Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

hearditontheX said:
But between optical and coax, coax is the better option, yes? At least that is my limited experience with my Sony bluray player.
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It can do 24/192 whereas optical is limited to 24/96 but optical has the benefit of not being susceptible to RF interference or ground loops. In all honesty for 16/44.1 CD playback on most normal players I’ve never noticed a difference.
 
HiFi Guy said:
You get more transmission errors with optical. But as @Joe Mac points out, you may not hear the difference.
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I do like the I2S over HDMI on my new transport. It sounds great but then it is also a much better transport so that’s likely playing into it too. I tried a coax to compare but it was giving a horrible ground loop hum. I didn’t have a spare toslink knocking about to try the optical.
 
Lee Newman said:
Every time I think I might get some equipment, something comes up.
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Right there with you, man. That's why I've been estate sale bargain hunting. I've sold enough records to cover the upgrades I've wanted three times and each time, surprise expense takes priority. I keep telling the wife she needs to get rich but she's let me down so far.
 
I know I've asked this before, but I couldn't find the answers and I have the memory of a goldfish so I'll ask again. Inner groove distortion, I know it's unavoidable on some pressings etc but in theory, if I'm predominantly getting that sort of IGD buzzy sound in the left channel only on some presses, and anti skate adjustments don't change anything, would that seem to indicate that the cart azimuth needs to turn towards the label, or the outer edge of the record to correct? In theory. I'm not sure whether the buzzing would indicate too much contact with the inside groove wall, or not enough.
 
Mather said:
I know I've asked this before, but I couldn't find the answers and I have the memory of a goldfish so I'll ask again. Inner groove distortion, I know it's unavoidable on some pressings etc but in theory, if I'm predominantly getting that sort of IGD buzzy sound in the left channel only on some presses, and anti skate adjustments don't change anything, would that seem to indicate that the cart azimuth needs to turn towards the label, or the outer edge of the record to correct? In theory. I'm not sure whether the buzzing would indicate too much contact with the inside groove wall, or not enough.
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Shibata? It's entirely possible. I recall that stylus profile is extremely sensitive to alignment in every direction.
 
kvetcha said:
Shibata? It's entirely possible. I recall that stylus profile is extremely sensitive to alignment in every direction.
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But my question is, which direction would we think it needs to go to correct, in theory? More inside groove or less?

Like I cannot express how completely lined up this thing currently is, I've got the Mofi disc and it's bang on. So likely if I adjust it's going to throw something else off, but I just want to see...
 
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Mather said:
But my question is, which direction would we think it needs to go to correct, in theory? More inside groove or less?

Like I cannot express how completely lined up this thing currently is, I've got the Mofi disc and it's bang on. So likely if I adjust it's going to throw something else off, but I just want to see...
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Maybe this will help:

Baerwald - 66.0mm / 120.9mm
Attempts to make the distortion even across the entire record
Stevenson - 30.325mm / 117.42mm
Attempts to minimize inner groove distortion
Loefgren Alignment - 70.3mm / 116.6mm
Attempts to minimize distortion across the entire record
 
Mather said:
But my question is, which direction would we think it needs to go to correct, in theory? More inside groove or less?

Like I cannot express how completely lined up this thing currently is, I've got the Mofi disc and it's bang on. So likely if I adjust it's going to throw something else off, but I just want to see...
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I'm just spitballing, but I would assume that left channel distortion (IF IT IS NOT INHERENT TO THE RECORD) is more likely to result from the stylus making insufficient contact with the inner groove wall, a bit like running too low a VTF. So...more inside groove would be my guess.
 
kvetcha said:
I'm just spitballing, but I would assume that left channel distortion (IF IT IS NOT INHERENT TO THE RECORD) is more likely to result from the stylus making insufficient contact with the inner groove wall, a bit like running too low a VTF. So...more inside groove would be my guess.
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Yeah that's the thing, it's such a guessing game as to whether it's just the record. I find it more prevalent on older pressings for sure. Where it could be either the pressing, or it got played a bunch on an older system that slightly damaged the inner grooves. So hard to tell.
 
Mather said:
Yeah that's the thing, it's such a guessing game as to whether it's just the record. I find it more prevalent on older pressings for sure. Where it could be either the pressing, or it got played a bunch on an older system that slightly damaged the inner grooves. So hard to tell.
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It is a bit of a crap shoot, but find the alignment/outcome that you're aiming for and then maybe play with the VTF to fine tune it as @kvetcha said. This hobby has no absolutes most in part due to the medias wide range of audible output..........looking for perfection in an imperfect media my friend ;)
 
AnthonyI said:
It is a bit of a crap shoot, but find the alignment/outcome that you're aiming for and then maybe play with the VTF to fine tune it as @kvetcha said. This hobby has no absolutes most in part due to the medias wide range of audible output..........looking for perfection in an imperfect media my friend ;)
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Yeah I mean my general rule is, if I don't hear IGD on high quality pressings like AP or Mofi (sometimes high quality) then it's probably the individual record rather than my alignment. And I've never heard it on any of those high end labels so I'm inclined to think it's just per pressing. But I may play with it a bit to see what happens.
 
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