papageno

I am new to the vinyl-digital conversion world and am asking for suggestions for an analog-digital converter or phono amp with USB output. My turntable is also old and am not sure whether a USB turntable would be a better choice. My budget for A/D converter or phono preamp with USB is less than $700 but I would like to encode my LP-digital conversions in 192Kh if possible. Appreciate any input.

I realize that this is not a direct answer to the opening question but wondering whether anybody has had a chance to listen/compare the Rogue Audio M180W monoblocks versus the PrimaLuna dialogue 7 series (70W). they both got great reviews in Abs Sound or stereophile but I don't have any nearby dealers. I run ML electrostats. Thanks for any info

Thanks for the note, no worries, would prefer these comments anyway than the ones I get from Reviewer 1 and 2 for my original papers !! Happy listening, at least we both have electrostats.

It really amazes me to witness an "unbelievable " response to a fairly innocuous question. The question was considered "naive", "ludicrous", "lacking common sense" and so on. Perhaps in the spirit of this website ( and I am sure Chris Connaker will agree), we should refrain from being overtly judgmental. As I had alluded earlier, this question specifically was discussed at length by Robert Harley (Editor of Absolute Sound) in the latest edition of his book on high end audio. Harley spends a page explaining that the historic rationale for using different interconnects and cables comes from the recording industry where recording engineers using different consoles for recording and playback as they did not want a sonic signature of any console to exist. I thought this was an interesting statement and my question arose from the above mentioned statement by Mr harley in his book. Now if one thinks this is an answered question and an absolute truth...that is another matter but likely not...as a substantial number of repliers in this forum differed in the answers to this question..moreover if one thinks this is stupid, don't waste one's time in answering it. So in my opinion terms such as "naive", "ludicrous", lacking common sense are perhaps harsh and insulting terms for a forum where ultimately we want to maintain a congenial atmosphere and serves no purpose but to discourage posting from potential future posters, who love music no less but have less expertise in its playback. My expertise is in science and as a professor at a top notch US university (publishing regularly in top journals), I entered this website to gain some insight in the playback of music (only and sole reason). And the only reason why people can be dogmatic here is that sonic quality is a non-measureable quantity!!

Just to reassure repliers that this was not a random stream of consciousness thought I had. This question specifically has been discussed at some length in Robert harley's widely read book on high end audio (Chapter 11, Page 357, Third edition). He goes on to say that the rationale for using different cables initially arose from the music recording industry where recording engineers would record through one type of console and mix the record through a different brand of console....."they did not want to hear the console's sound in the final product, so they don't subject the signal to the same sonic signature twice". I know music listening rarely follows a reductionist approach and hence my question.

I have heard different answers to the above question, some maintain that all interconnects in the same chain e.g. DAC to preamp, preamp to amp all should be from the same manufacturer to maintain balance; others advocate that having different brands of cables eliminate or decrease sonic signatures of any particular brand. And should speaker cables be from the same manufacturer of your interconnects. These are very difficult to do A/B on to resolve and so I would like to hear what the real answer is.

I was trying to compare the M3pX with the ML Summits as they are close on the price range. I have a pair of Vantages and I agree that ML has done a lot to improve the woofer integration but can get better. I have not heard the new quads but know some folks who have had issues with them.

I am curious whether anybody has compared Soundlab speakers to ML speakers. I have martin logan but heard that Sound lab speakers have much better bass extension.

Thanks David, the connections are now clear to me. If one utilizes two amps with HT bypass (I.e. the front speakers being driven by a 2 channel amp), does the 2 channel and the multichannel amp have to be similar in many ways? If I use a mixture of SS and VT amps, does any "discontinuity" in the sound creep in? For instance, I had a mixture of ESLs and ribbon speakers for multichannel music and one could clearly make out that there were different drivers being used. Hope that is not the same with different amps driving different speakers.

Mark, I am struggling with a similar setup problem of how to best integrate surround sound and 2 channel. I have a Rotel pre/pro and a Rotel 5 channel amp. Ideally, I would like to get the 2 channel to play through a separate amp. For the long run (thinking of upgrades in the future) is it then better to get a preamp with two different outputs (one going to your multichannel amp and the other to your 2 channel amp when needed). This way, when I have multichannel everything plays through my Rotel and when I have two channel it plays through a separate amp. Thoughts??

The bryston BDA-1 plays better with the BNC compared to the USB with high res files. The latest Bel Canto also has a BNC I think.

David, I have ML vantages. The specs mention a recommended amplifier power from 20-500W/channel. The speakers are quite sensitive though with 92Db/2.83v/meter. I was always under the impression that one should get high powered amplifiers to drive the ESL. But as compared to the quads, these are hybrid, I don't whether that makes a difference.

Checked specs of ARC and CJ pre amps. ARC outputs (unbalanced) have 300ohms impedance and CJ just states impedance 100 ohms (hopefully they refer to output impedance). ARC states that minimal load should be 20,000ohms (which is greater than than the 10:1 ratio referred earlier). CJ does not mention a minimal load. My Rotel has input impedance of 8000ohms (i don't know whether ARC is a safe bet considering these specs. (Don't have the budget to change amps also). Thoughts?? Appreciate everybody's input

I know this can get tricky if using different brands but any general guides on matching the impedances of the tube preamp and SS amp

Thanks guys for all the input, Currently use a Rotel solid state amp (250W/channel at 8ohms) driving electrostats (I don't need balanced connections). Was thinking of the ARC LS 17 pre amp or the Conrad Johnson ET3 series, that fit in my budget but I haven't probed into the used market yet.