My take….
I had Hana EL and upgraded to ML. Incredible cartridge and it sounds great.
But records are indeed expensive. If you want to have a virtually limitless music library at your disposal and buy a record or two occasionally, spend the money to get a streaming setup. How good and how much to spend on it depends on what your primary source is for serious listening - is it vinyl or streaming.
I ended up selling my entire analog setup to focus on getting my streaming front end as good as I possibly could. I don’t miss playing records.
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Your streaming situation is in dire need of help so by all means do that and you’ll hear a huge improvement in performance. This is not a close call IMHO.
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I have invested equally in my vinyl leg and digital streaming... ($45K each). They sound the same ( I carefully selected cartridge / phonostage and streamer / DAC to zero in on natural / musical sound with details exactly in perspective), although streaming can sound better when playing high definition content. I never play my vinyl any more although I have a collection of 2,000 pristine and audiophile recordings. If I was starting over now, I would skip the vinyl and put all my money into streaming. You can see my systems... in particular my main system, under my userid in my virtual systems.
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@ghdprentice that’s why my analog setup is gone. I doubt I’ll ever play a record again. Need to sell my vinyl collection. It’s a PIA from every angle you look at it. Streaming, when set up properly with good components, beats CD and vinyl.
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As stated, invest in your streaming, no question.
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Do what makes you happy. I am happy having invested in both and utilize both mediums. This is your journey not theirs.
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I have invested equally in my vinyl leg and digital streaming... ($45K each). They sound the same ( I carefully selected cartridge / phonostage and streamer / DAC to zero in on natural / musical sound with details exactly in perspective), although streaming can sound better when playing high definition content. I never play my vinyl any more although I have a collection of 2,000 pristine and audiophile recordings. If I was starting over now, I would skip the vinyl and put all my money into streaming.
+1 @ghdprentice Well that is a pretty good testimonial. I have read this many times on other forums as well.
And streaming is still getting better.
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I appreciate everyone’s input. Vinyl is my main source, but that’s partially because my current streaming is Bluetooth. I’m going to go ahead and invest in the Wiim Ultra and Denafrips Pontus. I know it’s my journey, but getting perspective on jumping off points help. Thanks!
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Streaming can be great (I have 3 streamers including WiiM Ultra), but not everyone likes or is comfortable with streaming...I’m not saying LP is better, but to me doesn’t sound the same as CD or Streaming...I happily use all 3...I would get the cartridge; for the price of the Ultra and Pontus you could get the cartridge and a much better streamer than you currently have...
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Buying used cartridges is not for everybody, but sometimes used is the only source, in this case I want both lighter 1.25g tracking, and stiffest Beryllium Cantilever with an advanced stylus shape.
I have been lucky, including one NOS from Australia, two used AT160ML from this seller around this price
https://reverb.com/item/91712802-audio-technica-at-160ml-mm-cartridge?utm_source=aw&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hifishark.com&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=536903&awc=67144_1756744134_ed88401eb72eb443792c9393adb5deb2
I just received a used AT160ML I won two weeks ago via Aleado bidding on Yahoo Japan for me, buy 107 usd, add this, that, delivered total 168. usd.
I’m taking it to Ray at VAS this week to have him check it, like the others he checked/cleaned for me.
https://vasnyinc.com/
Also going to give them my friend’s broken Benz Micro
btw, Reverb took my (buyer) side and got me full refund twice over the years, their buyer protection is good!
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Yep time to invest in streaming. Vinyl has gotten ridiculously expensive. I only have about $3.5K invested in TT and stage and double that in streaming and it sounds as good or better than my vinyl set up.
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I might have a talk with my local dealer about this
https://innuos.com/stream1/
before I pulled the trigger on the WIIM and accessories.
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My recommendation is to improve your streaming. Bluetooth is not helping your sound at all. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
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WiiM is only OK. I would look jnto something better. What’s your total budget for this?
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@rivington66 sorry to say 2k won’t buy you a good streaming experience, long ago I bought a WIIM for streaming and a Denafrips Dac they are both not in use…maybe the guys on here can chime in, how much and what gear should he start out with?.
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I just looked on that used gear site, sure are a lot of that brand for sale, why?
I just put the WIIM pro I have back in forgot what it sounds like, just the streaming part, it’s just ok..
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@charles007100 You’re missing the point here. The OP is streaming through Bluetooth so a Pontus II with the Iris and Wiim is a big upgrade.
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@soix I guess you are right, lot of us went through that and ended up wasting time and money with the Chinese stuff…you do make a good point..
I should be more supportive, sorry about that…
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@soix WiiM ultra isn’t all that great. Not sure if you heard it or used it. Sound is very low fi. The EQ options can somewhat make it more tolerable but that is a very temporary bandaid at best.
OP…If you add a bit to your $2,000 I would look for Bryston BDA-3.14 and use it as a roon endpoint. Stream Qobuz or Tidal. You can use it with its native Manic Moose software if you don’t want to add another subscription (Roon) but I highly advise to forego the Moose and do Roon.
In any case whatever you do WiiM isn’t going to knock your socks off.
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A few years ago, I traded in my turntable to focus on getting a better streaming sound. I spent a lot of effort and money on the digital side, but wasn’t fully satisfied and still yearned for the vinyl sound that I heard on other people’s often quite modest systems.
Last year, I got a new turntable as outlined in my virtual system. Now, I much prefer playing vinyl records.
You can’t say one format is best because they all have there own strengths and weaknesses. Also, the quality of the mastering in each case is very important. If you can afford it, you really need both to cover all the bases.
I sometimes listen to ripped CDs, etc and Qobuz. Yet I find vinyl to be the absolute pinnacle for sound quality. Unlike the other formats, I sit listening for hours enthralled. There’s something magical about it - it is sublime.
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No brainer. Bluetooth sucks. Comparing analog to Bluetooth is like comparing a 67 Mustang Convertible to a Yugo rusting away in a trash heap
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You post on a digital forum, you will get votes on streamer, you post on the analog forum, you will get votes on cart upgrade. It did seem like you had made up your mind and hence posted on the digital forum :)
That's how most people make decisions anyways.
I went the other way compared some of the gents here. I sold my very expensive DAC to focus on vinyl, wrote about it here: https://audiofool.substack.com/p/why-i-sold-my-50000-dac-part-one
Wonder if I made the right choice, I will soon learn.
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In the end I can say my large investment into vinyl has been pretty much a waste as it and over 3k albums sit there all forlorn and unused.
While it took me many years and much effort, my streaming setup easily equals or surpasses my vinyl setup. With easy and cheap access to literally every recording I could ever dream of owning whats not to like! Unfortunately, quality streaming setup not cheap, but then same goes for vinyl or any source.
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You didn't state what service you use for streaming. But BT is about the worst quality you can get. Your TT & Cart are good, so invest in the streaming side.
If you use Tida/Qobuz make sure you streamer will support it natively, meaning it will stream from the streamer, and your phone will just mirror/control the streamer.
$2k will get you a nice streamer, with your other gear, think Cambridge Audio will sound very good. My system has Forte II's with a CA streamer it sounds just as good as my TT.
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Similar to others who have already posted, I have $50K invested in my digital frontend and another $50K in my analogue frontend. That does not include my $6,500 record cleaning machine, or the 3,000+ LP's I own. With that said, I have no plans to buy anotehr LP for the collection, and I haven't spun one since my big digital upgrade this past March. I vote that you upgrade you digital side.
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FWIW Going against the grain...upgrade both very close to your budget.
Get a BlueSound ICON and a Qobuz account, and buy the only Aidas cart on USAM. Yes it is mine. Yes that is a shameless plug. AG please don’t shoot me.
BUT, I went from a Hana ML to the Aidas on a similar ClearAudio TT. It was a significant improvement. As it should have been at over $4K.
This will be a serious upgrade to both sources.
Later (after the warranty runs out) add an external DAC and a teddy pardo power supply to the ICON.
While I have no doubt some of the guys giving advice here have exquisite digital sources and systems, I disagree you have to spend mega bucks to get very respectable digital sound. My digital source is over 10X less than my analogue source and it sounds really enjoyable in comparison.
You can see where I ended up in my virtual system.
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I just spent about many $K on my digital. See system in profile. It now surpasses my vinyl by several margins. I could spend on my vinyl side to chase the digital but I think that may miss the point.
I am beginning to wonder how I can have my vinyl system sound DIFFERENTLY…focusing on a completely different sound profile that speaks to maybe a different genre , or glow… not sure yet.
but chasing my digital stream is beginning to seem silly.
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