Hello,
I remember buying my first portable Sony CD player back in the early 80s. That thing skipped like crazy. I then went to the Sony 200 CD player and then 400 CD player. I even bought a pair of Advent Heritage speakers that said “CD Ready”right on the box. The salesman told me you had to have CD ready speakers or you would blow the tweeters. What do you want from me. I was 12 or 13 years old. I didn’t get into analog until about three years ago except for cassettes before I was a teenager. I started working when I was 11 so I had money burning a hole in my pocket. My friend let me borrow his TT and his Pink Floyd collection. I loved it. It does not sound as good as the SACD version. I realized to hear really good vinyl you need a $5k-$7k setup. Or a killer SA preamp or a less expensive approach get a tube preamp or tube integrated. There are vinyl albums not on streaming along with some CDs. I am in the same boat. The best sounding phono preamp for the money is the Hegel V10. It does both MM/MC. Especially if you want to go to a cheaper TT. Even if you work your way up to a $3k to $5k TT this Hegel V10 will work great. For $1400 you can get the brand new Sutherland TZ Vibe that does MC only and in my opinion is a lot better on MC than the Hegel due to having a little more weight and detail. Keep in mind it’s MC only. The Sutherland TZ Vibe is like a Micro LOCO. Which the Little LOCO won the bast analog award a few years back. I am having my Linn Axis motor assy rebuilt and get a Hana SL MC cart on it. It has a Sumiko Pearl MM right now. Amazing $100 cart. I also have a Nag MP110 on my AT LP120 table which is also a great cart for a few more bucks. This is the cheapest and best sounding setup I have heard. I have tested all of the Rega and VPI up to the VPI prime signature with a AT 1000 cart. Until they fix the supply chain issues this is as high as I can go. If you live near the Chicagoland area the store I buy my gear from is:
https://holmaudio.com/
They let you try before you buy. They also sell TT and carts in case you want to add analog to your system, fix up your existing TT or try out the two phono preamps I talked about.
I remember buying my first portable Sony CD player back in the early 80s. That thing skipped like crazy. I then went to the Sony 200 CD player and then 400 CD player. I even bought a pair of Advent Heritage speakers that said “CD Ready”right on the box. The salesman told me you had to have CD ready speakers or you would blow the tweeters. What do you want from me. I was 12 or 13 years old. I didn’t get into analog until about three years ago except for cassettes before I was a teenager. I started working when I was 11 so I had money burning a hole in my pocket. My friend let me borrow his TT and his Pink Floyd collection. I loved it. It does not sound as good as the SACD version. I realized to hear really good vinyl you need a $5k-$7k setup. Or a killer SA preamp or a less expensive approach get a tube preamp or tube integrated. There are vinyl albums not on streaming along with some CDs. I am in the same boat. The best sounding phono preamp for the money is the Hegel V10. It does both MM/MC. Especially if you want to go to a cheaper TT. Even if you work your way up to a $3k to $5k TT this Hegel V10 will work great. For $1400 you can get the brand new Sutherland TZ Vibe that does MC only and in my opinion is a lot better on MC than the Hegel due to having a little more weight and detail. Keep in mind it’s MC only. The Sutherland TZ Vibe is like a Micro LOCO. Which the Little LOCO won the bast analog award a few years back. I am having my Linn Axis motor assy rebuilt and get a Hana SL MC cart on it. It has a Sumiko Pearl MM right now. Amazing $100 cart. I also have a Nag MP110 on my AT LP120 table which is also a great cart for a few more bucks. This is the cheapest and best sounding setup I have heard. I have tested all of the Rega and VPI up to the VPI prime signature with a AT 1000 cart. Until they fix the supply chain issues this is as high as I can go. If you live near the Chicagoland area the store I buy my gear from is:
https://holmaudio.com/
They let you try before you buy. They also sell TT and carts in case you want to add analog to your system, fix up your existing TT or try out the two phono preamps I talked about.