MeloManiac

I love to listen to Vivaldi on Sundays.

Bought 10 new CDs this week. If it wasn't for the price, I would have bought them on vinyl, but vinyl prices are crazy and and often from digital sources anyhow...

Certified Japanese earthenware on 1972 Hs. I don't need more Feng shui than that!

Agree about the riff, but the women are nicer in the Kravitz video. 😜

I now feel less guilty about buying 10 CDs this week...

😱 I thought this was a Cravitz original... Still remember the videoclip. Original : That Guess Who singer is definitely androgynous. With all respect.

If you have 35 minutes of time, enjoy watching this video: an ode to craftmanship and turntables!

I have been an Amazon Prime member for many, many years. I live in Belgium, and recently (last year), Amazon opened a warehouse in Belgium, and they also have an amazon website for Belgian customers. So I migrated my Prime account from amazon.de to amazon.com.be There was a warming: this migration cannot be turned back. I can never become a prime amazon.de member again... Why the rant? Amazon Prime is advertising 'order today, delivered the next day': up to now, when ordering CDs for example, they NEVER have delivered the next day. Their products are NOT taking into account the local market: their DVDs or Blurays don't come with Dutch subtitles, the laptops they sell have QUERTY layout, while in Belgium we use AZERTY layout the number of products is ridiculously low, compared to amazon.de, and prices are always higher their 'deals' are peanuts compared to the deals in the neighbouring countries etc Thank you for you time and patience... 😉

You have a winner there! https://www.allmusic.com/album/body-heat-mw0000651825

... the fifth Beatle!

https://essentialhomestudio.com/what-is-sibilance-in-audio/ There aren't many Steely Dan live albums, so I have no regrets buying this one! There is, however, something a little bit annoying: in Donald Fagen's singing, I can hear a distracting sibilant /s/, a distortion that I also hear in the high hat sometimes. I first picked it up on my Heresy speakers, and today, I listened to the album on my Beyerdynamic headphones. Side 3, in Things I miss the most and in Aja. My tangential turntable normally is sibilant free, so I guess it is the recording or pressing that is to blame. These reviewers don't mention it, so maybe it's just me... https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/steely-dan-northeast-corridor-steely-dan-live/ https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/steely-dan-donald-fagen-northeast-corridor-steely-dan-live-donald-fagen-the-nightfly-live-134287/ https://360degreesound.com/album-review-northeast-corridor-steely-dan-live/ Edit The sibilant s is not present on Spotify, so this motivated me to give both the needle and the vinyl record a good cleaning, and things improved quite a bit. Conclusion? This song is a good test for your tt's handling of sibilants!

Up to now, I have avoided buying these expensive special releases too. But listening to vinyl records needn't be expensive at all. I have my personal collection of vinyl albums which goes back to the 1980s, and I have recently bought a lot of interesting albums in the local thrifstore for 0.5 to 3 euro per album! You can buy really good, new pressings of classic albums for around 20 euro / dollar per album, eg Maiden Voyage, a Blue Note album. You can buy a really good pre-owned TT for around 200 euro, a fraction of a new TT.

I can confirm that some pairings really hit the sweet spot! I drive my 1972 Heresy set with a Leben Hifi CS300 tube amp, which is 12 wpc. This amp has a knob to increase the lows with +3dB and +5dB. I leave it standard at +3dB. The lows are rich and full, sometimes there is too much bass at +3dB! My speakers are flat on the ground, no risers, as they were originally supposed to be placed.

My recently purchased lp of 'Waltz for Debby' is from the WaxTime Label. Apparently, a Spanish company releasing a lot of 'classic' jazz albums for a cheap price. The one I own is actually a well sounding lp. They also bring out a lot of color vinyl albums, and the quality of those is much less. They sell through mail order and supermarket chains. Apparently, they sell albums that are, in Europe, in the public domain. On the album, there is a logo that says: DMM: direct metal mastering, which says nothing about the source that was used, naturally. My other recent purchase, Maiden Voyage, is a genuine Blue Note album!

I have a question about new classic jazz albums. I was looking into Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue on Amazon (Europe), and they listed several versions, all with different prices (and sellers, I guess). Of course, this is great music, but the user reviews were a mixed bag. Some buyers were complaining about the bad quality of some pressings. In fact, Amazon's review system throws all the user reviews together, whether it was a CD, an LP etc. Then I noticed in the details of the different LPs that they had a different record label. One user complained that it was obvious that his pressing was a bad copy ripped from some CD. How can this be? Are these illegal copies, or is this music 'licensed' to whatever distributer?

Was hip again in 2017... Warning for violence. Better be warned. (not my type of movie)

I did a bit more research on the wonderful recording quality of Bill Evans Trio's 'Waltz for Debby'. Together with 'Bill Evans Trio live at the Village Vanguard' and 'Explorations', it forms a trilogy. Like most, if not all Riverside albums, the recording is of the highest quality. The set became legendary because of its sound quality, and also because the bassist, Scott LaFarro, died 11 days later, in a car crash. You can buy a box with The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 also, if you like. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_Village_Vanguard_Recordings,_1961 The recordings are lauded for their excellent quality: excellent bass, clarity, left/right channel separation etc. If you don't know it already, you should listen to it now! This is a live recording, and you can actually hear the people talk, drink and their glasses! Dave Jones was the recording engineer, and he is often credited for being responsible for 'some of the finest jazz recordings ever'. The weird thing is that after these recordings, he simply disappeared. Some say he became a worker for the National Post Service (!). He used good quality recording gear, and really good microphones, but the few pictures of him that exist, show a very messy setup! I found the pictures below HERE (Stephe Hoffman forum). The picture with the recording machines was uploaded by Chris Albertson, who also so took the picture. This was not at the Vilage Vanguard, btw. The second picture shows Bill Evans, with a member of the public in the foreground, whose glass plays a prominent role in the recording! And I just had to add this video too:

When I bought my iFi Zen Phono amp, I had a similar bad experience with a malafide Dutch webside audio dealer. The amp was 'in stock' but as soon as I had paid, I received a message that it was no longer in stock and if I was willing to wait some weeks until back in stock. I declined, and lucky for me, they paid back instantly. I suspect there are 'virtual' shops on the internet with no stock at all. As soon as they sell an item, they start looking for it elsewhere, which may take a while, until they find it cheaper and make a profit. It's their business model...

Yeah, I bought this double LP today! Very 'swinging', excellent guitar solos and, of course, excellent sound quality.

I've been ill for 3 or 4 weeks now (bronchitis) and and since yesterday, l'm feeling even more terrible, so today I went to the doctor, again, and now I'm testing positive for influenza... So while going for meds - I also dropped in at the record shop wearing a clinical mask and traded a gift coupon my lovely wife gave me for Christmas. See below. Now I can get better listening to good music. If my skull splitting headaches back off a bit...

You can drive your speakers with 1 watt per channel, if you like! I've used the Tubecube 7 which has 3.5 wpc to drive my Heresy speakers without issues. It is not the amount of watt that is important, but the quality of the watts. Remember this though: if what you hear sounds OK, then it will not damage your speakers. If it sounds not ok, then it may damage your speaker if you let it play like that for a long time.

This amazing audiophile grade tool will enhance your listening experience of your analog and digital sources. Apply to the left and right channel. Limited stock. Only one box per forum member!

Another thing I noticed is that in the last year, prices of this amp have gone up substantially (plus 800 euro). Listed price at iEar is €6599 and NOT 4400 euro! My guess is that transport from Japan to Europe in containers is to blame. Maybe you should look into a European brand?

I've read in a review that these Yamaha amps exaggerate the high frequencies, which may result in sibilants.

Not from this one because it has a hole!