FREE HIGH-END AUDIO SETUP CONSULTATIONS

Hi Pavel, earlier in the thread, my used moniker was 'dacpin'.

Hopefully not too confusing, but the admin has now assisted, and I am once more reinstated with my long-time moniker 'pindac' .

Vinyl is a Source that is more than just the replays of music. There are mechanical interfaces that, when designed and produced for optimisation, produce supporting replay ancillaries that are notable for the impression their usage can make.  

When the vast range of vinyl replay ancillaries is being considered, the requirements of producing optimised interfaces between the three critical devices used to replay vinyl is a substantial challenge to create notable good impressions.

My experiences have led me to the mindset that only when the mechanical functions upstream of electronic amplification are at the very best as an individual part and when sharing their role with the other mechanical ancillaries is producing a mechanical synergy that is outstanding. Only then will any downstream electronics used to amplify the sent signal be able to be accurately assessed for their contribution to creating a End Sound. 

In a nutshell, a Vinyl Source is only usable if a mechanical function os occurring. It is very easy to express a passion for the mechanics in parity to the passion for the data embedded in the Vinyl Groove. 

My collection of Vinyl as a regular activity commenced over 40 years ago, where my fledgling learning about the value of the necessary mechanics commenced approx' 30 years ago. Learning about the importance of an electronic support totally dedicated to adding gain began around 1998, when my first of many custom-produced items was designed and built for me, being an SS Phonostage, which I still own and occasionally use 30 years later. After a period of nearly 30 years, where Valves replaced SS for being dominant, I have now returned to SS, and as part of this, I am using a recently completed build, being a SS MM/MC Phonostage, custom produced for me with a current approach for the design. 

CD arrived as a Source much later on in my Journey. I was to discover CD whilst assisting a friend, by loaning my ears to assess designs for SCP's the individual was producing.

CDP's were loaned to be assessed at home in the system, along with a few selected CD's as a loan. CD's kept in the Car were also used as the Source Recordings. 

It took about a year to acclimatise, and the good impression made that won me over, was when a very expensive modified CDP became a CDT attached to an off-board DAC.  

The DAC proved so impressive that I had a custom version produced for myself, which had valves used in the circuit.

The local audio club has A/B'd this DAC with same Source in both CD and Vinyl, and there is no doubt that the CD > DAC replay produces End Sound that is parity to the Vinyl, even though there are recordings and certain areas within a recording, where discernible difference is easily perceived.

I have experienced a large selection of DAC's coupled to CDT's or CDP's and am yet to find one that has the impact that the one in the home system is capable off.

Today, after having looked for a number of years into how to progress with my experiences of a digital Source with CD as the Source Recording. I am leaning away from the idea that improvement of the transport is needed. My investigations have landed me in the area of digital, where the SD Card is the Source Recording, and a FLAC file is the data store for the replays. 

Being able to bypass the use of a CD Drive / Laser Reader has hit home as a method to produce a replay, especially supported by the home system's DAC.

Currently, CD is the main replay using the home system. I thoroughly enjoy the non-concern for fragile parts needed to create a replay using Vinyl. I also lean heavily towards the CD as it is proving to be a means to extend the time a Vinyl Sources Cartridge is kept in good condition.

Over the recent past months, I have had to come to terms with the olden ways that I stuck close to, have been impeding the growth of the home system's sound-producing capabilities. Since early 2026, I have been evaluating and eventually became totally sold on a new Speaker Model added to the home system.

All the custom designs created and built for the Vinyl Source - Digital Source, along with the custom designs produced for the amplification, have shown themselves off at another level. The capabilities of these designs have floored me. It is genuinely difficult to choose words that explain what is occurring; using expressive words is not a worthy description.

Being endlessly inquisitive, there'd been a desire festering and needing to be put tp rest. Experiencing a complete SS System with the new Speakers. A full SS system has not been used in the home system since the mid' 90's.

To achieve this SS experience, an SS Pre Amp is used, which is the prototype of the SS section of the ongoing new custom-produced Pre Amp. (Ready for July) Downstream of this Pre, is a Monoblock Neurochrome Power Amp, built slightly different to the commonly used schematic. 

The result of my curiosity has been that both my wife and I are 'Gobsmacked' by the SS demo. The End Sound being experienced is so much wanted. The cost to achieve this, leaving the Sources and Speakers of the bill, is close to £1000, which is a head-scratcher.

Valves owned and in use/stored are far exceeding £1K in cost. 

In the past, I have heard a Neurochrome Monoblock inserted into an approx' £200K system with £70K speakers in use. On this day, the Monoblock N'chrome was to follow a usage of a Soulution Amplification costing near £50K. At the outset it was easy to feel the comparison was not a good challenge. The actual result being the N'chrome was so impressive, it was very well received by all in attendance and was extremely attractive as the Amp' to continue in use, but others had travelled far, and were to have their moment using the system and their devices.

The Monoblock N'chrome, as recollected at the above demo, does not leave me feeling it was the best of the demos received. My most recent experience of it has me totally rethinking my home system (home second system is now a conversation with substantiation). 

Vinyl vs CD vs Streaming are not the only worthwhile evaluations to learn where an individual is to become Wed. Recent experience has strongly suggested that SS vs Valve is an additional evaluation worthwhile undertaking, and those already wed to the Valve circuit might be compelled to reconsider their interest in SS, especially when an exchange set of Valves is required to be purchased, these might be more than the SS Amp's option that is available today. 

I fully understand why forum member '@ whitesix' was to become extremely impressed by a SS Clone Amp' costing near $1K , which caused his questioning his dedication to Valve Amp's    

 

 

     

Am I correct in my understanding that you are offering free, no obligation system set-up/tune-up advice??  If so, I'm interested. 

Thanks,

Keith in Portland (Oregon)

@colossalsound - Pavel, the Tascam  DA-3000 was not on my list of devices being investigated for a SD Card replay. Now that I have looked into this model, I have an interest in it. 

Recording Vinyl is not my usual activity, but who knows their future.

Out of curiosity, when recording Vinyl, are you using a reasonably priced MM Cart' into a quality design for a Phonostage or an up-market MC Cart?

Have you compared the recording of Vinyl where a MM and MC have been used for  the same Track being assessed? 

I have MM's and a selection of very good Phon's, it seems to me that the method will preserve the life of an expensive MC.

Thank you for the clarification, wish I could afford the Lina but I'm not quite there yet! 🙂 Looking forward to your next article.

E.

Keith, yes, you're right - free and no obligation. The only thing is, the forum engine doesn't seem very useful for question-and-answer messages. If you want to ask something, use my WhatsApp 917 721-54-34 or Instagram @colossal_sound_ca

Pindac, since I've been mostly listening to rock music, I prefered vinyl records and tapes. And when I was testing various tonearms/cartridges/turntables, I used a Tascam 3000 to compare test records - it was very fast and easy. BTW, I still have a number of those tracks - maybe I will make a page with links to them, and you will be able to compare ADC XLM on SME series III vs Shure V15 on 3009 vs Air Tight on Moerch DP8 vs Denon 103 on SAEC etc without actually having all that gear. 

When I decided to immigrate in 2022, I recorded my entire vinyl collection simply because I couldn't take it with me. And now I have it all on one small HD. When I was recording all those records, my vinyl end was almost at the limit of perfection. I used a tweaked Micro Seiki RX5000, Ikeda 9Gss on Ikeda 407 12," and Koetsu Jade on the same type of tonearm for 20% of the collection. By the way, I think it's a good topic material - to explain how to use 2-3 tonearms and 2-3 cartridges wisely. Very often, I see people just put one MM cartridge and one MC cart on a 2-tonearm TT and think it gives some good variety, though it doesn't.

Your idea of saving an expensive MC cartridge by listening to digitized records makes sense only if you're listening to them all day, day after day. And actually, you won't save much anyway. The Tascam 3000 costs about $1,200, but to make it sound on par with the original vinyl (and still a bit worse), you need cables that add at least $6-8K to the system. Enough for a new good MC cartridge. And honestly, I can't imagine I would listen to my digital files if I had my old record collection and the vinyl end with me. I would listen to the original source for sure.