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babybear

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  1. Hi Colin, I have not compared the HS251+ to any other NAS. I would not consider having any device in my listening room that has a spinning fan in it.
  2. I use a QNAP HS251+ NAS. It is fanless so totally silent. I use solid state drives in it - again totally silent.
  3. I have removed one or two of them to reposition them. No residue that I could tell and if it does leave anything, it would easily wipe off.
  4. This is what I use: The LIGHTDIMS Store Works great.
  5. Hi George, I am very curious about your following statement: "No amount of money will make a run-of-the-mill vinyl record sound as good as even a halfway decent CD, and NO vinyl playback will ever be as good as a current state-of-the-art digital recording can be. And you don't need a megabuck DAC to hear that level of quality either." Can you let me know the name of one or two "current state of the art digital recordings" that you have heard that best any vinyl setup? I'd like to hear these in my system through my digital front end and see what I think for my myself. I recognize that I probably won't have the vinyl equivalent of such digital recordings but it would be very interesting to hear some comparisons and based on your statement it should be obvious to me how much better these digital recordings are than any vinyl playback. Thanks very much, Arnie
  6. Hi paul, The best record cleaners are more expensive than $600.00. The Loricraft PR3 that Brian uses for his record cleaning service is one of the best RCM's and retails for around $3000 and goes up from there with their higher performance models. Brian also carries a brand called Okki Nokki which retails for $600.00 and is very similiar in operation and capability to the more well known VPI 16.5. Brian also carries the AIVS record fluids which I think are as good, if not the best record cleaning fluids. You can compare and contrast the differences between these 2 types of RCM's when you are there. Both of these are far superior and easier to use than the Spin Clean. The best feature of the Spin Clean is that it is quiet!
  7. Hi Paul, Something tells me that you won't "invest" in a good record cleaning machine because that will cost you somewhere around $600.00 for something like a VPI 16.5. So, assuming you are relatively happy with the results that you get from your Spin Clean thing - I'd recommend that you take any super dirty records that you have down to Whetstone Audio. Brian has a top notch Loricraft record cleaning machine (one of the best record cleaners around), he uses what I think are some of the best record cleaning fluids around - the AIVS solutions and he will clean any dirty records that you have for $2.00 a record including putting the LP in a new clean sleeve. I think this is your best route.
  8. Hi Paul, My turntable is definitely direct drive, its called "The Beat" and it is designed and built in Idaho. Actually the correct term is magnetic drive (there is no direct mechanical contact between the motor and the platter. There is only a magnetic field between the stator and the rotor.) You are correct in that most (but not all) of the tables being built today are some form of belt drive and they all try to handle the problem of consistent speed control. If you go to one of the better audio shows like RMAF you will see some very exotic belt drive turntable designs usually with multiple motors all trying to achieve the best possible speed control. Of course, that is not to say that all direct drive tables are better than all belt drive tables. As usual, it comes down to a great design and then a great implementation of that design to achieve the best possible results.
  9. Hi Paul, Thanks for the detailed answer. I think its always best to give your reference point when you make sonic comparisons instead of the generalizations that I always see posted on so many audio forums (including this one). I do agree with you that the better turntables do a much better job of speed control than lower end turntables. When the speed is off you usually hear this effect in pitch definition especially in the upper frequencies and it becomes really evident on piano notes. So, I guess from that point of view, what you said is correct. But, I guess from my viewpoint, with my turntable (and to use your terminology is also a direct drive turntable) perfect speed control is a given so I don't even think about this aspect of vinyl playback. The other very important aspect of vinyl playback that you do need to consider when you listen to any vinyl front end is the phono stage itself - you can have the best table, arm and cartridge in the world but to hear what they can do you need a corresponding high quality phono stage. Since the last time you visited me, I have changed most of my system to what I hope is fundamentally my final iteration. New speakers, amplifiers (same brand, but I now use 2 sets as my speakers are bi amplified), new preamp, new phono cartridge and cabling. Once I had all of this dialed in and just show you how differently we all hear and how different our personal preferences are, I found my Esoteric P03/D03/G0s digital front end almost unlistenable in comparison to my vinyl front end. It took me about 6 months of digital front end comparisons until I settled on my current MSB digital front end which is extremely good. I still prefer my vinyl, but the MSB digital front end has closed the gap somewhat in a way that the Esoteric couldn't even come close to. Arnie
  10. Hi Paul, In all of the endless debates throughout the years about how vinyl and digital playback compare in sound and which is better, etc. this is the first time I have ever seen the statement you have made here. I was wondering if you could expand on this statement and provide more detail as to what you mean. Can you explain what vinyl front ends you have compared to what digital front ends and what are the particulars of the systems you have done this in and what are the sonic attributes that you heard in these comparisons that lead you to make the statement that as you get up the ladder in analog (I assume you mean vinyl playback) it sounds more like digital? This is fascinating to me. Thanks for any insight you can provide. Arnie
  11. Paul, why you started this thread at all is beyond me. But I have read it for its entertainment value (as I do most threads on these types of forums) and I do agree with Robert that you are coming across defensive in your responses to him. As far as this particular post of yours well - there is another point of view that you appear to have ignored relative to the purchase of used gear. While most of my own gear has been purchased new, I have made a few used purchases (mainly some cables) myself and I have sold some used gear. While perhaps the buyer of "used gear feeds no income back to the manufacturer, distributor, designer, patent holder, or anyone else" is almost true (shipping companies are the exception here) the seller of the used gear is almost certainly replacing the used gear that he sold with new and probably more expensive gear which does feed income back to the manufacture, distributor, designer, patent holder." In most cases, the sale of the used gear is helping to fund the purchase of the new gear. In your earlier post - you wrote - "And I didn't say anything about the demise of brink and morter dealers - I did in fact say that in Austin we have two dealers that are honorable and trustworthy, and that anyone should be comfortable dealing with. I even named names. (shrug) You choose to edit that out and ignore it." I am curious why you believe there are only 2 trustworthy dealers in the Austin area? Obviously you must have had dealings with some other dealers (not referring to big box stores) and that you feel these dealers are not trustworthy - Can you further explain who - and what happened that leads you to this opinion. Also, I am curious about this statement - "If you are trying to tell me I should patronize local "order takers" - people who don't care a rats behind about what they sell or why, then you do not make any sense." The best that I can tell, you have not bought all of your gear locally but have probably bought some of it from Amazon, Music Direct, Audio Advisors, etc. I am curious what the difference is between these "remote" order takers and the "local" order takers - for example, do the "remote" order takers actually "care a rats behind about what they sell or why." As you say - Just some food for thought. Arnie
  12. Hi Mantis, I actually don't think the AQ Carbon USB cable has silver conductors - is actually has 5% silver plating over copper conductors. The AQ Coffee has 10% silver plating over copper conductors (and the DBS system). The AQ Diamond USB cable does have 100% silver conductors and the DBS system (and its quite a bit more expensive). A friend of mine has compared the AQ Carbon to the AQ Diamond USB cables in his system and he felt that the Diamond was a significant improvement over the Carbon.
  13. Hi 57Gold, Thanks very much - they are some bad ass speakers. Priaptor is correct. They are the Rockport Arrakis 2 - these are the active version (they also make a passive version with an internal crossover) - they have a gain adjustable external active crossover so they must be biamplified and I use 2 pair of VTL Siegfried amplifiers for that. You can see my complete system list on audiogon - userid is babybear. They were set up very well by the people who Andy Payor (Rockport owner and designer) recommended to me for the job. It took about 3 days to put them together and dial them in correctly to my room. Arnie
  14. Hi Madfloyd, I would agree with Priaptor's assessment about the MSB Diamond DAC. I did a comparison in my system for 3 weeks comparing the following: The EMM XDS1 (CD/SACD player) which I believe is very similiar sonically to the EMM DAC2x and the MSB Platinum CD IV transport, MSB Diamond DAC IV with Galaxy Clock with both the transport and DAC were powered by the Diamond Power Base. I used a cheap cat5 Ethernet cable to connect the MSB Transport to the MSB DAC via the MSB Pro I2s input. During this same time period, my own digital front end had been the Esoteric P03/D03 with G0s clock and I was looking to replace it with something that would significantly outperform it in my system. I wasn't looking for something that was a little better or just different - I wanted something that really did sound better. I had a dealer loan me a well broken in EMM XDS1 and listened to the EMM for about a week before I started the comparison with the MSB. It also allowed me to do some comparisons of the EMM to my Esoteric. I felt the EMM was a little better especially in the upper frequencies where I felt the EMM was a little more natural sounding with slightly more body to the notes. Once I had the MSB digital front end in house I spent the next 2 weeks comparing the MSB to the EMM. My comparisons were done with Redbook CD's only. The bottom line was, it really wasn't much of a comparison. The MSB configuration that I was demoing was a very significant improvement in sonics across the board in comparison to the EMM and the Esoteric. To my ears and in my system, the areas where the MSB easily betters the EMM and Esoteric are that the MSB digital front end presents an extremely low noise floor, a very harmonically rich sound, with deep, powerful and textured bass. Overall, the MSB digital front end presents a very high resolution sound but it presents all of the musical detail and subtle nuances that are in a recording in a very natural and coherent fashion. It does all of this better than any of the other digital front ends that I have had the opportunity to audition. The area that struck me the most was just how harmonically rich the sound was in comparison to the EMM and Esoteric. As Priaptor said, once you spend some time listening to this particular MSB configuration, it was very difficult to go back and listen to the EMM XDS1 and the Esoteric. I went back and forth with the EMM several times, and each time, I just couldn't listen to the EMM for very long - as good as it is, in comparison to the MSB that I had in house, it just didn't sound very good. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine who uses the full 4 box DCS Scarlatti front end also borrowed that same MSB digital front end from MSB to compare to his Scarlatti. I went over to his house to listen as well. His Scarlatti is well setup with very good digital cables, high end power cords, etc. The MSB front end was sitting on his floor using a stock power cord. After playing 2 or 3 redbook CD's on the Scarlatti, we played them on the MSB. My friend was sitting in the sweet spot. I asked him what he thought - he simply said that he was surprised at how much better the MSB was than the Scarlatti setup. I recognize that the MSB Diamond is a more expensive solution than the EMM XDS1 or DAC2x, but it is significantly better - not different, not just a little better, it is alot better - at least based on what I hear in my system. I also like the fact that MSB does do software upgrades to improve the sound when they feel they have something that is worthwhile. The software upgrades are very easy to apply - I did one and it was simple to do. Anyways, hope that helps and I am happy to answer any questions. Arnie
  15. babybear

    Advice

    "From the Primare I32 user manual - Input 5 can be configured to provide high-quality amplification of the main channels of a surroundsound processor, with volume control provided by the processor." Eloise is correct and its very straight forward to do.
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