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mulveling

Responses from mulveling

Who still does mods for CD players
Dan Wright (Modwright) is the only one I’d trust to do any kind of mods, by far. I have a good friend with some of the Kern mods on an SCD-1. No thanks, not for me. In the last several years, and particularly with the passing of Oppo, Dan’s moddi... 
SUT With a Manley Steelhead RC?
I think it’s well known Koetsu never wound their own SUT’s, but sourced them from a Japanese maker - the question is "who"? Haven’t seen an answer on that, yet. The new metal-box SUT shows some additional components inside there too (resistors) al... 
Improving a stone rack
I share experiences with others, whereby adding granite slabs under components or (especially here!) speakers has had a significantly deleterious effect on sound quality. Harsh, bright, brittle sound. Just awful.  Of course there are also known q... 
SUT With a Manley Steelhead RC?
When I look at SUTs / cartridge pairings, I first consider "are SUT’s good for this cartridge?". For that, you look at the ratio of a cartridge’s output voltage over its coil ohms. This is proportional to how much current the cartridge can supply ... 
Graham Phantom B44 on a TD124 or a SOTA Sapphire?
I'm not sure I've seen the Phantom on a SOTA - are you sure it fits with clearance on all sides? The magnetic outrigging might make for a tight fit. I got my SOTA Star years ago with a Fidelity Research FR64fx (vintage Japanese arm), and to me th... 
Brigid Monos or Mono Blocks?
So am I interpreting your response correctly in that it would be better to use mono blocks rather than bridge two Stereo amps? SimAudio has a unusual way of Bridging the 330A Stereo amp. They sell a XLR Y-daptor cable that on one end is two XLR c... 
Brigid Monos or Mono Blocks?
When I’ve tried stereo/mono bridge-able Solid State, the bridging brings a lot more power - up to 4x power, if the amp truly "doubles down" because its PSU / output stage / heat sinks can handle the strain. But more often you’ll actually see a ~ 3... 
Anybody Using a Portable Audio Player (DAP) As a Streamer?
I've been playing with an iBasso DX220 MAX in that capacity. The "problem" is its balanced line-out sounds so good, there may be no rational use of its digital (coax) out. Fed right from line-out into a very nice VAC Master preamp and Statement 45... 
New video OCD Mikey nat amplifier
Always wondered how the existence of four or eight Power tubes on an amplifier impact the sound in light of all the travelling in and out of every single tube that occurs. In this case you’ve got one big tube and I wonder does this benefit the s... 
VPI Prime Sig/Lyra Delos / Feedback ...help!
When I was having footfall issues in my office setup, the ISO Acoustics pucks didn’t do jack to help. A maple butcher block was also completely ineffective. The shockwave of heavy footsteps on bouncy floor induces a (relatively) huge displacement ... 
Anybody else get a NAD M66 yet?
@jimmy2615 Thanks for your impressions - and that’s a bit of a bummer. I was a little interested in M66 as a pure 2ch analog preamp, but that’s not gonna cut it at almost $6K. With the analogous "older" pairing, M22 V2 and M12, I also found the ... 
Anybody else get a NAD M66 yet?
It works. I just tried a USB unpowered drive, plugged it into the back of the unit. The M66 automatically indexed it without me doing anything. About 5 minutes later it became available and playable. The albums show up in your BluOS app on your t... 
SUT With a Manley Steelhead RC?
It’s a complicated question, because the steelhead’s "Z" inputs uses autoformers (primary only) rather than a traditional SUT (primary + secondary windings). I don’t think most of us have a good understanding of autoformers in this application lol... 
Why don't we tire of music?
TV shows and books depend on stimulating us through both logical and emotional pathways. Once we know how a book or show ends, and why, the logical pathway is "satisfied" and cannot be stimulated again in the same way. Music hits us very hard on ... 
Is tube sound vs solid state easier to distinguish using headphones?
I reaaallllly don't want to get that much into acoustics discussions lol. I stand by my prior stated experience and opinion: gear choices are more important. And good speakers are more revealing of upstream changes than headphones.