Paul R

Sometimes, especially on some CD's that are slightly different releases, the match won't work and iTunes will by default, upload your RIP. It also happens of course, when iTunes doesn't have a media file of the same or higher quality as the one you are presenting. That is getting much less common, but it still happens. I have no idea why the play counts are not updating though. Sorry...

I am sorry guys - when I posted the link it was at $499 - now 15 mins later, it is back to $649. I bought mine on Sunday, it was shipped on Monday and arrived today.

If anyone is looking for a good semi-auto table I just bought one of these for the bedroom. Gotta say, it is fun to listen to, even using the built in phono-amp and $100 cartridge it comes with. I am not affiliated with B&H other than as a customer. This is not an advert, etc. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=music hall classic&sts=ma

Oh my - I do believe I am a little bit jealous. ;) It's pretty and looks so well designed.

Well, it actually involved a squirrel in the house and discouraging said squirrel… 🤠

Kinda amusing, but - Core Audio is used by a lot of music production software. Like Chris pointed out, auto rate switching just means you have to grab exclusive access. But nobody is holding your feet to the fire to choose Apple. Linux is a great alternative choice.

To each their own, but whatever it is today, it has BSD as its true ancestor. I can port most UNIX programs to the Mac without any issues, including audio programs. I am not sure what you are talking about with automatic sample rate switching, the only thing that has ever limited that on the Mac was iTunes playback. (shrug) While I won't dispute that there is an "Apple Tax" and that PC's can and do perform really well, there are a lot of advantages to the Mac. First, if you can do it at all on a Mac, it is generally pretty easy to do. Second, it works and keeps working. I have a Mac mini here that got thrown thru a wall, and still works. In fact, I want to replace it but can't bring myself to spend the money until it stops working.

Probably Linux, but note that Macs are really Unix under the cover, and if used as only a music player are quite reliable. Purpose built Linux is better though, and is quite likely what is running your CD player. ;) Kinda off subject a bit, but Sanyo based DVD players are cheap, reliable, and sound pretty good when used for audio playback. In a mini case and with an ESS DAC, they are also incredibly cheap. A heck of a lot of musicality and detail comes out of one of those rigs, at least to my ancient ears. I can see your point.

James Galway on RCA vinyl..

That is really vintage! Are you listening in mono, or with a pair of stacks? :) Mono listening has a joy all it’s own. I have a batch of old mono snd mono-78 recordings that can sound amazing. You can hear things that might get lost in a stereo mix. i was thinking about trying some Chi-Fi LS3/5A knockoffs, but not sure if it would be just throwing away money or not.

I love Audirvana, it makes music. :) I have a license for it, but don’t have a computer in the bedroom with this setup.

Only 89db, but they are able to energize the room at around 11 o’clock on the volume control. That amazes me to no end. What legacy speakers are you thinking of?

Yep - I tossed most of the older gear up on Facebook or at the yard sale, and bit down hard on my lip and ordered up a Willsenton R8 with KT88 tubes in it. Amazing sound, fantastic build quality, and $1299 off AliExpress with Free Shipping. As a lot of the reviews a coupe years ago noted, this thing has great build quality, point to point wiring and all the stuff that gets Audiophiles excited. ;) The tubes are Willsenton tubes, but I am saving up to get a good quad of EL44's. The sound amazes me, with full round and clear bass, a nice vocal presentation too. It's more forward and (to me) better when set to Ultra-Linear operation vice Triode, but some music sounds better in Triode. It can deal with some really harsh recordings. I don't have room to setup the LRS Maggies here, but I did anyway just to see what they sound like with the Willsenton. Jaw dropping vocals. Karen Carpenter, Julie London, and dozens of other vocalists sound utterly amazing through the WIllsenton and the LRS speakers. It's really soothing to my soul. The KEF 350's do an excellent job, I have no complaints. They are plugged and about a foot away from the back wall, and when I turn on an album, I am lost in the music within a minute or two. But I sure wish I still had a set of Large Advents (or Harbeth P3Srs). Acoustic Suspension just provides the hyper controlled midrange I utterly adore. The Q350s do an excellent job, but in a way they sound too precise and, if some will forgive me, too accurate. Maybe a little clinical is a better way to describe it. In any case it is really soothing to my soul (and a great anxiety reducer) to be able to listen to good music on a relatively good system again. Even the best soundbars don't really cut it for me. The bass is always slightly out of synch from the woofer that is great for reproducing Booms - bit not so much a piano. The vocals are always way forward, as they should be since one of the primary goals of a sound-bar is to reproduce clear and intelligible dialog. I'm thinking of adding a small turntable to record the few hundred albums I have left around here, most of which are ancient soundtracks. I got three copies of the RCA Victor South Pacific album on vinyl, but not a single digital copy. How un-forward looking of me... I would also like to perhaps upgrade the Q350s, but that is all a while in the future. Cost driven mostly. I think I also need to get a dedicated Roon server, but not at all sure what would be the best (and perhaps least cost) route. Right now, there is a small external raid array on the Mac, which is doing the job. Seems to have zero impact of the daily things I do on the Mac. As always, thoughts and ideas are welcome. Yours, -Paul

Guess some things never change, and the price of things in yesteryear are nothing but pocket change now... ;)

Hi John - Yes, Mg really does help with hearing, as does blood pressure medication. Thanks for the tip you gave me on it a couple of years ago! :) Yours, -Paul

The Outlaw Audio Monoblock 2200's are 19" 1u units, and Maggies just dearly love them. Well built and very difficult to damage.

You sure pegged that right! The itch for more power is always there, for sure! :) Made me go play some percussion-heavy music just to see what it would do, and sure it enough it ran out of steam - just as you predicted. It just surprised me that a wee little could grab ahold of those QEFs and make them behave so well. I think I will still pick up the little AXA35, but start saving for a "real" tube amp setup.

Man that is a killer view... :)

Hi Guys - finally I am able to build back a small system, which is basically going in my bedroom. Small, intimate space for quiet listening and relaxation. Without the need for headphones. And yeah - just for me! :) So here's the dilemma, and it should make perfect sense but the concrete between my ears seems to be quite dense right now. A pair of KEF Q350s, a Cambridge Audio AXA10 streamer connected to the household Roon server, and - a small, easy to operate amp. The candidates from my closet are a Sonos Amp, a NAD Bee316, a NAD C715, and a FX-Audio TUBE -P1. The Sonos Amp is a 125wpc brute, and it sounds kinda like a brute too. Was used for television audio and sounded great, but doesn't appear to have any refinement in this setup. Will grab hold of the bass and control it, but seems to lose something in the vocals and treble. The NAD BEE316 sounds pretty good, very neutral and clear, but either through age or hearing loss, has a distinct lack of dynamics. The sound is just boring for some reason. The NAD C715 doesn't handle the bass at all, very very muddy. That is also probably due to age, the beastie has been around since 2004 or so. It is showing its age! The surprise of the bunch is the tiny super cheap FS-Audio P1. ( https://www.thephonograph.net/fx-audio-tube-p1-review/ ) Its retails for between $140-$200, depending upon shipping. It has a massive 2wpc into 8 ohms, maybe 4wpc into 4 ohms, and drives the KEF's like nobody's business. Tight base, clear midrange, controlled treble. It generally doesn't clip either, at least at the modest volumes I use. The volume control is at or just below 1/4. Since the NADs both seem to be showing their age, and the Sonos amp is best described as a brute, I was going to pick up a Cambridge Audio AXA35 to go with the player, mainly because it has a remote control. ( https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/usa/en/products/hi-fi/ax/axa35 ) Then I put that cheap little Chinese made FX-Audio amp on there and the sound is very pleasing indeed. I can't really explain why, it could be that my hearing has changed, or that I now live a mile above sea level, or what? In any case, theories or conjectures as to why a tiny little tube amp sounds better than aged but (what I assume are) higher quality gear has me puzzled. And has anyone heard the little AXA35? No place to go listen around here with a long ass drive to Salt Lake City, so I am kinda guessing on specs and what other folks say. But I would sure like to know how a 2wpc Chinese amp can drive those KEF's to way louder volumes than I can tolerate, and sound so darn good... Yours, -Paul

Looks like it is real this time! Apple Music to get lossless music in June 2021...

Alex helped me out a lot, it was a shock to hear about that. His grandson, Daniel, is looking for pictures of Alex if anyone has any. -Paul

Ugh - that is an inappropriate comment that shows I seriously underestimated your overbearing ego, and at the same time overestimated your urbanity and ethics. MQA and your campaign against it are in no way comparable to the Trail of Tears. Which, as you well know, had effects well into the 20th century, and even has lasting effects today. MQA will soon be replaced by something else and your brief time in the spotlight will be taken over by someone else.

Perhaps the easiest and best thing to do would be simply to post a pointer to the best of the substantive critiques. That would have the advantages of being efficient, being helpful, and even being civil. It is a ethos that has worked well before. If then, someone does not engage in refutation of any of those points, it is probably safe to assume they have given the critique a lot of thought, and probably agrees with it If they do engage, then maybe they have a point that should be considered. Heck, all I really did was say that the algorithm that MQA uses is new expression of old and pretty basic stuff that everyone learns. They just applied it in a novel marketing way really. That is far from being the start of a new evil empire. And the same tech is used today in other places and systems. I went so far as to say (horrors!) that I preferred the sound of devaluation MQA tracks over what seems to be the equivalent FLAC track. So what? I also prefer the sound of some vinyl tracks over the equivalent FLAC track. Purely subjective listening pleasure. For that I had to endure nearly endless harassment from some people. Even though more than two years ago I expressed that I was concerned with MQA’s potential for DRM. Okay, Audio in all its glory, technical mastery, and even in its silliness, is a passionate subject. Endless discussions about every possible factor, from recording to formats to any kind of payback chain are the normal way things happen. And for most audiophiles, great fun. The few here that have turned this thread into a points game with behavior that is intended solely to use this platform to gain themselves notoriety, well - honestly, I find that rather disgusting. Even though it worked for them, it had a high cost. Civility the word, has as its root the Latin word civilis - meaning citizen. Implying citizenship in a community, which for at least a couple thousand years, has meant orderly and good behavior. Decide for yourself if the behavior here is civilized or barbaric. Buildingl up the community, or tearing it down for the benefit of the few.

What value is there is nasty attacks, personal or otherwise?

Oh, I think perhaps you underestimate the impact you have had on the audiophile world at large Chris, not just computer audiophiles, though other than vinyl there are not many other sources of fine audio today that are not digital. Definitely you were far ahead of the pack there. Honestly the lack of civility from the clique in the MQA thread is a well discussed subject in a lot of audiophile circles. I would bet someone has clapped you on the shoulder and commiserated about the tough job you have riding herd on this bunch - more than once or twice. 🙃 It would be delightful to see a few of the most annoying folks brought to heel. Not the ones who seriously disagree, but the loud ones whoseyyyyggg major contributions to any discussion are immediate attempts to control the discussion, shut down any non confirming discussion, and harrass those they consider heretics. If tat brings u an imaeof torches and pitchforks, then I wrote this pretty well. Just my thinking, YMMV, etc.