melm

Responses from melm

has anyone tried chinese cables?
Further to my post above re: Monolith USB cables and how they are like those by Audioquest. Since (many, all?) Audioquest cables are made in China too, they may very well come out of the same factory. The Audioquest costing at least $80, the Monol... 
My thoughts on TT isolation methods.
Actually, regarding hammers, IIRC the first ad to show a hammer blow on a turntable was for the original AR turntable. These were in printed ads, so there was no immediate confirmation of isolation. I think the dealers were encouraged to strike th... 
has anyone tried chinese cables?
Chinese made Monolith USB Cable from Monoprice has solid core copper silverplated cables for the USB signal, and is extremely well shielded. It is not just a good cable at its very low price, it is a very good USB cable-period! It compares favorab... 
What's Next??
I discovered that JRiver on my laptop recognized my Oppo 105 as a DLNA renderer on the way to an external DAC.  Using it that way elevated my SQ as files from my NAS no longer had to pass through the computer.  I have since substituted a much bett... 
vinyl versus digital redux
@rossb,I agree with your first point.  I take it as a given that subjecting a signal to yet another process, especially in the home environment, would necessarily degrade it tp some extent.  It may sound superficially unchanged, but in the low lev... 
vinyl versus digital redux
I have many red-book cd duplicates of my vinyl records. I like to think that my vinyl set-up is pretty good (TNT, all tube phono pre). Generally the digitals can sound as good as the vinyls, but without the usual vinyl artifacts of noise and inner... 
Tube amp bias adjustment advice
The balance control of many otherwise fine preamps and integrated amps have disappeared over the years. It is simply a cost cutting move as there is no reason that a balance control has to compromise SQ. I would not have a preamp without one.There... 
Your most indispensable "tweak"?
@stvgray That's a great suggestion.  May I ask you about it?  I assume the electrician used Romex.  Where I live the minimum required Romex is 12/3.  And that's what all the electricians use routinely  if nothing else is specified.  Did you use th... 
Hi-res streaming on Qobuz
Just because your DAC tells you that it’s receiving 96K 24 bit or whatever, does not necessarily mean that you’re receiving hi-res. The DAC is exposing the container. There are loads of red-book files that are up-sampled to higher rates, but they ... 
Vpi 3d Tonearm - Counterweight fitment
If there's no other solution, you can wrap the back of your tonearm tightly with plumber's Teflon tape and bring its diameter to the dimension you want. 
Periphery outer ring thoughts ?
@jbrrp1 My clamp is a 2.5 lb sandwich of plated copper with a sliver of some sort of soft plastic in between.  It sits about .01" above the disk.  Made by TTWeights, it was NOS when I bought it about 7 years ago and was an old and discontinued mod... 
Periphery outer ring thoughts ?
My ring is 2.5 pounds; it shouldn't cause problems for a competent bearing.   It works fine even on warped records.  So what if the electric motor works harder to get to speed?Obviously vacuum hold down will accomplish a similar result.  But it se... 
DAC Connections to streamer?
It could very well depend upon the digital input circuits of the DAC.  The best have a USB input that is self powered (not using the 5V from the cable) and have two femto clocks for the families of 44.1K and 48K digital sreams.  Such a circuit sho... 
Periphery outer ring thoughts ?
I use a TTWeights ring on my older acrylic-lead VPI TNT platter that is unfit for the VPI ring,  I wouldn't be without one.  It flattens all disks, including those you don't think need flattening, and adds flywheel, which is always helpful.  It's ... 
Springs under turntable
About 7 years ago I replaced the 4 springs under my modified VPI TNT with 4 handballs.  It was a solution that VPI had used on its last TNT version.  Great improvement.  If I could not integrate them into the TT, as was possible with the TNT, I wo...