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Am I getting it all?

I have a VPI Scout, Dynavector XX2MKII cart, PS Audio GCPH, going into a Sonic Euphoria passive pre. The sound is quite good, but compared to what is, IMHO, a superb sounding digital front-end, is generally not in the same league. Only on exceptional recordings does my analog front end seem to equal or at times, best my digital gear. I will say, though, that the most intense musical experience I've had on on my system, came while listening to a Tacet lp, Tube Only, of piano and violin. I feel my cartridge set-up is quite good. Does it sound like it's time to go to a better turntable to make any improvement in what I'm hearing? Thanks for the help, Dan
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swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
What is the output of the cart and how much gain does your phono stage have? With a passive pre, that might be an issue. Also what is your digital gear that you are comparing it to?
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ncarv
983 posts
 
I can't imagine . . . your set-up should smoke any digital gear. Other than the passive pre, which I'm not sure how that would affect it. I assume you have adjusted the gain and impedance on the GCPH to find the best settings. Something is not right here.
plato
1,543 posts
 
Putting it through the passive preamp may be squashing the dynamics and the soundstage bloom... That said, there is quite a bit more to tweaking in a good phono system than there is to tune a CD source. So no, I don't believe your getting it all... With a turntable system attention to every detail and proper setup is everything.
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,366 posts
 
Something is wrong with your analog front end setup I would guess. Even cheapest analog I have owned has always managed to easily better any digital I've had even 10K plus CD players.
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islandmandan OP
1,260 posts
 
The output of my XX2MKII is .28mV. My phono stage is capable of 64db of gain. I have tried all the impedence settings, it seems to sound best at the 100 ohm setting.
Since the unit has the gain cell, I used to connect it directly into my power amp, where it had plenty of gain. Going into the passive, I notice no difference in the amount of gain, or the quality of sound.
My digital front end, on the surface, looks mundane, but the entire front-end, Marantz
DV8300, Musical Fidelity A3/24dac, and Genesis Digital Time Lens, have all been heavily modified by David Schulte, and it, at least to my ears, sounds very good indeed.
I have checked and double-checked my arm-cartridge set-up, using two methods, the jig that came with the Scout, and a DB Systems tool. I have adjusted tracking force from 2.0 grams to 1.85 grams, where it sounds best, and adjusted VTA many times to dial in the best-balanced sound. I'm wondering if I've run out of table, or something else. I may try to take it to Tim, at Experience Audio in Seattle, and have him check out my set-up.
Thanks to you all for the input, Dan
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