Best MM?

Are you a music lover, or an "equipment specification" lover? If you are a music lover, you will listen to what I have to say; if you are a spec and equipment lover you will dote on every word Raul has to say.

Make no mistake about this post, in no way am I challenging Raul's knowledge of cartridges, but I am challenging his method of classification in regard to good and bad.

Raul quite often ends his posts with this;


        "Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS"


There is a subliminal SS message hidden in that statement; that's because SS is more likely to have 0 noise and distortion than tube, but are you hearing what the musicians intended for you to hear or a good reproduction?

I'll give you an extreme example of music versus equipment; after my SS pre bit the dust, I asked for a CJ loaner. A "golden eared" audiophile was visiting at the time; although the CJ was apparently noisy, the music sounded better.

While I was thinking this, he blurted it out. His hearing was so acute, and his listening ability so intense, that I would invite him over for a session, and ask what I had changed without telling him. (I miss that guy)

He would demand complete silence, and after listening for awhile, he would say "You got new interconnects", and whatever his answer, it would be the correct one; that's what I had changed.

Everyone knows about ARC; I got an ARC SS pre loaner, and we listened to it for 5 minutes before returning thumbs down, and going back to tubes.

No noise, and 0 distortion can be seductive, but I want to hear every nuance the musicians are laying down, even if that includes both noise and distortion; a tube phono is a perfect match for a MM cartridge.

Dear @orpheus10 : That " MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS " goes way beyond SS vs Tubes technology limitations.

As @johnss posted in the other thread both analog/digital signal pick up by the recording microphones is way manipulated that degrades it and we can't do nothing about because the damges already comes in the LP grooves.

What can dowe to try to listen the LP's in the best way?. IMHO, try to listen it putting at minimum every single noise, distortions, anomalies, etc, etc developed during the overall play proccess.

Than means that we need to know or learn how THD sounds along/added to MUSIC, same for IMD, noise levels, frequency response bandwindth. room/system relationship. Unfortunatelly in the overall room/system chain each link is a focus od developments of different kind of noises, distortions, anomalies that degrades the already heavy degraded recorded signal that comes in the LP grooves.

I posted several times that my main room/system target is to stay truer to the recording and this means to put my room/systems developed noises, distortions, anomalies and the like at minimum.

To do those we have to be self trained to be aware how detect all those developed " enemies " and how to put at minimum. Only to know how detect it how it sounds each of them is a true challenge for any one of us and we need a hard sel training, patience and a lot of time.

When any one of us can be near of that target digital or analog always will performs with very high quality and you will listen those MUSIC nuances you are talking about with SS electronics.

We have to learn if that high frequency " transparency " is just MUSIC or is added distortion what we are in true listen it, not an easy task but worth the rewards to enjoy rally enjoy MUSIC and not only that: " I like it ", that at the end means almost nothing because each one " I like it " is really different.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Raul, I agree with your take on "I like it". That's why my speakers are as neutral as possible; I only want what the musicians who made the record intended for me to have; I'm a music lover, not an equipment lover.

When a person becomes an audiophile, he no longer wishes to alter the music to suit his taste, but only wants the music from the source to come through unaltered.

"I like it" can be used to justify anything; it can go far beyond differential preferences.

Dear @orpheus10 : """  When a person becomes an audiophile, he no longer wishes to alter the music to suit his taste, but only wants the music from the source to come through unaltered. ""

well that's the " perfect " target that all we know can't exist no matters what and that's why we have to take care how to be nearest or less far away of that " perfect " target.

There are simple/sutil " things " that could helps us additional of everything we already know or that as me are just learnit to, examples of what I'm talking about:

- seat position, that means not only the distance from the speakers but the build material and shape of that " seat. As simple the better but normally we look for a very confortable one it does not matters if that does not helps for a better listen quality.

- kind of fabrics of our clothes when listening the audio system. Syntehic fabric goes against quality.

- cleanse the ears at least twice a year with an specialist.

- try not listen over 87db at seat position SPL for hours.

- temperature issue is important too not only because cartridge suspention but because our ears and body.

- we have to remember that we hear through all our body so as less clothe we wear as better enjoyment on MUSIC.

-attend at least twice a month to listen live MUSIC.

- think and take action/changes/modifications " out of the box ".

- always make to our self these questions: " what if am I wrong and why could be? what to do?

- try to listen as many different home audio systems as we can.

To many issues to name it.

R.

It doesn't matter, one of the best MM is still Audio-Technica AT-ML180 :)