05-25-2006, 01:34 AM
Quote:Nystul, I wonder if you understand what an audiophile is, or was before digital came along and perverted sound reproduction. (Yes, fewer pops and hisses, BFD. Dolby, a decent cleaner, and a good cartridge, as well as a decent DD turntable, did similar good things for signal to noise ratios without cutting sound into slices. :angry: ) Life is analog. The Luddite has spoken. ;)
You talk the talk, but if you were really a vinyl enthusiast you would be saving all your money to buy some new cartridge or rare LPs instead of spending it on a machine that will strip your collection of it's analoggy goodness! You do realize you will now have the worst of both worlds, right? The flawed sounds of analog transferred to the lifeless realm of digital? :ph34r:
Truth be told, I've never heard an audiophile grade turntable setup. Most of my memories of vinyl involve running acrossed the room to lift the needle before it gets to the end of the album and starts scratching. I have had the opportunity to listen to $1200 headphones, $2000 tube-rolled headphone amplifiers, $200 headphone cables, etc., so I have a bit of an idea of the extremes people will go to get the right sound. The one thing thing I've learned from those experiences is that the whole thing can be a complete crapshoot, as each thing has to go with the next thing correctly or you've wasted your money. The other thing I've learned is that, while I'm both a musician and a music lover, I don't have that hunger to get perfect reproduction that some people do.
So the only real advice I can give with regards to high end audio is, figure out what will match your needs, and listen before you buy if at all possible! It seems you've already decided this is the perfect match for your needs, so hopefully it also fits the bill sound-wise.