Want to get into Analog

@big_greg

 I recently picked up a JVC QL-Y66F DD table with a Stanton 981 HZS cartridge for $545. Is it better than my digital sources (which isn't something the OP asked for by the way)? No. Do the used records I buy sound really nice on it after a good cleaning? Yes! Do I get more enjoyment out of it than my digital sources? Yes! Is it more pleasing on the eyes than my CD player or DAC? Yes!

You've got an amazing MM cartridge if the stylus is the original Stereohedron or Stereohedron II, congrats! Normally this cartridge alone cost more than you paid for cart + turntable :) 

Frogman, I've been listening to nothing but brand new LP's for days; old music, but new LP's; it really takes big strong fingers to pluck fat bass fiddle strings, and Mingus has them. I'm listening to;


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0A_Ik6TTn0


It's so amazing how well this can be heard on a new LP.


My contention in regard to vinyl has always been the same; I deplore the misleading assertions that the sound audiophiles are raving about can be had for next to nothing, and those old record players that were common in the 70's can deliver. They deliver now, what they delivered then, which is why everyone threw them on the trash, and bought a CD player.

I realize how you have to wade through a "hodge podge" of statements in order to read mine, and how it's all so confusing, which is why you don't see the consistency in my statements, but I hate for people to waste money and be disappointed, which is something they're going to do if they believe there is something magically inherent in a vinyl record.

To the OP

Not sure whether they were sold in the US but Yamaha’s YP-800 is a good bet for a modestly priced entry into Japanese DD tables. The included arm’s okay and I’d second the Goldring 1042. With a budget phono I was surprised how close that combo got to my EMM Labs cdp particularly with vocals. Be prepared to have the power supply re-capped, certainly in the UK well under $1000 would be possible.

When the EMM died rather than repair it I picked up an SP10 with Jelco arm, added an AT33 ptgii and decent phono and haven’t looked back, way better sound than I ever achieved with a digital based system for a good deal lower outlay

Why do people buy CD or Stream? It's easy, you can get decent sounds

As for the vinyl, it took a good deal of time and effort setting up to take it from good to great

In the last month I have ditched my 28 yr old Mirage M-5's that I thought I would have the rest of my life and I am 68 yrs old and my Marantz SR 8002 I thought had beautiful sounds with M-5's..But I have tinnitus really bad and thought these last years it was that more that, than equipment.
Was I wrong.. Purchased used Definitive techogoly BP8080st bi polar to see and I was amazed at what I was hearing, that sound of separation of music again.. With just change of speakers and I am all time CD playing.
I will next year get into streaming.. But just purchased my first vacuum amp from Raven and they sent a Nighthawk out until they build the Blackhawk Mk iii  units.. Now I am hearing music instruments that I never knew were in a CD sound track...And Dave from Raven is sending upgraded tubes to see if I can hear any more musical sounds that I may be missing.. So I am excited every time I turn this equipment on.. I am using a Sony CD/Blu Ray with 192/24 spec audio .. I think at times to hear a vinyl play but I will not go that direction.. will purchase a better CD player and looking at a Marantz Network Audio Player. But right now I am enjoying sound I never knew were there and hopefully the Blackhawk when it arrives shares with me few more details than now... And next year would like to try Non Bi polar speakers and see what they sound like..the last time I had front firing speakers was 1980 Pioneer CS 99A wooden  box speakers and that was a Loog time ago and since have had bi Polar.. any suggestions??? Was thinking Definitive Tech STL's.

Tonight, I discovered "ultimate analog"; that's what I call it, because it was too compelling to quit listening to, and I never found words to describe it.

Never do I record CD's or LP's at 15 IPS because it's too expensive. Tonight, I found a box of tape on 10 inch plastic reels, it was tape that had been recorded over and erased, therefore can be purchased very cheaply. I had made recordings on this tape at 15 IPS and forgotten about it. While the music came through, the first reel was noisy, but the music came through over the noise. There were 10, 10 inch reels, so I still had a lot of tape to go.

The second reel wasn't noisy, and from the audio, I deduced that I had recorded LP's because of the way the music drew me in, but there was no record noise or "tell tale clicks" that are a dead give away for LP's.

The music was so compelling, that I quit all analytical listening and just went with the flow. First, let us define what music is, it's a part of you; you're inner being, that most personal of selves. It is the most important record of your life, because it celebrates the high times and the low times. When you experience instant recall of those times and places, that is invoked or excited by the music, to the extent that you can visualize the experiences, and even re-live the emotions; that is because the music has resonated your subconscious memory. This was the first time I had heard music that compelling. I listened to one reel after another; going back 50 years in time, seeing the people, events, and experiencing the emotions that made those times.

I played one reel after another till almost day; that is when I began to analyze what had transpired. The terms we use to separate CD's and LP's by calling one digital, and the other analog, had been fused to create one compelling "super audio"; music with the emotion of analog, but minus the pops, clicks, and noise; that was music from CD's that had been recorded to magnetic tape at 15 IPS, and played back; you do the analyzing.