Benz Micro LP S vs Air Tight PC-1 w/ files
Greetings All,
Having spent the past two weeks comparing the Benz Micro LP S to the Air Tight PC-1, I’ve posted some files to share the results. These are high resolution 96 KHz / 24 bit AIFF files made with each cartridge. I hope you enjoy listening to them and please do post your impressions.
They can be found at:
public.me.com/vinylxfer
or, if your browser doesn’t redirect, here’s the full URL:
http://idisk.mac.com/vinylxfer-Public?view=web
Music / track selection info:
Example #1: Gurdjieff - De Hartmann, “The Bokharian Dervish Hadji Asvatz-Troov” from “The Music of Gurdjieff / De Hartmann.” While many musicians have recorded De Hartmann’s music, this 1950 recording is of the composer performing his own work. Originally restored as reference material for Keith Jarrett’s “Sacred Hymns” album, ECM released a four-disk set of these recordings in 1987. These disks are not in great shape, but they allow us to travel back 59 years to listen to De Hartmann’s beautiful playing.
Example #2: Van Morrison, “Astral Weeks,” title track. 1968 classic is still remarkable. This track was captured from a recent 180-gram reissue.
Example #3: The Durutti Column, “Otis,” from Vini Reilly. Trippy guitar and synth loops that reference everyone from John Fahey to Terry Riley. This track was captured from the original 1989 Factory Records release.
Example #4: Walter Norris & George Mraz, “Drifting,” title track. Norris’ piano and Mraz’s bass playing range from bop to free. Emblematic of the brilliant 1970s loft jazz movement in NYC, this track was captured from the original 1974 Enja records release.
BTW, I don’t mean to suggest that these are the ultimate test tracks. They’re just a sample of what I was listening to last week ☺
Technical Info:
The cartridges were mounted on a VPI JMW 12.7 tone arm / HRX turntable. Mechanical and electrical parameters for each cartridge were adjusted via measurements and then fine-tuned with listening tests. A Pass Labs Xono phono preamp fed an Apogee Electronics Symphony workstation with an Apogee Rosetta 200 analog-to-digital converter front end. The audio was captured at 96 KHz /24 bits. Bias Peak Pro 6.0.3 software was used to create the files. No digital processing was applied to the files.
On surface noise: Each record was cleaned using a VPI HW27 cleaning machine with Audio Intelligent Vinyl Solution Formula #6 cleaning fluid. As the two cartridges appeared to respond differently to surface noise no further cleanup was done on these files, except for the Gurdjieff - De Hartmann. Extensive pops and clicks were removed from the Gurdjieff - De Hartmann captures by manually painting out the errors on the audio waveforms.
