phill

Responses from phill

Phono Preamp Recommendations
Not that I've heard them all but I preffered the Musical Fidelity V-LPS to the Cambridge 640P. 
Driving myself crazy with TT purchase...
From what I understand, you are better off going for a MKII version of the Thorens TD-125, the MKI had some electrical component problems and is why they went to the MKII shortly after coming out with the MKI. Don't discount a TD-160, with some wo... 
Sensible upgrade from Denon DL160
The Dl-160 is probably being used straight into 47K, try 1K. 
Review: VALAB 8x TDA1543 NOS DAC DA converter
Bypass the output caps with some .22uf film caps such as the Abbligato then sit back and laugh at the high priced stuff. Make sure to burn it in for 180 hours. 
Valab NOS USB DAC - First impression
I'm not sure what you mean by adding 12ax7's, there are no tubes in the Valab dac, it's solid state. No, I'm using coax and toslink. 
Valab NOS USB DAC - First impression
Matt, in my experience the Valab sounds good during break in but after about 180 hours it settles down opens up and smoothes out. 
Denon DL 103R vs. AT OC9 - MLII
I've had both. You'll want a heavier tonearm for the 103R. I had the 103R and did not get good results, I'm afraid my arm was not a great match. The OC9 is a different sound altogether, more detail and not as fleshed out as the 103 making for a le... 
DAC recommendation
BTW, I'm using the EE Minimax also with the Valab Dac and getting excellent results. 
DAC recommendation
You may want to take a look at the Valab Dac sold on Ebay, it is a NOS Dac with 8 x 1543 chips, has Coax,USB and Toslink inputs. It sells for $180.00 shipped from Taiwan, excellent sounding Dac that is shockingly good, period. 
What would you buy Sub $350 Firewire/USB DAC
I posted earlier about the Valab Dac that I had problems with and have to say Kevin from Valab provided excellent customer service in taking care of the situation. Valab has settled in on the parts used for current production and are now using a 1... 
Toslink vs SPDIF converter..optical wins
I just splurged and ordered the 6 footer for something like $2.96, $5.62 shipped. 
What would you buy Sub $350 Firewire/USB DAC
Hello All, I have the Valab Dac, actually it is the second one, 6 of the 8 dac chip capacitors began to fail, the ends of the cap opened up and the contents began to vacate the cap casing. This first dac sounded extremely open and transparant at t... 
Which tube cd player do you like
"i own a paradisea. i would not recommend this dac. i will put it up for sale at the end of the summer. it does not sound like it has a tube in it."What were you using as a transport? 
What is equal to the Rega Apollo for less money?
The 740c is also equipped with 2 inputs for digital sources. I hooked up a cheap DVD player to one of the inputs of my 740c, the result was definately an improvement over the DVD players output.Phill 
What is equal to the Rega Apollo for less money?
I have a Cambridge 740c and have had no problems, great machine. Problems with the 640c are well known, the ribbon cable would become dislodged leaving the left channel dead, subsequent models are supposed to be free of this problem. I had a Rega ...