audiofeline Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 All of which is concerning because YT is the only place many young people will go to now to find "information" - watching a video is so much easier than having to read something. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasabijim Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 very easy and worth their while to game YT I'll get feeds about the Ukraine invasion, it's not necessary obvious to everyone (and I may be getting a little conspiracy jumpy) but you've got whole channels posing as legitimate news agencies with an edgy logo plus a vaguely trust worthy & familiar name - iDaily News, Northern Post, EuroToday TV. They have millions of supposed 'views' but you view it and it's like a high school production project from some backwater micro puppet republic with that awkward robotic English dub over slides and 4second loops of blatantly ripped off footage. Grrrr!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 A class leader? The slightly quirky NAD PP2e. G'day all, on this rather rainy day here in North Queensland, it has been a good day for playing records and I've been using my NAD PP2e phono stage. I've previously mentioned my liking for the 'sound' of this phono stage and it's a feeling that grows. Whilst it is a fairly conventional op amp based phono stage unlike the NAD phono preamps of the past with their Holman like discrete circuitry, listening to it today I remembered some similarities with the NAD gear from the 80's that I had. Like the phono stage that was in the NAD 3155 integrated amp that I had then, that phono stage was slightly low output as well. Maybe that has always been an NAD house sound 'characteristic'. One wonders! Regards, Felix. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted April 24, 2022 Author Share Posted April 24, 2022 (edited) Those 'defining' moments in audio. G'day all, feeling a bit reflective at times today, I've been thinking about those 'defining' moments in the amazing hobby of high quality audio for me. In fact there are many of those moments, and it is hard to point to anything too specific, but a couple of things come to mind. Firstly the fun that I had with crystal sets as AM tuners feeding an audio amplifier and speakers. I remember laying in bed listening to the great networked Jazz programs broadcast over our local ABC on medium wave on a late Friday night and thinking, 'how can AM sound so fantastic? We had no FM service locally in those days, and I still think that hi fi AM still sounds amazing! On matters phono, building my first Elliott Sound Products P06 was a definite 'defining' moment for me! I still regard the P06 as the best DIY phono stage for moving magnet cartridges around! What are others 'defining' audio moments? Regards, Felix. Edited April 24, 2022 by catman Spelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 (edited) A question re WIMA capacitors? G'day all, I've been putting my DIY 'Muffsy' phono stage into use in recent days, and it sounds good but has one curiousity that might be traceable to one thing. It uses WIMA capacitors in the RIAA network and to my ears sounds (excessively) 'nice/smooth'). As far as I can tell the RIAA equalisation is accurate but this 'niceness' is a curious sonic characteristic. I am 'blaming' these WIMA capacitors as I have heard a similar sonic profile with other audio gear that has used WIMA capacitors. Is there something about these WIMA capacitors? Regards, Felix. Edited May 1, 2022 by catman Grammar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 6, 2022 Author Share Posted May 6, 2022 Blowing things up, but not knowing why or how you did it! G'day all, well somehow today I managed to kill my original Schiit 'Mani'. It uses a 16 VAC supply, and I simply substituted another one and now it's dead! The white power on LED still comes on as before, but apart from a few occasional beeps and burps, it is dead. Are some things easy to kill? Regards., Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted May 6, 2022 Share Posted May 6, 2022 1 hour ago, catman said: Blowing things up, but not knowing why or how you did it! G'day all, well somehow today I managed to kill my original Schiit 'Mani'. It uses a 16 VAC supply, and I simply substituted another one and now it's dead! The white power on LED still comes on as before, but apart from a few occasional beeps and burps, it is dead. Are some things easy to kill? Regards., Felix. That's a bummer, Felix. Are you sure it doesn't need a 16v DC SMPS - and you used a 16v AC wall wart, instead? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeyboi Posted May 6, 2022 Share Posted May 6, 2022 On 01/05/2022 at 4:51 PM, catman said: A question re WIMA capacitors? G'day all, I've been putting my DIY 'Muffsy' phono stage into use in recent days, and it sounds good but has one curiousity that might be traceable to one thing. It uses WIMA capacitors in the RIAA network and to my ears sounds (excessively) 'nice/smooth'). As far as I can tell the RIAA equalisation is accurate but this 'niceness' is a curious sonic characteristic. I am 'blaming' these WIMA capacitors as I have heard a similar sonic profile with other audio gear that has used WIMA capacitors. Is there something about these WIMA capacitors? Regards, Felix. It's an interesting observation Felix. When you read through some other threads on SNA you get very polarising comments regarding WIMA film capacitors. Some love them, whilst at the other end of the spectrum others absolutely hate them. Go figure that out???? Personally I don't mind them. A quality reliable capacitor at a very affordable price, but as with all things audio, everyone has their favourite brand. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 8, 2022 Author Share Posted May 8, 2022 Another fine DIY phono stage. G'day all, over the years I have built more than a few MM cartridge phono stages and all of them have been very good to excellent. One of the more recent ones has been the simple hifisonix design and it has become one of my favourites. In all honesty it has a sound quite similar to my beloved ESP P06 but the hifisonix design has a very straightforward but interesting full feedback design based on two NE5534 opamps, that is extremely well explained in the accompanying article. A very good headroom overload margin is claimed, and for whatever reason it is a very smooth and uncompressed sounding phono stage. I find it quite gratifying that simple sold state designs can be sonically so good. Regards, Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 16, 2022 Author Share Posted May 16, 2022 Having 'accidents' with records! G'day all, I guess that this is one of those 'inevitable' things that will happen eventually, and just the other evening I somehow managed to skate the stylus across one side of an album but thankfully without major apparent damage, still that is such a major PITA isn't it! I guess that we all have our own sad stories to relate! Regards, Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofeline Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 I recall the night (decades ago now) when I played my new Triffids album and caught the headshell finger lift in my sleeve. Huge gouge in the the record from intro to outro, and my MC cantilever was 90 degrees from when it should have been. You are fortunate not to have damage in your incident. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 19, 2022 Author Share Posted May 19, 2022 (edited) 'Unique' phono stages. G'day all, yes I know that I have too many phono stages for my own good possibly, but just tonight I've been listening to my old ANT Kora 3T SE and it is without much of a doubt, 'unique' in design and sound quality being essentially an all FET design and using FETs not designed for audio use, and allied with this its 'sound quality' is somewhat 'organic' and nice to listen to and somewhat different to your 'typical' phono stage. In all honesty, I probably don't use it as often as I should, but it is a very nice sounding phono stage. I don't know if ANT is still in business, but this ANT Kora 3T SE is definitely 'unique' in the best possible way and meaning. Regards, Felix. Edited May 19, 2022 by catman Spelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 1 minute ago, catman said: 'Unique' phono stages. G'day, yes I know that I have too many phono stages for my own good possibly, but just tonight I've been listening to my old ANT Kora 3T SE and it is without much of a doubt, 'unique' in design and sound quality being essentially an all FET design and using FETs not designed for audio use, and allied with this its 'sound quality' is somewhat 'organic' and nice to listen too and somewhat different to your 'typical' phono stage. In all honesty, I probably don't use it as often as I should, but it is a very nice sounding phono stage. I don't know if ANT is still in business, but this ANT Kora 3T SE is definitely 'unique' in the best possible way and meaning. Regards, Felix. That should be enough to demonstrate to you, Felix, that a TH jfet-based phono stage sounds better than an op-amp one. As you say ... more 'organic'. Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 What was the vinyl sound of yesterday? G'day all, I was just playing my remastered vinyl copy of the JHE 'Elecric Ladyland' and a question came to me. As that album originally came out in '68, I wonder what equipment it was originally played on in '68? Regards, Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muon* Posted May 22, 2022 Share Posted May 22, 2022 Mostly valve based systems I'd say, with a smattering of the new *cough* revolutionary *cough* transistor gear. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeyboi Posted May 22, 2022 Share Posted May 22, 2022 4 hours ago, catman said: What was the vinyl sound of yesterday? Well a lot less compressed sounding than many modern day releases (IOW, before the loudness wars). Audio and pressing quality varied enormously from label to label and genre to genre. 5 hours ago, catman said: G'day all, I was just playing my remastered vinyl copy of the JHE 'Elecric Ladyland' and a question came to me. As that album originally came out in '68, I wonder what equipment it was originally played on in '68? Regards, Felix. In the day there were no direct drive turntables, so probably a belt drive or idler drive system. Better hi-fi systems had magnetic cartridges, but lesser systems used crystal or ceramic cartridges. Portable record players were popular in both using both valve and solid state technologies and many record playing systems still supported the lesser known speed of 16 rpm and the older 78 rpm. Those horrible record changer players were still around and were surprisingly popular even after 1968. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 25, 2022 Author Share Posted May 25, 2022 Phono stage 'clarity'. G'day all, whilst groovin' to some Hendrix last night I noticed something curious. I initially was using my ANT Kora 3T SE FET phono stage which I love, but later in the listening session switched to my Rothwell Simplex and immediately I was struck by the clarity of the Simplex compared to the almost 'veiled' presentation of the ANT Kora 3T SE. it was actually a bit weird. Neither sounded bad, but the sonic difference was very obvious. If I had to make a choice I think that I would choose clarity, but it seemed strange to notice this difference between these two fine phono stages! Regards, Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted May 25, 2022 Share Posted May 25, 2022 7 minutes ago, catman said: Phono stage 'clarity'. G'day all, whilst groovin' to some Hendrix last night I noticed something curious. I initially was using my ANT Kora 3T SE FET phono stage which I love, but later in the listening session switched to my Rothwell Simplex and immediately I was struck by the clarity of the Simplex compared to the almost 'veiled' presentation of the ANT Kora 3T SE. it was actually a bit weird. Neither sounded bad, but the sonic difference was very obvious. If I had to make a choice I think that I would choose clarity, but it seemed strange to notice this difference between these two fine phono stages! Regards, Felix. That is indeed interesting, Felix. Why not now listen to the same tracks, comparing clarity between your Elliott (P06?) and the Simplex? Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 25, 2022 Author Share Posted May 25, 2022 G'day mate, I will. Regards, Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Jones Posted May 25, 2022 Share Posted May 25, 2022 15 minutes ago, andyr said: That is indeed interesting, Felix. Why not now listen to the same tracks, comparing clarity between your Elliott (P06?) and the Simplex? Andy That would be good as a friend of mine is currently building the Elliot P06. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofeline Posted May 25, 2022 Share Posted May 25, 2022 (edited) Felix, I note the comparison you made above between the two phono stages, and noting the difference in clarity. I also note that you have many phono stages and enjoy comparing them on different parameters, including musicality. Have you thought of creating a table where you rate the different phono stages on the different criteria, so an overall comparison can be made between all the phono stages? Edited May 25, 2022 by audiofeline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 25, 2022 Author Share Posted May 25, 2022 G'day mate, I have often considered switching to allow instantaneous comparisons between phono preamps but I don't know if I am 'up to it' sadly. It would be a very worthwhile project though! Regards, Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman Posted May 25, 2022 Author Share Posted May 25, 2022 Good evening all, well I have compared all three phono stages and the results have been probably as expected and I'm starting to wonder if this might be a characteristic of FET sound per se. In the case of the ANT Kora 3T SE it is more complicated as the Infineon BSS devices used which are not audio devices at all as Alex Nikitin freely admitted but they do pretty sound in a phono stage anyway. Anyway, both the ESP P06 and the Rothwell 'Simplex' have the same excellent 'clarity'. They are my personal observations. Regards, Felix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted May 25, 2022 Share Posted May 25, 2022 2 hours ago, catman said: Good evening all, well I have compared all three phono stages ... Anyway, both the ESP P06 and the Rothwell 'Simplex' have the same excellent 'clarity'. They are my personal observations. Regards, Felix. Thanks for doing the comparisons, Felix. So the P06 and the Simplex have the same 'clarity'? The P06 is opamp-based and the Rothwell is discrete transistors, right? If you are suggesting that the jfets used in the ANT Kora are the reason for its lack of 'clarity' ... then, from my own experience with my jfet-based 'Muse', I would have to say ... you are mistaken. So maybe it is ANT's use of "Infineon BSS devices" (whatever they are) is the reason for the Kora's lack of clarity? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muon* Posted May 25, 2022 Share Posted May 25, 2022 (edited) A lot of things in there could inhibit clarity, It's not all about the active devices, they are only one piece of the puzzle. Edit: there is the active devices, how they are being used and even all the passive parts. Edited May 25, 2022 by muon* 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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