I have had the ARES 12th for a few years and I really like it, I have recently upgraded my whole Vinyl playing chain and now, I can hear some of the short fallings of my digital set up.
For anyone who did the upgrade was it worth it? Or should I look for something else?
My Budget is $2k t00 $2.5K range and I am in the US.
Thanks!
The vintage Denon AU-340 SUT I ordered from Japan has finally arrived and at last the system that I had envisioned is complete.
Denon DP3000NE Turntable is a beast, it's built like a tank, has removable headshell for easy cartridge changes, it's direct drive and looks and feels like it will outlast me.
The VAS Ebony is a derivative of the famous Denon DL 103 cartridge, the heavy ebony body and the nude hyper elliptical stylus give body, warmth and detail.
Denon AU-340 was built for the DL 103 and if you haven't tried a SUT in your vinyl system before, I wholeheartedly recommend you try one, for me the SUT + Darlington is lightyears ahead of the MC input of my A1 amp. This is the second SUT I've ever owned and I honestly think that I will never play records without a SUT.
The Darlington is the biggest bargain I have come across in Hifi in my personal opinion.
Suffice to say I think I have reached my end game system for Vinyl playing. I am still curious about some higher end MC cartridges like Hana Red and Miyajima Shilabe and always dreamed of a Koetsu and maybe a Hashimoto based SUT but those are windfall type purchases that I am no longer chasing.
The only thing I am looking to buy is a Humminguru Nova Ultrasonic cleaner. If anyone owns one, I would love some feedback.
The Denon Dp 3000NE with a Sumiko Amethyst going into a Darlington MM6B listening to Khruangbin Live in Sydney with a the help of a gummy or two. WOW!
Still waiting for my SUT to be shipped from Japan so I can try my VAS DL 103 Ebony cartridge but for once I am not in a hurry, this set up is really doing it for me.
The Darlington MM6B at $369 is unmatched at below $500 or even above if you are just looking for an MM input.
The Amp is a Musical Fidelity A1, speakers are KLH Model 5s.
I hope to do a detailed post when the vintage Denon Au-340 SUT arrives from Japan
Hey friends, I've been an Audiophile for 40 years and I have chased bigger and better boxes for most of it, but on that path I learned some real lessons that are free or quite cheap ways to really get much better sound than you might currently be getting.
First is speaker placement. I see so many speakers against a wall or on a credenza with a turntable (more on this in a bit). Placing your speakers correctly is probably the single most important sound upgrade you can make and it's completely free. The differences are not in feet but in inches take your time with it, it's a part of the hobby.
Second is room acoustics, it's actually a one-two punch with speaker placement, you can't get a great sound in an all glass room no matter where you place the speakers.
In my experience front corner bass traps give the biggest bang for your buck, and then absorption on first reflection points. These can be home made or bought cheaply on Etsy, or if you want to spend a bit more from places like GIK Acoustics.
Third and probably the most overlooked is vibration control. if you have your turntable on the same piece of furniture as your bookshelf speakers, you are basically putting a veil over your music, and you won't know it until the veil is lifted. It's like buying eye glasses for the first time and realizing how clearly you are actually supposed to see.
I recently bought 8 Herbie's fat dots for $80 to put between my speakers and their stands, and they have completely transformed my system. No amp or DAC upgrade would have made as much difference because the micro-vibration problem would still be there.
I have also become a big believer of Linear Power Supplies but that's another day.
Place your speakers correctly, take care of room acoustics and vibrations and for a few hundred bucks you can transform any system. Please for Heaven's sake stop putting your turntable and speakers on the same platform. And go have some fun.
Finally after a long wait (wasn't that long but it sure felt like it) I received my new VAS dl 103 Ebony cartridge.
Vinyl Audio Science makes different bodies and upgrades for the famous Denon DL 103 cartridges among cartridge repair and other things.
I have only had a couple of hours with it so it's not the right time to review the cartridge yet, but first impressions are a superb mid range and airy, detailed non fatiguing highs. The bass is not where I want it to be yet but at the moment the cartridge is going straight into the MC stage of my Musical Fidelity A1 amp, I am still waiting for my vintage Denon AU-340 SUT to arrive from Japan and my Darlington phono stage, once the whole chain is complete and i have tweaked VTA a bit more, I will be able to give an honest assessment.
So far so good, I am very happy with what i am hearing.
This is from The VAS website describing the sound of the Ebony: Steve of VAS enhances its low output performance by using an Ebony wood body to warm up and amplify the sound for rich music. In addition, a refined nude hyper elliptical stylus is installed for detailed pickup. Increasing the mass to 12.5 grams further stabilizes the cartridge for steady playback of your LP, similar to the Ortofon SPU’s and EMT cartridges.
This is exactly what I was looking for in this set up an old school Japanese vinyl playing chain. In a few weeks I'll be able to tell you if I was able to achieve my objective.
I knew that I wanted two things from my next turntable, and arm with a removable head shell so that I could easily change cartridges and a quality direct drive.
I ended up comparing the Technics SL1300G and the Denon last month and to my ears sound quality was exactly the same, I could not tell any difference, but the Denon looks and feels much better, and is $1200 cheaper which allowed me to get a VAS DL103 Ebony cartridge and a vintage Denon Au-340 SUT from Japan ( both are still on the way)
Currently I am running the Denon with a Sumiko Amethyst MM cartridge going directly to the phono stage of my Musical Fidelity A1 amp.
First of all what a wonderful cartridge the Sumiko is, I haven' t had an MM for a while now my last one was an Ortofon 2M Blue on a Pro-ject X2B turntable and I was not really happy with it, I later upgraded to the Audio Technica AT-OC9-XSL which I really liked but I find this cheaper MM cartridge from Sumiko much more my cup of tea. Its warm, has incredible bass heft, and so far it's just warming up.
On to the Denon Dp 300NE, this is an extremely well made Turntable, it looks gorgeous, every part of it is exceptionally well put together, for me unless the lottery hits, it's end game.
Everything just came together today so, these are first impressions, I pick up the VAS tomorrow form the post office, and the SUT should be here by May 11, I also have a Darlington MM6B that just shipped.
The idea is to get an old school Japanese MC set up going, I will do another post with a few more images when everything comes together and I have had the chance to play around with it a little bit.
So far I am just enjoying Hermanos Gutierrez while writing this.