HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Yeah. It's mostly that one record so far.

Very kind offer Ant that I will probably take you up on. Sending myself round in circles at the moment at more than 45 rpm.

Dont do that stu, its no fun
It should be fun
You're welcome whenever

Just played The White Stripes Elephant and it made things rattle in the room.

The volume is higher than what I have for CD. I don't have a volume control as such. Just resistor based potential dividers. I didn't have exactly the same value for the one I am using with vinyl


Even so, this vinyl is totally blowing the bloody doors off. I'm at a loss to explain it apart from my cd player is anemic or the CD matering is anemic or both.

Totally bonkers.

I know it’s not the same but I put a cd on in my car stereo instead of the usual streaming by iPhone and the harshness was very evident- the cdp is by Clarion - I think it demonstrates how streaming is so advanced and that vinyl got it right first time
In my house vinyl is for listening streaming is background/ light listening

If I had a "normal " system then it would make it easy to swap one component out at a time to try and highlight any problems. It's not easy for me to do that though because I built stuff so bespoke.

Easier for sources but I don't have another working TT. I have another cdp and a Naim Stageline phono amp. Don't have any more amps I can easily swap in. I do have speakers .

I hope I get there in the end with a bit of sanity left

Sanity is for wimps Stu.

karatestu wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:11 am Just played The White Stripes Elephant and it made things rattle in the room.

The volume is higher than what I have for CD. I don't have a volume control as such. Just resistor based potential dividers. I didn't have exactly the same value for the one I am using with vinyl


Even so, this vinyl is totally blowing the bloody doors off. I'm at a loss to explain it apart from my cd player is anemic or the CD matering is anemic or both.

Totally bonkers.

Vinyl is a more 'full fat' experience here, also. I usually refer to digital as 'semi-skimmed' and vinyl as 'gold top'. That said, my 401/ SPU are big on bass, and the Cubes are not short of bass, either... and your LP12 will be 'fruity' enough.

I only really take any notice when I go straight from one to the other. Otherwise, my ears quickly adapt.

karatestu wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:11 am The volume is higher than what I have for CD. I don't have a volume control as such. Just resistor based potential dividers. I didn't have exactly the same value for the one I am using with vinyl

That is generally a problem and one reason why active pre-amps have variable gain settings. All that is necessary for a passive is an attenuator (potential divider) in the louder source if the difference in level is a significant issue.

karatestu wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:11 amEven so, this vinyl is totally blowing the bloody doors off. I'm at a loss to explain it apart from my CD player is anaemic or the CD mastering is anaemic or both.

Totally bonkers.

The difficulty with comparing vinyl and digital sources is that the former has mechanically limited dynamic range and thus the mastering has to account for that. A degree of compression is inevitable. There are ways to increase the dynamic range but they are expensive to implement and make the end product expensive for the buyer.

Digital has an inherently wider dynamic range but the sampling rate imposes other limitations not to mention the effect of converting from one sampling rate for the mastering equipment down to 44.1KHz for the final CD pressing. Many digital mixing desks natively use either 48KHz or 96KHz sampling, Dante allows up to 192KHz, the CD is definitely old school.

However, you are probably hearing differences in both equipment and mastering. You can use the same master recording for both vinyl and CD but signal processing required to remain within the mechanical limitations of vinyl mean they can never sound "the same".

Thanks for the last two posts.

The problem for me is I am now absolutely paranoid that something is not right with my system. I had everything playing nicely together, I could play any CD I own and not be annoyed by anything. Now I introduce vinyl and I can't level match the two. The vinyl is louder but even so, I shouldn't be wincing at the bass output of some records.

I am only playing stuff I have played on CD recently. Probably different masters, I have no way of knowing.

Stevie Wonder Innervisions- on a couple of tracks the bass sounds like it is a fart. This is not real bass however, Stevie played the bass on a synthesiser.

Gorillaz Demon Days - lots of deep synth bass on this but on CD my system behaves perfectly. On vinyl it is just a mush down low.

Certain Marvin Gaye songs also have too much bass.

karatestu wrote: ↑Sat Jan 14, 2023 10:00 am Thanks for the last two posts.

The problem for me is I am now absolutely paranoid that something is not right with my system. I had everything playing nicely together, I could play any CD I own and not be annoyed by anything. Now I introduce vinyl and I can't level match the two. The vinyl is louder but even so, I shouldn't be wincing at the bass output of some records.

I am only playing stuff I have played on CD recently. Probably different masters, I have no way of knowing.

Stevie Wonder Innervisions- on a couple of tracks the bass sounds like it is a fart. This is not real bass however, Stevie played the bass on a synthesiser.

Gorillaz Demon Days - lots of deep synth bass on this but on CD my system behaves perfectly. On vinyl it is just a mush down low.

Certain Marvin Gaye songs also have too much bass.

Stu,
I suspect that the cartridge you have is part of the problem, what is it? If it is a Moving Coil then a new stylus is going to be relatively expensive but a Moving Magnet type allows you to do the change. I suggest you look for a recommended, economy, cartridge as a trial. If that makes a difference then you can consider other options with the one you already have.

If a low cost cartridge doesn't change things the problem is elsewhere but, as you already have concerns about it, I would go for the cartridge first.