DrJ

This is a great little unit, ideal for introducing you to the world of hi-res digital audio while still allowing you to play DVDs, regular CDs, and other formats. Excellent sound quality for playback of DVD-A, SACD, CDs, and DVDs (didn't use it to play MP3 so can't comment on that) in the typical home theater set up. I had it paired with a Denon AVR-3300 and Infinity Crescendo series speakers, and it was mighty enjoyable. I'm posting a link to what I think is a very accurate and fair review of this player for further interest, and specs are also listed there: DV45A specs and review It is really just now broken in - as it has very lightly used, much less chance to use it than I would have liked (since we had our nearly 2 year old son right around the same time I bought it!!!). I inspected the unit casing last night and found no visible scratches or dings. The shiny face panel looks new. All back panel jacks are tight. MSRP is around $700, and I paid about $450 for it brand new about 2 years ago I'm asking $250 plus buyer pays shipping and any desired insurance charges. I'm open to negotiation about shipping carrier/method.

Sony, you say with raised eyebrows? Don't let that name put you off, these are serious, serious high end headphones that stand toe to toe with audiophile names. That includes Grado, for example...as indicated by my own comparison listening tests before I bought these. Some others have come to the same conclusion: Sony vs Grado review Others obviously may disagree and prefer the Grado sound - not trying to start an argument! My only point is to encourage anyone interested in a great sounding and COMFORTABLE headphone to check out these cans and not assume Sony = "low end" gear! I hate to part with these but simply can't justify keeping them around. I bought them when my son was born so I could listen at night without waking him...then we moved to a new home where I happily now have a dedicated listening room far enough away from his room that I can listen with my regular set up and no longer require the phones. I have used them no more than about 2 dozen times over a 2 year period. For the past 9 months they've been resting comfortably in the sturdy factory storage case that is included. They are as close to brand new as used gets! MSRP is about $700, I paid $500. I'm asking $400, plus buyer pays shipping and any desired insurance charges Open to negotiation about shipping carrier/method.

I use a cleaning mix (not my idea, recommended by many) as follows: 1 part (pint) 91% Isopropyl Alcohol (WARNING! Do NOT use IPA on 78s - and possibly really early LPs) 4 parts (pints) distilled water 4-8 drops of a detergent (doesn't matter as long as it's mild; I used my son's J&J Baby Wash last time, or Ivory soap works, or if you want to get expensive and fancy, Triton X photo wetting agent) To clean: 1) First I spray this solution on to several spots on one side of the LP 2) I use a very soft cotton polishing cloth to distribute it evenly, using the circular with the grooves approach mentioned above 3) Rinse in tap water 4) Final rinse with distilled water that has a couple drops of white vinegar added 5) Then you can either air dry or wipe with a dry cloth (I do both, wipe then let the stuff you can't wipe off air dry) I was a biochemist in a former life, and I feel this solution is not only cheap and simple but it makes perfect chemical sense at every step of the way. For example, I know many parrot the idea that "you shouldn't use soap because it leaves a residue" but think harder about that - the only way you can loosen and remove oils/grunge/dust is to get them into aqueous solution and then rinse them away (a vacuuming approach like the VPI helps but you still need to get some liquid cleaner in there). Oil for sure don't mix with water, and dust that is really ground in won't get removed without a little soaping action either. IPA helps but alone would not really do it - it's really in the mix primarily so that the cleaning solution will be easier to rinse away and maybe to help a little with getting the oils into solution. So you use just enough detergent in to loosen things and get them to be miscible with water, then rinse. It only takes a few drops of soap for a whole gallon or so of cleaner, and with this little to no soap residue should be left behind. You know you've added too much detergent if you see a lot of sudsing, should just be a little. The vinegar in the rinse makes sense too since it helps cut calcium and other deposits (which you DON'T want on your LP!!!). This approach works fabulously. I tried it first on what I thought was a pretty whipped copy of Santana's INNER SECRETS (which I think is a pretty lousy album but it does have a couple strong tracks) that I'd had since teenager days and the difference was incredible. The dynamic range improved, pops mostly went away, etc. All by gettin' the grunge out the grooves! I do plan to get a VPI 16.5 eventually but at $400+ it will have to wait a bit and my gut tells me this cheap and simple method probably takes out about 90% of what the VPI does. And it's probably the same basic composition as the fancier cleaning fluids that one uses with the VPI, anyway!

I did buy this one and it's one of my favorite Mosaics (although I have to say that I say that about probably 3/4 of Mosaics!). But really this one rises near the top for me...one reason is that I had NO Anita O'Day leader dates in my collection before I got the box, so it was a wonderful new world for me. Second, I just think at that point in time there was no finer jazz singer. What she lacked in technical ability she more than made up for with swing, swing, swing and a creativity and fearless chance-taking attitude. Not everything in this admittedly way big set is totally riveting, but the best is desert island music. And for me what is the "best?" Well I know Oscar Peterson gets little love on this board but I can't see how anyone couldn't be enamored with their collaborations. Maybe he did mean spiritedly try to push her over the brink in his lightening fast accompaniment, but if so she won that duel big time, matching him and bettering him at every turn. I love the McFarland stuff, and the all-too-few arrangements by Giuffre. It's almost all great. I'm sure the size/price will put some off, but that's a shame. Oh, excellent remastered sound, too.

Lots of vinyl past few days: Beatles - ABBEY ROAD (UK Apple early pressing) and BEATLES FOR SALE (Japanese Odeon red Aurex vinyl copy, mono 1982 reissue - this series is incredible, the quietest vinyl by far I have ever come across - NO surface noise, NONE) Miles Complete Plugged Nickel (Mosaic), Record 5 (burning this set gradually to CD-R backup copies). My first Q LP set - and I'm mighty impressed. Mega heavy vinyl and very quiet. Complete Commodore Recordings (Mosaic), the Lester Young sessions (also burning to CD-R)

Next in my Beatles vinyl odyssey - a really early (first pressing or close) UK ABBEY ROAD. There are -1 master numbers for both sides in the "dead wax" so it has to be early, but not very first press given that there are no outer cover glitches that are well-known on true first pressings (misaligned apple etc). Anyway, sounds remarkable. A really nice quality copy with minimal to no surface noise. Much warmer, transparent, and alive than my 80s repressing for sure. These early pressings are amazing, I never realized how much of a difference it can make when the vinyl and pressing quality were top notch (as they were for UK Apple and before that Parlophone). A nice score from Vintage Vinyl (although there was a cover gouge they never mentioned - which was totally bogus - so they gave me a $15 credit for next order which was pretty cool).

Good news that the sound appears good...I tend to agree with Lon that Addey would have made an even better job of it, but this bodes well.

Woody Herman Capitol recordings. I started at the end with the Las Vegas Herd stuff - and I love it. Wonderful.

Thanks for sharing that Patton story, Soul Stream. Never got to see Big John play live, certainly never had the chance to meet him, I'm green with envy. In addition to being a great musician, everything I've ever read or heard about him just screams "heck of a nice guy," with your story being no exception. I still say some of the best, most touching liner notes for any recording I have are those penned by John Zorn for Patton's BOOGALOO (BN Rare Groove), which again capture the impression of a wonderful, down to earth human being.

Other than music - been a die hard listener first, and collector close second since 3rd grade - I'm just not a collector.

The standard CD layer of BEGGARS BANQUET on the Hybrid SACD sounds fantastic to me...I can't imagine the earlier CD issue sounding any better for sure.

So belatedly here's my opinion on the HARD DAY'S NIGHT Japanese Odeon "red wax" mono issue: Shreds the Parlophone UK plain Jane reissue LP that I had, which is stereo and sounds very tame and completely lacking in visceral impact compared to the mono vinyl. I've read this opinion elsewhere and it's really true of the mono HARD DAY'S NIGHT and of PEPPER for that matter - they both sound much harder-rocking, like real rock 'n' roll records, less muted and (for PEPPER) much less remote/artsy. It's a pretty substantial difference, and it's just so much fun to compare these to the stereo versions I grew up with and literally have internalized down to little micro-moments. The sound on this Japanese Odeon is a little harsher than on the original UK PEPPER pressing I discussed above - this could be the original recordings being different obviously (I don't have any mono LP titles in both versions that would allow A/B of the same recording) but knowing these recordings well I suspect it's just a difference in the overall production process between the Japanese reissues and original UK issues. I must say that the Japanese LP has remarkable clarity and thus may show some of the aging/warts on the master tapes...for example, you can hear the tape hiss as tracks end and then in the gap between tracks it goes completely silent, then you hear the hiss again right before the next song starts...I've never heard this as prominently on any LP and I think it speaks to the mint quality of the vinyl as well as the incredible fidelity of the pressing. Whether this is particularly "musical" or not is of course another story...and it seems to impart a harsher high-end on the Odeon. Anyway, I find the warmth and overall impact of the UK original pressing is more musical. This helps give me my answer as to which pressings I will seek out in the future - original UK mono at least for now.

Porcy, lately on Ebay Beatles original pressing UK mono stuff in NM or better condition is going for WAY more than $100, unfortunately. I did find a VG+ mono original pressing of SGT PEPPER at a UK used record retailer that has inventory on the Web. I am not thrilled with VG+ but it was a "mere" $60 and I wanted to find out if it's really worth me chasing down better copies and spending the bucks it will take. So far I have to say I'm pretty much convinced that it's worth it. After 2 full listens through yesterday, there is no comparison - the mono mix is far superior to the stereo version that I grew up with. I'm sure part of the issue is that I'm listening to a first pressing - no tape aging/wear, taken from 1st generation master, etc - done on heavy, quality vinyl. But also the mix is radically different. Far more punchy and present, with a literally visceral impact in some spots. McCartney's bass is bouncy and rubbery and punches through, the vocals are wonderfully transparent and you can really hear the various vocalists (it's an ensemble, not just a big mush) during harmony passages. There are all kinds of major differences too in backing parts being better balanced than in the stereo mixes (the guitar in "Getting Better" for example, which on the American stereo issues has always been to me obnoxiously loud, out of balance with the needs of the piece). There's some interesting faux pas too - like the sloppier segue edit between the end of "Good Morning, Good Morning" and the Pepper reprise. So far, then, I'm convinced - if you love the Beatles' stuff, worth finding good quality mono. Literally as I was typing this, my Japanese 1986 Odeon mono copy of HARD DAY'S NIGHT was delivered! That one was listed as mint/mint and looks it on quick inspection. I'll post my impressions later today or tomorrow.

While they did get some Conns out as people are mentioning, and one RVG, most of Hutch's catalog is due for updated remasters again. Priority wise, given that the Conns aren't bad at all sonically, I'd vote for redoing the "regular" CDs first, in this order: OBLIQUE (this DEMANDS to be heard by my people, in my opinion far superior to HAPPENINGS - it would make a really nice "surprise" RVG in my view) TOTAL ECLIPSE HAPPENINGS (btw I think the JRVG of this one is horrible, one of the botched muffled jobs, so not a great option for anyone thinking about it) And I'd love to see later BN stuff get issued that hasn't seen daylight on CD, the Select would be fine as Mike outlines above. But honestly I'd prefer a "full" Mosaic of the Complete Hutch/Land Recordings (probably with a cut-off date) covering stuff for various labels, not just Blue Note. A pipe dream probably, but one can dream.

Well I bit...as usual. I'm interested very much in the Touff incarnation of the group, so I'm sure I'll dig it!

I love this Pepper stuff, up there (in a different way) with his Contemporary dates for me. I have one of the 24 bit Japanese McMasters, and it's...well, not that great. In fact, I actually don't think it's any kind of improvement on the older American CD issues. The more I think about this, this might possibly be the first Mosaic Select that I will be passing on...

Damn! Must say I am thoroughly disappointed to hear that it was McMaster, not Addey, who worked on this Select. I think most of McMaster's recent stuff is quite respectable, so it's not like I'll be passing based on this, but Addey's work is just generally mindblowing. Bummer.

Clavinet, yeah - hideous in certain scenarios (read: faux funky limp 70s pop), but when used in the right setting, I LOVE that sound and it definitely hits the spot in the SANFORD theme. Just LOVE it.

I ordered several all at once, after drooling over the catalog for several months...several Blue Note sets since back in around 1995 or so, when I began seriously getting interested in jazz I had the "Blue Note Bug." I believe the order included Jackie McLean, Larry Young, and the Blakey set. Never looked back since then! I'm closing in on eventually tracking down all of them, most recently spending a lot of time trying to find OOP LP sets. Dave James earlier posted about finding the Goodman Mosaic used for $40...and said "that will never happen again." But I have had several lucky finds like this over the years...Herbie Nichols CD set long after it was OOP for about $50...George Lewis set, ditto long OOP, for about $60...and most recently a bulk auction (off Ebay) of 7 or 8 Mosaic LP sets and two CD sets, all long OOP - including all 3 Commodore volumes - in a bulk auction where the total price I paid was only about $10 per disc. So if you're lookin' for something and don't want to pay exhorbitant prices, just be patient and persistent!

Continuing my series of "finally checked it out because of this thread and/or specific discussion of the date here" posts: Despite being quite short (31:00) this is a SUPERB date. The choice of themes is really quite fresh, even the "standards" are not overplayed and then you get stuff like "The Very Young" which is a gorgeous ballad that I doubt has ever been done by anyone else. Curson's tone is fat and brassy, with a tendency to focus on the middle to lower registers of the horn that I love. In the past couple weeks I've been listening a lot to Curson's work with Mingus on the Candid recordings, and that to me makes this leader date even more remarkable. Curson is in a totally different bag here, yet he sounds totally convincing in BOTH worlds. Very impressive. Gildo Mahones is someone I'm not very familiar with as a pianist either, but he's on the job here, with a palpable Latin influence. Excellent recording by RVG as well...Ozzie Cadena produced this originally, so I wonder, was it destined for Savoy before ending up originally on Prestige? Anyway, this is an OJC "Limited Edition," don't let it slip by. It's just too bad they couldn't have found some other Curson date to pair it with on CD, 31:00 is way too short, but still don't let that stop you...quality trumps quantity any day in my book.

I deleted my post from yesterday...my EARLIER post had not appeared when I logged in to the board yesterday so I repeated it...now it's back...weird! Anyway wolff, I'll have to check on the expected tube life for the 300B...but my guess is that it's - well, a guess at best anyway.

I'm sure my local contact will want me to hear Audio Note. I have to recheck my Meishu but I believe it supports only the moving magnet type of cartridge...not sure about that though, I need to check it out. Though a pricey amp it is after all still pretty much "higher end entry level" as far as Audio Note is concerned, so it may not support the moving coil type. You MAY be right about the more expensive tables being hard to pass on...it is certainly a shame to have an item in the set up that is far below the level of the rest. But honestly I'm hoping to pay much less than $4000. I will see if I can hear an appreciable difference BEFORE looking at the price tag...and then if my ears go for the more expensive stuff, decide if the difference is really worth the extra $3000!!!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions so far, guys. Wolff, I haven't even gone to the dealers locally yet - wanted to get some thoughts first. I will most likely try to work with the same dealer that sold me my amp/DAC/speaker gear, he was a pleasure to work with and so far has yet to steer me wrong. He does servicing which I personally would find useful - timewise, it's unlikely I'll be able to do much restoration or adjustment work on a used turntable if it were required. I paid a bit more for my set up as it stands than I would have going strictly Internet, but it's been well worth it - for peace of mind and also the education and attention the dealer provided (that in my book is worth a little money - seems only fair). For example, I had a bad tube (fluke thing) early on that he replaced no charge/no questions asked. So I'll probably go the same route for the turntable. He gets good used gear of all types in regularly, so used or new will be an option. I will do some comparison listening, as much as possible. Nice thing is he has the Audio Note and Zingali set ups in his showroom so it will be very much like my set up without me necessarily having to haul everything home for demos (probably will try and do that when I have it down to the 1 or 2 finalists). Anyway, for now, please keep the ideas coming by all means! I'm listening...

This spring I will have had my tube amp and DAC and Zingali speakers for a year. I've been amazed at how much I've enjoyed getting back into vinyl with the great phono stage on this amp (Audio Note Meishu phono). All this has been with a rather workmanlike Technics SL1200MK2 turntable/Ortofon cartridge, with the stock built in cheap RCA connector plugs. I'm starting to look ahead at a serious upgrade to the turntable, currently the "weakest link" in my audio chain. I've heard about the usual suspects - Linn Sondek LP12, various Thorens models. But I really don't know the ins and outs of higher end turntables well and why these are so sought after (other than they probably sound good!). Who can help me get started with shopping? What features should I look for? Which models are too good NOT to listen to when shopping? What about cartridges? Any recommended tweaks? And what should I expect to pay for a high quality set-up that will match the quality of the rest of the rig? Just FYI I have a very nice Mapleshade Samson rack..the turntable is in a listening room with a VERY stable flooring (almost no vibration) out of the way so little to no foot traffic, and the Samson is like a rock...so vibration is a very small concern.

I just found this thread - I leave everything on (AudioNote Meishu Phono tube amp and Audio Note tube DAC, Richard Gray's Power Company power source) all the time. The manuals (as well as my local dealer) recommend this...and I hear a huge improvement in sound with doing this. Turning the tube amp on and off really resulted in dramatic fluctuation in sound until the tube stuff got properly warmed up again which I found took a bunch of time (couple of hours minimum). Yes, it probably does result in faster tube wear but if you care enough to listen to tubes and put out for a quality listening system it would seem to me worth a few extra bucks in replacement tubes. I have a much lower end solid state home theater system centered around a Denon AVR3300 in the living room and turn that off every night. I have never heard a bit of difference in this system whether it is left on for a long time or turned off (although that could be related to its overall quality rather than there not being a difference with higher end solid state gear).