Thoughts and Non Thoughts

The Schiit Mani . There's a lot of reviews on the web of this $129 Schiit, this one from Stereophile among the better-written ones. I don't want to add another review, just want to share how the addition of the Mani made my system more flexible, particularly due to its various gain settings. The importance of phono gain settings can't be overemphasized in matching carts and amps. Here are two threads from an audio forum that cover this in detail. (The advantage of forums like this over FB is the archival and search-friendly properties.) This one is more technical and mathematical, specially in calculating optimum phono stage gain. Selecting appropriate phono preamp gain This second one is more subjective but no less insightful. The good the bad of too much gain Going back to my system, the analog input sensitivity of my integrated amp is 200mV. Applying the formula for a 5-mV output cart gave me an optimum gain of 32 dB at the phono stage. Most phono stag...

After Shure announced they would stop producing phono products (read cartridge and stylus), I quickly ordered another M97xe before prices took off. But I was too late for the M44-7 (and M44G) as prices already doubled, so I decided to take stock of my inventory. Found two M44-7 cart bodies and one near mint stylus. Also found a M55E with N55E that I've forgotten. So maybe these carts will last me a lifetime. But I needed to match them with stylus so ordered some from Jico Japan. They came in nice jewel cases. These are diamonds after all.  😊 After some testing and mix and matching, found some viable combinations, but this is the one I'm currently enjoying. M55E body with Jico N55E stylus tracking at 1.70 g. Sounding quite nice.  😊

Now that Shure has announced that thry will discontinue their phono products (Shure announcement) some DJs and audiophiles are suddenly taking stock of their Shure cartridges and styli. "Turntablists" specially are talking about the M44-7, which has become the standard DJ cartridge. It is now out of stock at Amazon, except for some vendors selling at $150 (previously $79). The M97xe, aimed at audiophiles, doesn't have the mid-bass hump that the M44-7 has, and has a lower output. There were some quality-related issues reported, particularly incidences of a channel going dead. Nevertheless, for those who got good copies, not a few preferred the M97xe for home audio listening. Save for a couple of years when I put in a Rega Exact on my Technics SL1200 mk2 (the Exact is now happily singing on a RP3), I have been using a M97xe on this table. I got it for $61 when it went on sale at Amazon almost 9 years ago. I can say it's the best $61 I've spent on analog gear...

It's been a while since I posted about my Internet connection. As it happens, this post about solving my PLDT myDSL problem has the highest views of all my posts. It basically gives a tip about changing DNS settings, which seems to be the weakest point of the PLDT service. I have since moved to PLDT's Fibr service. It is definitely faster (I got the unlimited data with 20MBPS plan). It has allowed watching Netflix or YouTube uninterrupted while someone else is streaming Spotify or browsing. I am quite happy with it. Nevertheless, I found that using the DNS settings in my original post still applies. In short, set it manually, and use opendns (208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220) or google dns (8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4). I find my connection more stable this way. Some things change and some things stay the same.

Though the Shure cartridge is the cheapest component (except for the cables), it doesn't let the rest of the system down. The SL1200 also comes into fore as a capable player, worthy of any audiophile. I wrote my first impressions briefly here , but have since tweaked and optimized it with my system. Here's the rest of the system and settings. Shure M97xe cartridge: 1.25 g tracking force brush up, 1.25 g anti-skate, arm level or slightly tail up SL1200 turntable with 3mm mat underneath original rubber mat LSA Standard Amplifier with NOS Tesla 6922 tubes , Mundorf caps  Straightwire Chorus interconnects from built-in phono to line Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mkII speakers on wooden stands with metal base Van den Hul CS122 speaker cables But it's how it's put together, not the individual components, that makes this rig very musical. Hours of set-up, tube rolling, and, yes, cables to get that perfect synergy. One can talk about soundstage, ton...