Schiit Sol Turntable Sneak-Peak

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...nough-of-those-spinners.51/page-18#post-85237

 

A trick I’ve found on getting good masterings on vinyl for cheap: Many classic albums had long runs using the same stampers and/or machine parts. This means that you don’t have to get a rare UK first press of your favorite album to get your desired mastering. I picked up a NM copy of Exile on Main St. released in Canada, with the best sounding stampers, for around $40. The sound is out of this world. UK first pressings of those probably go in the hundreds.

Oh, and another tip: Don’t buy modern reissues on vinyl. They will almost always sound worse than vintage issues. There are of course audiophile labels that are producing lavish sets of classic albums with great care, but those are increasingly expensive and not viable for someone who has any kind of realistic budget. Maybe splurge on one or two of those for your absolute favorite albums, but even then the price delta usually is well beyond the sound delta. And really, if you’re looking for budget solutions, you probably don’t have a system able to resolve the extra detail/resolution anyway. You’ll want to spend more time than money with vinyl. Do research, talk to audiophiles about pressings, read the endless SHF threads, and hunt down the specific releases that best maximize your sound for the money.

 

I didn't choose vinyl, and nor would other members my age, give or take a decade. It just was! (In fact I graduated from Shellac.) I absolutely empathise with @LetMeBeFrank, although not using the covers to roll joints on for the past 45 years took away a little of the experience. My records are in the cupboard and so is my modest deck. That's just me.

Above all, in a thread dedicated to record-playing equipment, what is the point of but-why-vinyl-at-all posts? Might as well ask a horseman why he doesn't just drive a car.

How (not) to win friends and influence people!

Bring on the Sol!

 

Thank you for the advice and kind words. Actually, I find that diversity of views is what helps us grow, and a community full of it is a place to nurture yourself finding opinions and ideas that probably would not have come to mind on your own. Below I will be a bit more extensive as I am new and I would like to share a bit of my experience up to now (regarding cost/performance) and how it stands behind my first comment. Thank you all for keeping up a community such as this one (I have been reading the forum for a while now, time to become a member I figured).

In the past decade, I have owned AT-LP1240, Pioneer PLX-1000, and Pro-Ject RPM 1.3, while I only have tried the Schiit Phono as external Phono (from which I got such a nice timbre and realistic size and height on the soundstage that I finished the quest right on the first external Phono I purchased). I sold the AT and then got the PLX, then sold the PLX almost trying to resign vinyl due to various reasons besides prices doubling over the last 5 years on records, and shipping costs had increased dramatically too (on/to Canada). However, the wife stood hard against selling the collection, so I resolved to get something cheaper with the money I had around after Selling the PLX. For $220 CAD got a second hand Pro-Ject 1.3. Surprisingly, I found the RPM 1.3 (given one is using 2 separate "stands" for the motor and the V-shaped plinth, cork/vinyl mat, and record clamp) sounded more alive, presented better dynamics, and had a blacker black as floor noise I am concerned compared to the other DD TT I owned before (Downside is I cannot swap cartridges no more). For cartridges, I have tried Ortofon 2M Red, OM10, AT-120E, AT-150Mlx (wow), AT-440mlb, and Nagaoka MP-110 (my favorite).

Do not get me wrong, I still own vinyl, and I was not giving up because I do not think it can cut it. However, it just the sheer fact that it's very costly and demands a lot of work to get right the music, then right version, and/or hoping right mastering. I found myself ravaging my account further, and I am not single anymore (funny how she defended vinyl in spite of the cost and considering it was cause of many backlashing regarding the audio-mania) Else, when I started buying vinyl just hoping for it to sound better, rapidly I found that all was more about mastering than just source. Some vinyl is just as crippled as their digital "counterparts".

For DAC instead, I have spent a fraction of the money I have spent on Analog gear. I owned a Schiit Modi Multi-bit which I found so inexpensive and amazing I gave away to a friend back home (a place where something like that is only a myth really) and he's the happiest man alive. External DACs are an incredible upgrade to most entry-level gear. Looking from that perspective, now he can enjoy a level of quality for an unheard price with no extra hassle, and on a place on earth where the difference between CD and Vinyl in price is at least 2 days of work that is a blessing. I then tried later Azur MagicDAC, Chord QuteHD, and R2R topology from Audio GD (among others not worth mentioning). I stayed with Audio GD, so natural it causes goosebumps for about half the price of the Chord, or the most expensive TT set-up I've owned so far (PLX 1000 + AT-150Mlx + Schiit Mani). Now, I do like vinyl! When is good, is phenomenal! but what turned me off was not vinyl itself, but the fact that is truly hard to know if the vinyl version will be any better than digital at all, or if even properly mixed for the source. Also, the fact that in reality the vast majority of music is terribly mastered unless you are exclusively into Jazz/Chamber music. Vinyl is a "to go" for music made before Digital mixing, but after...

Sol really caught my attention (Especially after the positive experience with the RPM 1.3, and having a decoupled motor and Unipivot 12" coming under $1000 USD) and I am waiting dearly for it too. I have come to the conclusion that I reserve vinyl only for those albums that are a good example of capturing music and its charming features, thus mainly using digital for the rest. I still listen and enjoy a lot of music that sounds like ass because of the mastering, though I do not get the thrill a good recording can give. Vinyl is not for everyone. I like it myself, but I cannot recommend it without making clear it has its own particularities, and performance/price ratio is not the strongest point here - And considering too that some versions on vinyl will go for about $250 to $500... and even more! (none of which goes to the artists, but to the seller) while the counterpart can be obtained at fraction of this cost. To conclude, I am not wealthy, just mental. For people like me, vinyl is a good option too.

Apologies for the long read.

 

Great! I still feel that a house without a turntable is hardly a home! Even with mine not in service.

 

I know, right?

While I think that all the folks that hate vinyl and all its rituals are right. All those that say vinyls inherent defects prevent them from going into it are right. All those that claim that music better mastered in what ever format are right.

BUT when vinyl is right, everything else is just noise. To my ears.

Nothing wrong with that. Like everything in life, there are diminishing returns, and everyone hears different things. At some point, its just fooling yourself.

My advice, listen to as many setups as you can, with music you like. The Sol may fit the bill, or something else may sound better to you. Or you can just walk away, that's okay too. The last thing you should do is not challenge people on their word cause that is definitely an endless road to perdition. Understand first.

 

Apologies for the noise, but this just made me smile. I parted ways with my vinyl about 15 years ago. My wife helped me sort through them. She asked why so many of the fold open covers had so much odd greenish dust in them. I just smiled....

 

Sadly I haven't parted with mine yet. 600 lps still in storage. With my deck. Duh. And my wife didn't have to ask. And everything being sinsemilla has made the gatefold thing a lost art. I know, more noise.

 

Guess I am a whiner/bitcher, and yes, I made hundreds of mixtapes (every girlfriend got at least one), from lps. Listen once to watch levels, then record. Don't miss any of it.

 

Ban me. Idgaf.

 

Responded directly to your previous post. Forgot, however, your infallibility. Forgive me bwana.

 

This one? https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2870858?ev=rb

I have that issue and it sounds amazing, tight and right. Looks like there’s a VG issue right at the top end of your reasonable price scale at the moment.

 

I like to grab vinyl editions of my favorite groups - like Rush, Led Zeppelin, Alice In Chains, etc.

Sometimes this is driven by me just wanting an LP even though I have a decent CD or digital copy (Rush and Led Zeppelin), or it can be because I can't find a decent version on CD or digital (like Alice In Chains).

Beck, for example, is pretty rough on CD or digital (just check his latest, Colors), but most of his albums sound fine on vinyl.

I'll still default to a decent copy on CD or digital if I can - easier to maintain, less hassle, lower price (usually). But at times, I do love me some vinyl.

FWIW, 7 Digital has a great digital copy of "Moving Pictures." It is as fun to listen to as my LP.

 

I keep waffling back and forth if vinyl is worth the rabbit hole. My biggest "problem" is being able to test a good enough TT system (ie not the USB whatever at London Drugs/Walmart) to determine that the price, practice and hunting is all worth it over digital. Moreover, are many modern day masterings available as the digital-version, and a completely different one for the vinyl-version? In my head, if I can get that digital, but for vinyl-version mastering anyways, what's the point of vinyl?

Obviously I have next to no experience with vinyl and zero with a high-end TT system. So, it's intruiging but I'm also not balling out of control to throw money at it, just to see how it goes.

Another big question mark is the quality of modern vinyl. Like even if I get a great TT setup, are most of the bands I listen to going to have shit quality vinyl.

Clearly a confused and conflicted millennial snowflake.

 

Will the artist / record company always insist on mixing / mastering differently for an analog format? Beck's last release was brickwalled to shit on digital, so was thinking of picking it up on vinyl - but am never sure if it's going to be better? As others previously stated, vinyl is sometimes only worth it for older recordings (pre 90s).

 

“Colors” is a heck of a lot better on vinyl - not as loud, no clipping that I noticed, and more dynamic range. It isn’t Rush on vinyl, and it sure isn’t MoFi, but I like it. I have the standard red vinyl edition. There is a 45 rpm release, too. I’d like to know more about the quality before dropping $50 for it, though.