Every day I see another turntable recommendation...

J-wall

Im interested in your upgrade path on turntable and cartridge 

an upgraded cartridge and a little better TT goes a long way 

but, I’m most interested in your sq difference between the solid state musical surroundings phono and Allnic phono. One of my audio buddies has converted to mostly Allnic .   Just wondering what the true differences were ?

Saulh 

j-wall said a mouthful In a few sentences . In my opinion he’s very right , but I’m limited in TT experience. Audio buddies have high end stuff to compare my stuff too

acoustic solid with triplaner and Purple Heart & esoteric phone and avid & lyra & ref 6 phono

I’m interested in your current thoughts as to your direction 

Jeff 

@frozentundra, obviously I am just learning about this so take all of what follows with a chunk of salt and ymmv. For me, though I think every link in the chain is important, I think the phono stages dictate the signal that gets through to the pre/power and can exist in my system for many years, so I made that my priority. Cartridge is also hugely important and I think quality can have a big impact for relatively little cost so it is not imo where you want to cut corners, but is more temporary, so its impact on my system will be less imho. Turntable is important too, but my current impression is that there are a lot of similar quality options close in price in the range where I am looking and big improvements come at huge cost. I am less focused on tonearms for better or worse. Anyway, in line with my priority, I saw what looked like a good deal on an Icon Audio PS1 MKii, so I took it. Now I am looking at turntables, mostly focusing on what I can hear at local dealers who are willing to plug my phono stage into the system. So far, I have heard the Clearaudio Concept and Performance DC as well as the Rega P3 and the Project Xtension 10. At this point, I am leaning toward the Performance DC, but tbh, I was coming here today to ask the question: is the $2k price difference between the two Clearaudio models worth it? I could get a decent streamer for that money...

OP,

You got it. 
 

While I am not specifically with the two Clearaudio models, my experience is that in that price range $2K will make a BIG difference. The Performance DC puts you in a difference class. While you could get a decent streamer there is a sizable performance premium in vinyl in this price category.

@saulh You have been demonstrated a selection of TT's of which one has stood out with the impression made.

Question are all demonstrations undertaken as per the following:

1, In the same Listening Environment

2, Is each TT set up on the same mounting method.

3, Is the TT's using the same Tonearm and Cartridge.

4, Is the downstream devices beyond your Phonostage the same.

If the answer is no, then there is the possibility that the set up for the TT and the entirety of the system is to be included in the assessment, that has made one demonstration be perceived as more attractive.

This week end as an aside demonstration at a HiFi Club meet, two Ortofon Kontrapunk B's were presented, One said to be NOS with only a few hours of usage ( A Cupboard Find from a Dealership ), the other a Retipped Model with a Paratrace Styli.

These were mounted in Two Different Headshells, one being a Oyaide Carbon Fibre and the other a more commonly found Aluminium design.

Both were replayed in the same system using the same Tracks.

The Cart's were recognisable as being from the same family, they were quite Ortofon in their delivery.

What stood out was how the Two Cart's demonstrated as more like Cousins than Twin Siblings. They were quite different and distinguishable for the differences.

I have suggested this is carried out once more, and I will supply Two Identical Magnesium Headshells, as I know this Cart' Model very well and can only suggest at present the Headshell Materials and how the energies were managed by these materials, were a substantial contribution to the SQ being perceived.

It seems from this that a small change such as a Headshell can be quite influential in how a presentation from a system is being assessed, transfer that to change of TT mounting, change of Tonearm and Cartridge.

A home demonstration will help with your decision, and might prove so valuable to you, the monies that could be saved through a selection and then directed toward a streamer, might just materialise as the result.      

@pindac have you tried the Korf headshell?

I got one of them and also the top of the line Ortofon (maybe the 10b ??), which does not ring much.
They (maybe) made a big difference.

Ideally I would have used a multi armed octopus of a table with the same arm and cart, with only the head shell differing… but I don’t have that deck.
Then it would have been apples v apples comparison.

In any case the cart, or the head shell, or something else, made the sibilance all but disappear. I am attributing it to the head shell, but I know that is intellectually unfounded as being totally reasonable… so it is more of guess.