The All Purpose Advice Thread

I am happy with my current setup but I am left wondering whether a tube sound for speakers & HD800S is my next step.

My current setup is:
DAC: Yggdrasil (+wyrd)
Amp: Ragnarok (Musical Fideliti M6i relegated to storage)
Main headphone: HD800S
Speakers: Monitor Audio GX100 (88db sensitivity, 8 Ohm dropping only to 6Ohm pairing really well with the Rag)

Music: Almost exclusively Classical including Renaissance, Classical era, Romantic, Modern, and Avante-guarde (may include electronic music).
Sometimes I delve into alternative rock, 60s, 70s (Bob Dylan, Rolling stones, Beatles, Arcade Fire, Joy Division, Radiohead, Portis Head, Sigur Ros etc)

My aim is a neutral sound with mids that are not recessed. Basically I want the system to disappear (easier said than done I know!)

My speakers + YggyRag deliver this with some expected minor deficiency in low bass as I have no sub (organ does not reach lowest tones as HD800S). The HD800S despite all its positive attributes (soundstage, resolution and imaging) has reduced upper mids causing some issues with string chamber music (violins recessed) and opera (distant vocals)

I have found the Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP that has enough power to run my speakers adequately - 70W per channel from EL34w, 80 W from KT88s, 84 W from kT120s and 96W from KT150s.

The primaluna has a headphone single ended output but reviews barely mention it and it may not pair well with the HD800S. It does deliver the same power to the headphones.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/...m-hp-integrated-amplifier#Qd26MT7Jfa3rhDzj.97

http://www.primaluna-usa.com/54-products/dl-prem/196-dl-premiumhp-int

I have almost no experience with tubes, my only tube amp being the Vali 1, which I like but prefer the Rag.
My main concern is getting a warm tuby sound which is not my aim. Auditioning it is not possible at the moment. Any advice about this option from more experienced SBAFriends would be greatly appreciated.

 

@Muse Wanderer - Have you considered the Sonarworks plugin? Fairly inexpensive and may well address the issue you have with your current setup.

http://sonarworks.com/headphones/overview/

 

I am considering equalisation but my own attemps using J River parametric equalisation have not been adequate. I tend to lose something whenever I play around with the peaks on the HD800S using my ears. My speakers always come on top and I have somewhat resigned myself to the recessed mids of the HD800S and listen to say opera on speakers. I love everything else about the HD800S and can live with them for now. Speakers are still my reference, Bach, Wagner, Ligeti, so many other composers are just sublime. The soundstage created by the Yggdrasil is incredible.

The Sonarworks plug-in may come in handy especially if it corrects the one deficiency of the HD800S, recessed mids. The HD800S is still a great step-up from the excruciating, treble piercing HD800.

Tube amps that pair well with medium efficiency speakers and HD800S are hard to find and I was surprised when I encountered the primaluna. I was wondering whether someone has experienced this.

I talked to a fellow on another forum who had a Pass Labs INT-150 running Dali Epicon 2 speakers and Audeze LCD-XC.
He exchanged the Pass amp with the Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP and he was completely blown away.
http://www.talkclassical.com/6761-audiophile-question-what-do-post1012083.html#post1012083
http://www.talkclassical.com/36183-amplifier-upgrade-post1008616.html#post1008616
I was almost going to pull the trigger on a second hand one from Germany but then opted not to. You know, that upgrade itch, itches a lot sometimes!

 

I think this got buried in the deluge.
Anyone with advice? Just want small speakers for use with a PC, mainly for watching shows from 6 feet away.

 

@The Alchemist I have that AT LP60, I'm sure it's not audiophile worthy in several ways, but for my use cases it is cheap, easy, and works reliably.

I have it hooked up to a home theater receiver and just normal speakers, and in a non audiophile context (I don't listen often or critically with good gear) I think it sounds fine. I'm sure there's many reasons better tables are better, but I just wanted to chime in my 2c

 

I was thinking of selling my m51 (mint). I post an ad in a few days if anyone is interested. FW 1.39 box and accessories.

 

Does the AT LP60 has RCA outs so I can connect to to my Valhalla 2 headphone amp?

Also, if it isn't too much trouble, could you post me a pic of the inputs and outputs of the AT LP60? I looked online and all I can see are pictures of the front of the turntable

 

Oddly enough the output is a fixed short 2ft cord terminating in MALE rca. It also comes with a short rca to 3.5mm adapter, but likely you will need to purchase an rca extension to better suit your needs

The only other thing back there is a switch which turns the built in preamp on or off.

 

is the male RCA cord stereo meaning is there left and right RCA outputs on that cord you speak of?

 

Right yeah a "pair" of male RCA's, as in one right (red) and one left (white)

 

thank you @PoochZag

 

Hey folks,

I've recently bought a new computer, but it's doesn't have any firewire or thunderbolt port. My mistake.
However, I've seen a lot of USB interfaces which seems to be great deals, like the focusrite scarlett 18i20.
I used to have the saffire pro 26, and I was glad about it.

My question is in the title : Any idea about a good USB audio interface? With at least 4 inputs.

Thx, Marius.

Sorry for my english, i'm french ; )

 

For the record (heh), I don't recommend the LP60. it's plastic, lightweight, prone to skipping, non adjustable counterweight, can only use one crappy needle, has serious issues with 180g vinyl, and chew up your records. I used one for a couple years before spending 35 dollars on a vintage table, only to notice that all the records I played frequently on the LP60 had high surface noise and a ton more hiss and pop than records I bought after I got rid of it.

Think about the engineering challenge here: extracting delicate stereo information from tiny grooves in plastic that are read by a tiny magnet jiggling back and forth (ok it's more complicated than that, sure) as it's on a needle being guided over these ridiculously tiny grooves, with only a couple of grams of weight between them and the vibrations of speakers and other movements about the room to fend off. and transmitting that information reliably to the preamp. It is just not something that can be done decently for cheap. My two cents are to go for a decent turntable (U-turn, LP120, vintage used) or don't go at all, because the cheap stuff makes too many sacrifices to be worth anything.

 

I've come across a quandry as to what to do with my speaker setups, hopefully someone here could help:

I have two speaker setups, one for my living room is a pair of Magnepan MG12 with a Hafler DH500, and a pair of Micca MB42x with an audioengine N22 amp. The Maggies are...okay, they're good speakers but the Hafler is not the amp for them: it's not a particularly high current amp, as stupidly powerful as it is, so the lows don't carry the weight they should and sound a bit thinned out and a little bright. The Miccas are great for their price (imo they easily best the much more expensive Audioengine P5 and Dali Zensor 1 I heard yesterday, neither of which I'd ever pay money for, but were destroyed by the PSB Alpha and PSB Imagine B), but I think it's time to get a big boy pair of bookshelf speakers.

I can get a pair of Dynaudio DM/6 for less than $600, and a pair of DM/7 for less than $700. I auditioned the DM/6 yesterday and was really impressed with their sound in the audition room, although I think they were a just slightly too polite to convey the aggressiveness of one of my metal test tracks (Behemoth - Blow Your Trumpets, Gabriel). I was thinking I could just sell the Maggies rather than trying to find another amplifier that would be more suitable to them (I think I'm coming around to liking traditional dynamic speakers better than Magnepans anyway), and to just have one pair of bookshelf speakers that moves back and forth between rooms as needed. I'm probably moving relatively soon, and the idea of not having to move the Maggies is appealing to say the least.

My questions are many, and really I just need to talk this out with some more experienced audiophiles to get my head straight. For someone who likes a natural sound with realistic timbre and dynamics to be key, what else should I be considering in that price range? Are there any excellent DIY options that come as a kit with cabinets? Am I stupid for wanting to ditch the Maggies and rely on bookshelf speakers and to carry speakers between rooms (it's not that far), to go big on one pair of speakers rather than having two modest ones for two different rooms? One room is open and acoustically not bad at all, and the other is a desktop in the corner of a bedroom which is an acoustical nightmare although pseudo treated to at least try to tame an awful ~90-120Hz resonant peak.

Any opinions?

 

Do you need a USB port on your turntable? If not, ignore any turntable with USB on it. The U-Turn basic is your best bet for an inexpensive turntable. The Plus is a worthy upgrade but you're still going to be better off with the basic than with any of the other tables in that price range.

 

Hey folks! need some advice.

Been running Modi> Valhalla 2> HD650 (modded) for over a year now and enjoying them everyday. I foresee my endgame setup will be bifrost multibit>Valhalla 2>HD800 (modded)

Was all ready to spring for the bifrost multibit (around 700usd after shipping and taxes), and i just found out today i could get a brand new HD800 locally for around 1000usd. I could fork out the difference right now.

Now im torn between which to get first, as Ill probably wait till(save up lol) the later part of the year for my next upgrade.

Ill get both eventually, which should i go for first? Bifrost multi? HD800? Sonically speaking, which makes more sense?

 

@angryteen If you are confident you will end up with the 800, I would start there. Transducer is the most important part of the chain. You will be catching up to its capabilities, but that really isnt a bad thing. What is your dac/amp currently?

EDIT: After seeing Tom's point about cost of HD800, I should ask where you live. I presumed you were not in CONUS since: 1) you specified currency in "usd"; and 2) Bifrost Multibit for $700 after tax (even with shipping) is like a 13% sales tax, which seems excessive. My bad if presumption was wrong. If you are in CONUS, you can find HD800 for less if you are willing to be patient.

 

Either way you will get a clear difference in sound. You can probably get a used HD800 for under $800 later or wait for the mods get finalized. But the same argument applies to get a used Bifrost Multibit. Hope others can give you a better suggestion.