As a matter of policy I would not buy a tonearm if I have not heard my cartridges on it, and if I do not even have data points on the combination from other people whose listening preferences I understand.
Ron’s New System
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
As a matter of policy I would not buy a tonearm if I have not heard my cartridges on it, and if I do not even have data points on the combination from other people whose listening preferences I understand.
Understood Ron, however you really have to find a way to get your head around the sapphire- it is a game changer in every system I have heard it in and certainly when I had it installed on my Balance.
Well that certainly is a big endorsement, Nick!
Let's get on the Safir some data points of Opus 1, ZYX, Grado Lineage!
A game changer in what sonic ways?
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Ron, I am going to acquire one -probably later this year.
You will be delighted with the Graham and the Reed I'm sure!
How is does the sapphire impact a system? --- best way for me to describe it is your vinyl will embrace a tape like quality of lower distortion, less noise, greater dynamic contrast and a peacefulness- hard to describe. My guess is- that as good as the arms I have had here
these other arms are not as dynamically stable and are susceptible to resonances contributing to noise and jitter that they have.
Its funny because I saw the latest advertisement for the sapphire in a publication and the tag line was something like "tape like reproduction"--- this is how I described it to my dealer after the first album side. Holy %^*$... My tests were done with the latest Goldfinger statement .
Now - you would never guess it with my 4 point/kondo wired arm or my analog magik rewired FR 64 and 66s or the SME 3012 without any reference. The Saphire slays them when played back to back. I had the Sapphire on my Balance with 2 pods for over 2months and the outcome was definitive. My dealer friend hands out the sapphire to his trusted clients like crack.... just to "try"- they don't come back lol..
I have experience with Graham arms and my dealer has had and still has the Phantom on one of his systems. Very capable of delicate detail retrieval. I have no direct experience with the Reed but my dealer has had some various versions of the Reed in his systems that I have heard over the years.
If you can find a way to experience a sapphire I would suggest you take the opportunity to validate my impressions. My dealer friend can't keep them in stock he now has 3 set up in various tables for his reference systems including the big Kuzma air bearing.
You will be delighted with the Graham and the Reed I'm sure!
How is does the sapphire impact a system? --- best way for me to describe it is your vinyl will embrace a tape like quality of lower distortion, less noise, greater dynamic contrast and a peacefulness- hard to describe. My guess is- that as good as the arms I have had here
these other arms are not as dynamically stable and are susceptible to resonances contributing to noise and jitter that they have.
Its funny because I saw the latest advertisement for the sapphire in a publication and the tag line was something like "tape like reproduction"--- this is how I described it to my dealer after the first album side. Holy %^*$... My tests were done with the latest Goldfinger statement .
Now - you would never guess it with my 4 point/kondo wired arm or my analog magik rewired FR 64 and 66s or the SME 3012 without any reference. The Saphire slays them when played back to back. I had the Sapphire on my Balance with 2 pods for over 2months and the outcome was definitive. My dealer friend hands out the sapphire to his trusted clients like crack.... just to "try"- they don't come back lol..
I have experience with Graham arms and my dealer has had and still has the Phantom on one of his systems. Very capable of delicate detail retrieval. I have no direct experience with the Reed but my dealer has had some various versions of the Reed in his systems that I have heard over the years.
If you can find a way to experience a sapphire I would suggest you take the opportunity to validate my impressions. My dealer friend can't keep them in stock he now has 3 set up in various tables for his reference systems including the big Kuzma air bearing.
Bob Graham called today to tell me he is working on my 10" Phantom Elite! He is going to send me his silver-plated copper tonearm cable.
Progress!
Progress!
Ruta of Reed informed me that my 5T is almost finished. This turntable project may be coming together sooner than expected!
In the last 24 hours I transferred four titles from pancakes to metal reels.
On deck tonight: Whitney Houston's debut album on tape
On deck tonight: Whitney Houston's debut album on tape
Last night I listened on tape to some of:
Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston
John Denver, Greatest Hits
Stevie Nicks, The Wild Heart
and all of
Sinead O'Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
The Sinead O'Connor album on tape sounded like it actually was not a terrible recording. It sounded pretty good for late 1980s recorded multi-track pop. (I would have assumed it was digitally recorded, but maybe not?)
After listening for enjoyment, I did some comparative listening to tape versus PULSEmini + Baltic 4.
Confirming prior impressions about tape, even on multi-track rock and pop, somehow the tape playback pulls things (i.e., singers, instruments) apart and seemingly creates (permits?) empty, "quiet" space in front of me that on digital is filled up with subtle sonic fuzz (and not as pulled apart). I don't know yet how else to describe it -- but it is not the transparent empty space between things I hear from the tape.
The other difference I am hearing on digital is that the digital is notably flatter. It just doesn't seem to have the perceived depth of the tape. (I wish my listening room were 5 to 10 feet longer so I could pull the speakers even further into the room!)
There is no doubt the tape is more convincing and believable to my ears. One tape -- Elton John's Greatest Hits -- is a clunker, and seems to just have been recorded with screwed up EQ. David Blumenstein heard this with me when we tried to play that title, and he agrees.
But on everyone of the other 15 or so rock/pop albums I reach for the tape when I want to play that album.
How would I quantify the difference in suspension of disbelief between my tape playback and my digital playback? I don't know if non-audiophiles would hear any difference. Totally making up a number I would quantify it at maybe 5% to 10%. This seems to me like only a small improvement, but it is also utterly dispositive.
Unlike many members here I don't listen to the system every day or even every other day. I treat it like an event. I listen maybe once or twice a week. I have to have free time, I have to be relaxed, I have to have done my exercise, I have to not be hungry, I have to be in the mood to sit and listen. If all of those indicator lights are flashing green, then, and only then, do I turn on the system. And when I go to that event I want to be wowed!
And after my visit palooza (David, Al, Brian) + T.H.E. SHOW I was "music-ed out," and didn't listen for almost two weeks.
The incremental believability which I feel the tape gives me somehow makes listening to music more like the event I hope for. It wows me. So does this suggest a difference of only 5% or 10%?
Impression of tape playback effort versus vinyl playback effort: I am not somebody who has any nostalgia for, or derives any pleasure from the physical manipulation or playback process of physical media. If I had a tape machine jukebox or vinyl record jukebox controllable from my iPad I would much prefer that. The "ritual" of cleaning records, handling jackets, adjusting cartridges, cleaning styluses, aiming carefully to drop the needle in the right groove, etc., means nothing to me. I would prefer not to have to do it. The convenience of digital is real. I just don't happen to care about convenience versus sound.
As digital goes, I still don't understand it, and I still cannot explain it, but somehow the Lampizator stuff just works for me.
I am finding tape playback to be less inconvenient than vinyl playback.
I am getting increasingly excited about the future arrival of the high-end vinyl playback set-up. The Empire strikes back soon!
PS: Sinead O'Connor later turned into some sort of nut job, but I think that I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is a very impressive second album!
Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston
John Denver, Greatest Hits
Stevie Nicks, The Wild Heart
and all of
Sinead O'Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
The Sinead O'Connor album on tape sounded like it actually was not a terrible recording. It sounded pretty good for late 1980s recorded multi-track pop. (I would have assumed it was digitally recorded, but maybe not?)
After listening for enjoyment, I did some comparative listening to tape versus PULSEmini + Baltic 4.
Confirming prior impressions about tape, even on multi-track rock and pop, somehow the tape playback pulls things (i.e., singers, instruments) apart and seemingly creates (permits?) empty, "quiet" space in front of me that on digital is filled up with subtle sonic fuzz (and not as pulled apart). I don't know yet how else to describe it -- but it is not the transparent empty space between things I hear from the tape.
The other difference I am hearing on digital is that the digital is notably flatter. It just doesn't seem to have the perceived depth of the tape. (I wish my listening room were 5 to 10 feet longer so I could pull the speakers even further into the room!)
There is no doubt the tape is more convincing and believable to my ears. One tape -- Elton John's Greatest Hits -- is a clunker, and seems to just have been recorded with screwed up EQ. David Blumenstein heard this with me when we tried to play that title, and he agrees.
But on everyone of the other 15 or so rock/pop albums I reach for the tape when I want to play that album.
How would I quantify the difference in suspension of disbelief between my tape playback and my digital playback? I don't know if non-audiophiles would hear any difference. Totally making up a number I would quantify it at maybe 5% to 10%. This seems to me like only a small improvement, but it is also utterly dispositive.
Unlike many members here I don't listen to the system every day or even every other day. I treat it like an event. I listen maybe once or twice a week. I have to have free time, I have to be relaxed, I have to have done my exercise, I have to not be hungry, I have to be in the mood to sit and listen. If all of those indicator lights are flashing green, then, and only then, do I turn on the system. And when I go to that event I want to be wowed!
And after my visit palooza (David, Al, Brian) + T.H.E. SHOW I was "music-ed out," and didn't listen for almost two weeks.
The incremental believability which I feel the tape gives me somehow makes listening to music more like the event I hope for. It wows me. So does this suggest a difference of only 5% or 10%?
Impression of tape playback effort versus vinyl playback effort: I am not somebody who has any nostalgia for, or derives any pleasure from the physical manipulation or playback process of physical media. If I had a tape machine jukebox or vinyl record jukebox controllable from my iPad I would much prefer that. The "ritual" of cleaning records, handling jackets, adjusting cartridges, cleaning styluses, aiming carefully to drop the needle in the right groove, etc., means nothing to me. I would prefer not to have to do it. The convenience of digital is real. I just don't happen to care about convenience versus sound.
As digital goes, I still don't understand it, and I still cannot explain it, but somehow the Lampizator stuff just works for me.
I am finding tape playback to be less inconvenient than vinyl playback.
I am getting increasingly excited about the future arrival of the high-end vinyl playback set-up. The Empire strikes back soon!
PS: Sinead O'Connor later turned into some sort of nut job, but I think that I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is a very impressive second album!
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if convenience was the major objective, we wouldn´t bother about this hobby at all....ha-ha...
otherwise I must admit, I´m curious about the status of todays digital as source material
I never bothered spending any time finding out either, and when I read statements like yours, I´m not convinced it´s worthwile ....
whenever I hear digital, I have to forget about the lack of realism and emotion in the reproduction and just focus on the musical contents
I can be impressed by digital, but rarely moved
otherwise I must admit, I´m curious about the status of todays digital as source material
I never bothered spending any time finding out either, and when I read statements like yours, I´m not convinced it´s worthwile ....
whenever I hear digital, I have to forget about the lack of realism and emotion in the reproduction and just focus on the musical contents
I can be impressed by digital, but rarely moved
As this album was not on Qobuz I looked for any CD available on the internet.
This is the first I purchased.
It gave me a connection to what Greg and Mike were talking about. Unfortunately the recording or transfer to disc was not very good and Laurindo's guitar was painful to listen to in places. This disc was by Kingston World in the USA
I then looked for more versions and found this one used on eBay. It is on Bell Records in Germany. For my ears the recording is wonderful though probably not that of tape or vinyl but very mesmerizing. I would highly recommend it to anyone that can find it.
Sorry, Ron I realize this is not related to your system but only the thread it was mentioned.
German recording from 1981....analogue then
might be possible to source on tape....
Great music by two masters. I have lots of Ray Brown records and lots of Laurindo Almeida records, but not this one. I will keep my eyes open for a copy. In the meantime, streaming is just fine.
I think not,is a direct to disc lp.it will probably be a one-off on tape, if a backup copy was created at all.
Ray Brown & Laurindo Almeida - Moonlight Serenade
Auf Discogs können Sie sich ansehen, wer an 1981 Vinylvon Moonlight Serenade mitgewirkt hat, Rezensionen und Titellisten lesen und auf dem Marktplatz nach der Veröffentlichung suchen.
www.discogs.com
it was a direct to disc Jeton recording from 1981. that's the one you want. the original Jeton dtd pressing.
there was no tape original.
then later Clearaudio underwrote a transfer to tape from the dtd and did a vinyl transfer from that tape. less good. actually prefer the better digital to the tape transfer pressing.
i have heard multiple digital transfers likely from the original direct to disc and also from the Clearaudio tape too. so there are a few different digital ones. there are two different 'Tidal' files you can access. one does suck.