detect it. I tried it on perfect records and switched from bypass to level three. In this case with a perfect record, I was hard pressed to tell a difference. It's pretty much transparent at that level which is enough for everything I've thrown at it. Everything is intact. It's really amazing. A friend said why not just listen to digital? Well a couple of reasons. These are masterings I want to hear that might not be available digitally. Also when I have digital in hand, I tend to skip around. This encourages me to sit for 20 minutes and hear the record as intended. If one has a large collection and it's not all mint, this box is a godsend.
People just have to get past the idea that you are converting the sound to digital so the SC can work its miracles and then beck to analog again. Just go listen to one or buy it and try it. When I describe it to people, what I am saying sounds to good to be true even for me. I also have a Klaudio UCM and that is a 1-2 punch for generally silent and click free vinyl. I recently did a massive upgrade to my system. Two weeks ago my brother and my record store owner came over on two different days to listen to LPs on my new gear. In both cases we listened to high quality or audiophile quality LPs for about 3 hours. No record noise or clicks and pops were heard during the entire 3 hours. Both times. In fact for my record store owner, we also listened to cuts from several VG+ used records he had picked up for me and they sounded as good as new and 100% click free. The only way to know is to audition one with your own two ears. I often say it: In my 50 years in this hobby, this is hands down the best money I have ever spent.
Glad you found it as transformative an experience as many people on this thread, including I, did. I started my journey with vinyl with open eyes. Born in the digital era, I knew that I had to have this item in my chain, from the start, to truly enjoy the vinyl experience I had in my head and make it a long-term hobby. I got it 2 months after I got my first turntable and my first record. It's off 99% of the time, but when it needs to come on, what it does keeps me in this hobby. Looking forward to the video on it
Was offered a friends' used SC-2 Plus. I currently own the (regular) SC 2 (no plus). Worth the upgrade? I am having a bit of difficulty keeping track of what was added to the plus aside from the SVNR software, the SPDIF & Toslink and upgraded USB ports. Curious if anyone is aware of any difference in the hardware after that? Front panels appear to be near identical and the regular SC2 runs the latest firmware. Thanks in advance!
After years of deliberating, I finally placed my order for a SC-1 Mini. This thread has been a wealth of information, thank you all for your contributions.
They are typically in short supply and go in and out of stock quickly. Music Direct showed them in stock just now, but that typically changes very quickly.
Just out of interest, do Sweet Vinyl have any other products planned? For example a fully featured preamp or integrated incorporating the click and pop removal? I'd love to see a product that enables me to cut down on the number of boxes I have.
They already make a model with integrated phono. Absolutely no news on a new lineup though. Surely there must be something in the works.
Forgive me for not surfing through 133 pages. If I get one, it would be a version of the SC1. I'm a bit confused as to the difference between the SC1 Mini and SC1 Plus. I've posted about the Plus before but never bought it wondering about the 2x $. Any help?
As wonderful as it is, I have not used my SC1-mini in months. I just turn it ON once in a while to check for updates. My problem with using the SC1-mini is not the thought of converting to digital (I could care less; I have a lot of digital vinyl), but the anxiety of relying on it for vinyl listening. When I was using my SC1-mini all the time, I got used to the clean sound, so much so that I hated listening to less than perfect albums. And the unit is not so cheap, with no real competition . Note that I mainly listen to new jazz records, which are usually of audiophile quality. I live close to the Sweet Vinyl factory so I hope Dan does not read this and beat me up next time I am in their neighborhood for posting this .
I wouldn't connect it to a computer so I guess the question for me to answer is what is it worth for the upgrades. Has anyone compared the mini and plus? Could you hear a difference?
I found myself wondering how much others use it. You made an interesting point that had crossed my mind in my brief audition (that is ongoing) and that is the thought "I could get used to this." In fact I had forgot to switch it out when I opened and played a new AP Living Stereo LP and was enjoying it so much, then realized "hey I have to go bypass and make sure the LP really is as good as it sounds with the Sugarcube. So I started it over and it was super clean on its own. Then the thought occurred to me,"why not leave it engaged all the time?" Once I've checked for defects, the record goes into my permanent collection. Since it's virtually transparent, I could see leaving it on all the time with the exception of checking a new record. As I said in another comment, the great benefit beside the clean sound is the elimination of that analytical mindset of expecting some kind of noise. I can't describe how freeing that is, and how I focus much more intently of the performance and mastering. Particularly on classical I found it much more immersive.I guess it's something each person has to decide and experience for themselves but the benefit to me went way beyond click and pop removal. That was the biggest surprise.
For me this is a no brainer. As far as the "I could get used to this mindset": That is the whole point. Why not get used to it? If you can't hear it, why not have a record sound the best it can sound? I am the first to admit, I am a bit excessive when it comes to clicks and pop on my records. They can completely take me out of the moment. This was what caused me to switch to CDs. In the pre-CD days, I used to know where certain clicks and pops were on my records. That is how much they annoyed me. I used to cringe just before they occurred. When I got my SC, I soon got over the analog to digital back to analog conversion "bias". I just don't hear any difference on reasonable settings. I don't bother checking new records. I clean them and if I don't hear any clicks or pops, that is good enough for me. I typically buy VG+ used records and I clean them in my Klaudio UCM. Dome deal. If there are some clicks and pops with the SC on, I clean them again. If I still hear clicks and pops on a new record it gets returned. On the occasional VG LPs I buy, any audible clicks or pops are rare. I just don't buy crappy used records. I value my stylus too much to subject it to abuse. I always told myself if I did get a somewhat crappy copy of a grail LP, I would play it on my turntable ONCE and use the Mini's record function to generate a digital file for any future playback. I originally thought I would use the SC as needed and bypass it on new or audiophile records. That was a given for me. I found on most of my records that needed help, a setting of 3 got rid of the clicks and pops. I tested a lot of regular LPs to get there. When I was initially putting the SC through its paces, I decided to try it on my best sounding audiophile reissues. What made me do that was I bought the Analogue Productions LP Ellington Masterpieces. Fremer listed it as number 1 on his list of the "Top 100 Best Sounding LPs in Print". I bypassed the Sugar Cube and about a minute in there was a pop where something must have fallen out if the air and landed on my record. This LP had amazing sound and was so clean and silent this one pop took me out of the moment. This got me thinking. I decided to trot out a dozen of my best sounding audiophile LPs. These were a mix or rock, jazz and classical LPs. At a setting of 3 I could not hear the SC in action on any of these LPs. So why not leave it on all the time? I never had to remember to turn it back on or bypass it. At first I still used to bypass it anytime there was a firmware upgrade, just to double check it. I soon got out of this habit. Now the only time I do my due diligence is when I purchase a new component(s). Even with my latest upgrade 5 months ago to my Dream / Retirement system, I still do not hear the SC in action. Except for the no clicks or pops of course. This latest system is amazingly quiet, detailed and discerning, but I still can't hear it. The only time I bypass the SC now is to demo it for someone to show them how magical and amazing it is. Everyone has the same reaction: "You told me about this, but until I heard it for myself I didn't really believe it." As an aside, the only time I have heard the Sugar Cube in action was in the second half of 2020 when I got the then brand new SC-2 Mini. There was a problem with the early firmware where on certain records the SC would start generating random clicks and pops in the left channel after playing certain types of records. If played a particularly dense, complex and compressed sounding record that would sometimes (but not always) trigger it. For me a restart cured it for at least a few days. Even in this case I still wanted my SC to be on all the time, the benefits outweighed the occasional restarts. By the fall of 2020 the firmware upgrades had pretty much cured it for me. A few people still can have that issue, but the process to reset it no longer requires a full restart. I guess the question everyone has to ask themselves is: If I did hear the Sugar Cube in action, which is worse: The slight change in sound I may be hearing on certain records or the sound of the clicks and pops on the record? Everyone's answer will be different.
Whenever I get a brand new record I'll listen to the first 30 seconds on bypass so I can judge the general quality of the vinyl. If it's quiet I'll turn it up to 3 and listen to the whole album. If I hear any pops I'm returning the record. Similar process for vintage stuff but I'll go straight to 5. I don't like going higher as I'm definitely starting to remove actual music. I do get annoyed by those records that are mostly clean apart from one or two real stonking pops that the SugarCube can't completely fix at lower settings. If SweetVinyl ever refresh their product line I hope they find a way to be more aggressive with huge solitary clicks. As for whether the unit is affecting the sound I suspect it is. Not that I can reliably tell when actually listening to music. I do clearly notice that if you turn up the volume (without a record playing) and listen to the background hiss the SugarCube will tame the treble quite a bit, even without repair mode engaged. Tweaking the treble knob on my amp brings it back. I usually listen with a slight treble boost anyway, so I think it should balance out. Either way, changing speakers or cartridge has a far more dramatic effect on my sound than the SugarCube.
Some very interesting thoughts there. I keep my SC on. I guess my attitude is: Life is too short, so I don't need to know what I can't hear with the SC off. If the Sugar Cube is dealing with any clicks or pops on the record great, that is why I bought it. All of my records get cleaned on my Klaudio UCM. That is my 1-2 punch for quiet vinyl. After cleaning, it is rare that I have any noise of any kind left on a decent quality new pressing. If I do, it gets cleaned a second time which fixes the issue almost every time. As I said above, if there are still clicks and pops the record gets returned. I hear you on the one or two loud pops that may be too big for the SC to deal with. I also hate runout grooves which have grunge and crackle in them and are just noisy. As long as it doesn't happen during the fade out of the music, I just grin and bear it. I tried your experiment. Just now, I was listening to a new record very, very loudly. As loud as I ever do. I was reading your post and I decided to try your background hiss test after the side ended. From my listening position I heard no hiss. I put my ear an inch or so from the tweeter and I could hear some his. Without moving my I turned Bypass on and off several times and still heard no difference. Perhaps there is something about your setup vs mine that is perhaps making the SC work harder and because of that be more audible. I know in the past Sweet Vinyl had mentioned there are certain cartridges / preamps etc. that don't play as nicely with the Sugar Cube. Just Wild @ss Guessing here. I will admit I was glad my setup passed even this test. But since you don't notice it with music, you are all good. Unless of course you like listening to just hiss.
I do mean loud. Break your speakers loud if anything was actually playing. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm picking up more background hum than you are. My turntable isn't in the most electronically quiet part of my house. Still, I just took delivery of two records. A quick listen tells me that they'd be rejected if not for the SugarCube. What a marvellous little box.
Something is not right. There is just an "audiophile relay" (i.e., a piece of wire) in bypass mode -- so the SC should not do anything to the sound. You should look into how you ground your TT relative to the SC.
I think @PATB is absolutely correct now that he mentions it. But just for fun I cranked my system up to 11 on a scale of 1-10. If a source was playing the sound would have blown me through the wall. There was no difference in the sound. My new Parasound JC5 Amp, JC2 BP preamp and JC3+ preamp are known for their extremely low noise floor. I suspect they are not giving my SC any extraneous noise it has to deal with in addition to what is on the record. Amen to that.
Not in bypass. Digital sampling but with repair mode disengaged. Still, something must be different with my system. I noticed the same thing with my first SugarCube. It's not subtle. One day I'm going to feed the unit a pure white noise signal and get to the bottom of it. Either way I can't reliably hear any difference with actual music.
For the record I did that too during my most recent test. I just turned Repair on and off without putting the unit in Bypass. I also cranked up the repair settings. No matter what I did, I still heard no difference.
Reject, reject! As wonderful as the SC is, keep an eye on the future buyers of your record collection who won't have one. They will reject... When my SC was in the loop, I always listened to the first play without it to assess the record for rejection level issues.
