My analog epiphany

[essrand]

I wrote an account of my audiophile world unravelling visit at Audio Lounge Mumbai.

Do take a look: https://audiofool.substack.com/p/why-i-sold-my-50000-dac-part-one

Thoughts, bouquets, brickbats, all welcome. If you like the post, do please subscribe.

I don't know where I will end up by (maybe) going all-analogue. (Almost) no digital right now, but let's see.

Currently attempting to fit an SPU on a technics TT......foolishness you say .......I Agree...... it's gonna be fun though.

Post here>>

 

[reignofchaos]

Anyone who has heard top flight analog knows how much of a joke digital reproduction is - there is a whole gang of us here in Bangalore.

PS: Get rid of that technics if your really want good analog.

 

[oldmonk]

Anyone who has heard top flight analog knows how much of a joke digital reproduction is - there is a whole gang of us here in Bangalore.

PS: Get rid of that technics if your really want good analog.

Wow !!

 

[essrand]

Anyone who has heard top flight analog knows how much of a joke digital reproduction is - there is a whole gang of us here in Bangalore.

PS: Get rid of that technics if your really want good analog.

Really? It's a Technics 1210GAE, you want me dump that? The 1200G is supposed to be a Giant slayer. But would love to know your reasons, since I am quite new to this game. In the 5K$ USD range, what would you recommend instead?

 

[G401fan]

Really? It's a Technics 1210GAE, you want me dump that? The 1200G is supposed to be a Giant slayer. But would love to know your reasons, since I am quite new to this game. In the 5K$ USD range, what would you recommend instead?

Nothing else comes close, even at three times the price.

 

[reignofchaos]

Really? It's a Technics 1210GAE, you want me dump that? The 1200G is supposed to be a Giant slayer. But would love to know your reasons, since I am quite new to this game. In the 5K$ USD range, what would you recommend instead?

Not a fan - all the technics DD are dry and sterile sounding including the new ones. Never enjoyed them. You will only hear it once you put a quality belt drive beside it.

The whole point of analog is emotional connection and at least for me, it fails badly in this.

The idlers are fine - garrard, lenco, td124.

 

[essrand]

Not a fan - all the technics DD are dry and sterile sounding including the new ones. Never enjoyed them. You will only hear it once you put a quality belt drive beside it.

The whole point of analog is emotional connection and at least for me, it fails badly in this.

The idlers are fine - garrard, lenco, td124.

Can a Technics SL-1200G challenge the state of the art?

Finally fitted the Wand tonearm. Inspired by the longer arm Technics fits to the R version, I went for the 10.3” option. Sounds really good despite the rough initial set up and the MP500 cartridge being unused.

whatsbestforum.com

Might be a good read.

"I know many people will not to hear this but many belt drive turntables sound mushy, and really homogenize the sound. You have to get a massive weight for much of this to be neutralized. There are very few medium range belt drive turntables that really have the drive. I remember hearing a Mission 774 I think, and that was a really great sounding belt drive table. For the money, the 1200G is tough to beat. It does not add anything to the music. Belt drives IMO do. Music is way softer. real music is not soft sounding at all. I actually think DD are closer to the real thing unless you spend maybe 100K. For 100k, it better sound good. lol. There are always trade offs in everything. nothing is perfect. Not even a hundred thousand dollar table. The cartridge is really important and can make a huge difference. I guess one could argue that the noise floor is better on a belt drive but maybe not. Setup, leveling the table and limiting vibration is key, especially with low output cartridges."

Horses for courses I guess.

 

[reignofchaos]

I don't care what is randomly written on the internet. I compared the SL1200 with a technics Belt drive SL-B2. The latter was my older table and the 1200 was the upgrade. The 1200 went back after a week. I sold my old clear audio to a friend who wanted to retain his SL1200 alongwith it. What happened - the SL1200 was sold in a couple of weeks.

If you tried the same - I would see yours on sale within a couple of weeks too. If you really want to know what direct drives can do, have a listen to an EMT 950. I have absolutely nothing positive to say about the technics tables. They eat up natural harmonics and decay structures of instruments.

 

[arj]

There are so may Legendary DDs, EMTs , Pioneer Exclusive P3, Kenwood L07D etc which have earned their stay.

Its difficult getting it right, just like its getting an Idler right. belt drives are relatively easier to get right but then they come with their own issues. This is another one of those generic debates like Tube vs SS, Class A vs AD Vs D or PP vs SET. There is no generalisation possible as even amongst the "experts" opinions are divided.

In the end it comes down to the system, genre of music, and expectations of the person listening to it.

I have not listened to the Technics 1210GAE but perhaps its something different from a 1200..

 

[chander]

There is no generalisation possible as even amongst the "experts" opinions are divided.

perfection!

 

[arj]

The Denon DP-3000NE from people who have hear it seems to be an amazing TT, even better than the standard SL1200. You tube has a comparison as well as som clips which sound really good... put a DL103 and a good Phono and you have a great system especially if you are not keen to get onto the old models.

Currently attempting to fit an SPU on a technics TT......foolishness you say .......I Agree...... it's gonna be fun though.

"Foolishness" is joie-de-vivre.. no fun in life without it . Please share your findings

 

[essrand]

I don't care what is randomly written on the internet. I compared the SL1200 with a technics Belt drive SL-B2. The latter was my older table and the 1200 was the upgrade. The 1200 went back after a week. I sold my old clear audio to a friend who wanted to retain his SL1200 alongwith it. What happened - the SL1200 was sold in a couple of weeks.

If you tried the same - I would see yours on sale within a couple of weeks too. If you really want to know what direct drives can do, have a listen to an EMT 950. I have absolutely nothing positive to say about the technics tables. They eat up natural harmonics and decay structures of instruments.

Was it the 1200G, released in 2018 with the coreless DD motor or one of the older technics 1200?

There are so may Legendary DDs, EMTs , Pioneer Exclusive P3, Kenwood L07D etc which have earned their stay.

Its difficult getting it right, just like its getting an Idler right. belt drives are relatively easier to get right but then they come with their own issues. This is another one of those generic debates like Tube vs SS, Class A vs AD Vs D or PP vs SET. There is no generalisation possible as even amongst the "experts" opinions are divided.

In the end it comes down to the system, genre of music, and expectations of the person listening to it.

I have not listened to the Technics 1210GAE but perhaps its something different from a 1200..

Yes, it’s a completely different animal. 1200G/GAE/1210G/GAE are completely different from 1200s DJ rigs floating around.

 

[reignofchaos]

Was it the 1200G, released in 2018 with the coreless DD motor or one of the older technics 1200?

Older one. But I have heard the new one - more detail but emotionless.

 

[G401fan]

Older one. But I have heard the new one - more detail but emotionless.

Given that there has been universal praise for thev1200 GAE, perhaps your continued pissing on its parade deserves the Yankee jibe which abbreviates to: SUASUYT***.

 

[prem]

Technics Grand Class SL-1200GR2, SL-1300G, and SL-1200G

When several reviewers raved about the Technics Grand Glass models, I was intrigued. Would they really be so different from the classic SL-1210MkII I know so well? And how would the various models compare? So, I set out to compare the SL-1200G, SL-1200GR2, and SL-1300G with the SL-1210MkII.

www.hifi-advice.com

Above is a very nice detailed review comparing the differences between the various new Technics models. He also compares the new one with the old Technics 1200.

Christiaan Punter is a very sensible reviewer. He uses top of the line equipment. And his reviews are fairly spot on.

Although he didn’t like the old 1200, he found the new models musical and several steps above the old 1200.

 

[essrand]

Since the item has gotten glowing reviews worldwide, and since you persist in pissing on the parade , perhaps the old Yankee jibe is appropriate at this point

Given that there has been universal praise for thev1200 GAE, perhaps your continued pissing on its parade deserves the Yankee jibe which abbreviates to: SUASUYT***.

Very curious to know the full form of that acronym.

I don't care what is randomly written on the internet. I compared the SL1200 with a technics Belt drive SL-B2. The latter was my older table and the 1200 was the upgrade. The 1200 went back after a week. I sold my old clear audio to a friend who wanted to retain his SL1200 alongwith it. What happened - the SL1200 was sold in a couple of weeks.

If you tried the same - I would see yours on sale within a couple of weeks too. If you really want to know what direct drives can do, have a listen to an EMT 950. I have absolutely nothing positive to say about the technics tables. They eat up natural harmonics and decay structures of instruments.

I hope you see the irony in your statement (first sentence esp).

 

[viren bakhshi]

Hello essrand,

Perhaps you should recognize the irony in your own audio search. Turntables and LP reproduction have existed for eons. How come it has taken you so long to even acknowledge it. What sort of search is it that ignores an established form of music reproduction.

You say you are conversant with live music. If you are, it should have been very clear for you to hear the differences between analog and digital playback.

It seems you are bitten by the brand bug. After all your fabulous equipment auditions, if you haven't realised that price, and quality, and reviews, have no correlation, I think you have been blinded.

All the best in your continuing search.

 

[oldmonk]

I don't care what is randomly written on the internet. I compared the SL1200 with a technics Belt drive SL-B2. The latter was my older table and the 1200 was the upgrade. The 1200 went back after a week. I sold my old clear audio to a friend who wanted to retain his SL1200 alongwith it. What happened - the SL1200 was sold in a couple of weeks.

If you tried the same - I would see yours on sale within a couple of weeks too. If you really want to know what direct drives can do, have a listen to an EMT 950. I have absolutely nothing positive to say about the technics tables. They eat up natural harmonics and decay structures of instruments.

In my experience the old 1200 did sound good with some records of fast tappy music but I was missing emotion in tracks which had good vocals.

Maybe the new ones are better

A lot depends on the setup and cartridge and on the record itself.is my experience

I would not however go so far as to trash digital reproduction in toto.

Hello essrand,

Perhaps you should recognize the irony in your own audio search. Turntables and LP reproduction have existed for eons. How come it has taken you so long to even acknowledge it. What sort of search is it that ignores an established form of music reproduction.

You say you are conversant with live music. If you are, it should have been very clear for you to hear the differences between analog and digital playback.

It seems you are bitten by the brand bug. After all your fabulous equipment auditions, if you haven't realised that price, and quality, and reviews, have no correlation, I think you have been blinded.

All the best in your continuing search.

one can be open to the possibility of a passion for digital gear followed by the realization of vinyl.

Perhaps that's why many systems have vinyl as the end game.

 

[captainsubtext]

adding my 2 cents here - I’ve owned a turntable since 2015 and started off with a pro-ject debut followed by a rega p3/rega exact through a Schiit mani and then a pro-ject tube box ds2.

I enjoyed it greatly but at that price point or with my partnering gear I felt that digital far outstripped my analog setup for a similar investment (schiit gungnir v my analog rig)

As my gear has improved I’ve come to a point where subjectively I prefer the sound of my analog sources - I used the technics 1200 GR in my setup for a couple of years and loved the step up from my older rig. The digital gear during the time was Yggdrasil/holo may/ t+a dac 200 and a bunch of others.

I moved on to a thorens td1601 with a tas1600 and it does sound significantly better than the technics.

still have my technics 1200GR with a dynavector 10x5 mk3 upstairs and but I don’t find it as ghastly like some folks here have said.

 

[essrand]

Hello essrand,

Perhaps you should recognize the irony in your own audio search. Turntables and LP reproduction have existed for eons. How come it has taken you so long to even acknowledge it. What sort of search is it that ignores an established form of music reproduction.

You say you are conversant with live music. If you are, it should have been very clear for you to hear the differences between analog and digital playback.

It seems you are bitten by the brand bug. After all your fabulous equipment auditions, if you haven't realised that price, and quality, and reviews, have no correlation, I think you have been blinded.

All the best in your continuing search.

Please read my blog, before making these conclusions. I have had TTs for ten plus years, and most of the time my digital was (almost) on par. The epiphany was a very specific experience. Do read. I don’t care about brands as much as you think, also technics is no hallowed brand by any means.