Incoming! The New Equipment Thread

The Pro-ject Tube Box DS2 arrived today.
It's up and running and sounds good right out of the box.

Good news and maybe some expensive news.
I found the same Pro-ject demo unit on Audio Advisor for $699, which will save me another $250 from the Crutchfield order.
I can use those extra funds to pick up the Sbooster PS. (Really can't stand the wall wart cheap plug)
The back of the Panamax spacing hates it even more.


So while I was placing the order for the lower priced Tube Box, this demo unit fell in my cart.😎

AA has a pretty flexible 60 day return policy so I could not resist the urge to hear the hybrid tube vs full tube phono stages in comparison. Then I will not be as curious in the future.
Right now, I'll just enjoy this Crutchfield unit for a while. It really is sounding pretty sweet with stock tubes and cheap plug.

20240131_122556.jpg
 
Jbraswell said:
The Pro-ject Tube Box DS2 arrived today.
It's up and running and sounds good right out of the box.

Good news and maybe some expensive news.
I found the same Pro-ject demo unit on Audio Advisor for $699, which will save me another $250 from the Crutchfield order.
I can use those extra funds to pick up the Sbooster PS. (Really can't stand the wall wart cheap plug)
The back of the Panamax hates it even more.


So while I was placing the order for the lower priced Tube Box, this demo unit fell in my cart.😎

AA has a pretty flexible 60 day return policy so I could not resist the urge to hear the hybrid tube vs full tube phono stages in comparison. Then I will not be as curious in the future.
Right now, I'll just enjoy this Crutchfield unit for a while. It really is sounding pretty sweet with stock tubes and cheap plug.

View attachment 194135
Click to expand...
What’s making you spring for Sbooster?
 
Ghost said:
What’s making you spring for Sbooster?
Click to expand...
Project is selling these boxes with a bare bones $5 power supply. Aka wall wart is what the industry deems them.
Screenshot_20240131_160009_Amazon Shopping.jpg


You can see Project is also cross selling their power supplies to go with the phono stages for another $800.

I am betting the Sbooster gets you the sonic quality benefits for half the cost.
 
Popped the cover off the Project tube box today.
As you can see there's not much under the hood.

It's sounds better with some more hours on it.
Likes: harmonica, acoustic guitar and trumpet seem to be on point.
Dislikes: Sax seems a little lifeless and the stand up bass is buried.
So far the current Denon internal phono is far superior in comparison.


Tomorrow the Rogue arrives.
Also have some incoming Telefunken 12AX7 tubes to try out.

20240201_215031.jpg
 
It's all good. Pretty small problem in the big picture. Although, I am curious if this thing sounds as good as it looks.

The retailer, Audio Advisor, did pick up the phone today but they referred me to Rogue to troubleshoot the issue. They are are on at short leash next week to remedy the situation. A demo unit should be tested pretty well before shipping.
My first order with them.
 
Jbraswell said:
It's all good. Pretty small problem in the big picture. Although, I am curious if this thing sounds as good as it looks.

The retailer, Audio Advisor, did pick up the phone today but they referred me to Rogue to troubleshoot the issue. They are are on at short leash next week to remedy the situation. A demo unit should be tested pretty well before shipping.
My first order with them.
Click to expand...
I’ve ordered from them before without issue but that’s a real bad look…
 
Jbraswell said:
It's all good. Pretty small problem in the big picture. Although, I am curious if this thing sounds as good as it looks.

The retailer, Audio Advisor, did pick up the phone today but they referred me to Rogue to troubleshoot the issue. They are are on at short leash next week to remedy the situation. A demo unit should be tested pretty well before shipping.
My first order with them.
Click to expand...
I’ve brought from AA before and they were solid. Rogue too when I needed to order a replacement remote for my Sphinx.
 
SnowmaNick said:
I’ve brought from AA before and they were solid. Rogue too when I needed to order a replacement remote for my Sphinx.
Click to expand...
Yeah there's a pretty good shop tour of Rogue's facility on YT. I like buying from places like them. It looks like good jobs and a solid brick and mortar for the hobby. I'm sure they will swap a power supply out and things will sing.

I got the jest AA is trying to be cheap with throwing more money at shipping.
 
The Schiit Skoll arrived this morning. I had been debating back and forth between this and something from Darlington, but the fact that everything is adjustable with a remote rather than needing to open it up, plus it came in a bit cheaper, had me pick this option for my latest upgrade. It is a significant jump up from the Mani and is dead silent with zero noticable interference. It's completely opened up my system on what I've spun so far.

Only complaint is that it arrived with what appears to be a manufacturing flaw. Something is loose and shaking around in there and three of the LEDs are just empty holes on the front. So that kind of pisses me off after playing the waiting game, but since it seemed to only be LED related I wasn't going to wait to check it out and I hope with my good experiences with Schiit so far that they'll take care of it quickly.

IMG20240203135114.jpg
IMG20240203135103.jpg
 
Hemotep said:
The Schiit Skoll arrived this morning. I had been debating back and forth between this and something from Darlington, but the fact that everything is adjustable with a remote rather than needing to open it up, plus it came in a bit cheaper, had me pick this option for my latest upgrade. It is a significant jump up from the Mani and is dead silent with zero noticable interference. It's completely opened up my system on what I've spun so far.

Only complaint is that it arrived with what appears to be a manufacturing flaw. Something is loose and shaking around in there and three of the LEDs are just empty holes on the front. So that kind of pisses me off after playing the waiting game, but since it seemed to only be LED related I wasn't going to wait to check it out and I hope with my good experiences with Schiit so far that they'll take care of it quickly.

View attachment 194440
View attachment 194441
Click to expand...
Very nice 👍
 
Hemotep said:
The Schiit Skoll arrived this morning. I had been debating back and forth between this and something from Darlington, but the fact that everything is adjustable with a remote rather than needing to open it up, plus it came in a bit cheaper, had me pick this option for my latest upgrade. It is a significant jump up from the Mani and is dead silent with zero noticable interference. It's completely opened up my system on what I've spun so far.

Only complaint is that it arrived with what appears to be a manufacturing flaw. Something is loose and shaking around in there and three of the LEDs are just empty holes on the front. So that kind of pisses me off after playing the waiting game, but since it seemed to only be LED related I wasn't going to wait to check it out and I hope with my good experiences with Schiit so far that they'll take care of it quickly.

View attachment 194440
View attachment 194441
Click to expand...
Nice setup! What speakers are you running? Are you noticing any vibrations from having the speakers on the same platform as the TT.

I ordered a Darlington Labs MP7B and am hoping to receive it soon. I considered the Skoll, but hadn't seen much in way of reviews around it so went with something that has more positive feedback available at the time.

Phono Preamps are a bit of an unknown area to me in terms of what a difference going up the price ladder makes. I currently have a Project Phono Box S2 and have used an iFi Zen Phono and have feel for what is available at the $200 range. Both of those were a huge improvement over the on board phono preamp on the Yamaha as301 I had.

I have also used upgraded power supplies with the S2 and Zen Phono. This has made a difference in SQ as well. With the upgraded power supplies the S2 and Zen Phono are more $300 range preamps.

I'm interested to see how the S2 compares to the MP7B.
 
I finally got in this beautiful matched pair of '60 era Telefunken tubes (red tips with bottom ribbed plates) and will keep testing the Project tube box.
And let me state the sound change is pretty drastic right off the start. Everything that I disliked before sounds clear and more dynamic.

Listening to Charlie Harden's bass on Change Of The Century and it's back to sounding as good or better than the Denon phono now. Very good 3D imaging from Don Cherry's trumpet too.

I've got no hums going on and the noise floor is really nice and silent.

Sitting at ~150 Ohms on the AT-ART9XI
20240203_140511.jpg
 
mindhead1 said:
Nice setup! What speakers are you running? Are you noticing any vibrations from having the speakers on the same platform as the TT.

I ordered a Darlington Labs MP7B and am hoping to receive it soon. I considered the Skoll, but hadn't seen much in way of reviews around it so went with something that has more positive feedback available at the time.

Phono Preamps are a bit of an unknown area to me in terms of what a difference going up the price ladder makes. I currently have a Project Phono Box S2 and have used an iFi Zen Phono and have feel for what is available at the $200 range. Both of those were a huge improvement over the on board phono preamp on the Yamaha as301 I had.

I have also used upgraded power supplies with the S2 and Zen Phono. This has made a difference in SQ as well. With the upgraded power supplies the S2 and Zen Phono are more $300 range preamps.

I'm interested to see how the S2 compares to the MP7B.
Click to expand...
I have some Klipsch KG 4.2 floor speakers. The ones sitting on the shelf aren't in use right now, but I didn't have any problems with vibrations when I did use them. I have the mnpctech anti-vibration feet on my turntable and they do a great job, but I also can't crank it up too loud because of where I live so that's sure to play a role as well.

I'm torn between wanting to upgrade speakers next or getting a direct-drive turntable to add into the mix. It's a ways out either way, so I'll have plenty of time to think it through.
 
Hemotep said:
I have some Klipsch KG 4.2 floor speakers. The ones sitting on the shelf aren't in use right now, but I didn't have any problems with vibrations when I did use them. I have the mnpctech anti-vibration feet on my turntable and they do a great job, but I also can't crank it up too loud because of where I live so that's sure to play a role as well.

I'm torn between wanting to upgrade speakers next or getting a direct-drive turntable to add into the mix. It's a ways out either way, so I'll have plenty of time to think it through.
Click to expand...

You’re looking to un-Klipsch your NADs?
 
Jbraswell said:
I finally got in this beautiful matched pair of '60 era Telefunken tubes (red tips with bottom ribbed plates) and will keep testing the Project tube box.
And let me state the sound change is pretty drastic right off the start. Everything that I disliked before sounds clear and more dynamic.

Listening to Charlie Harden's bass on Change Of The Century and it's back to sounding as good or better than the Denon phono now. Very good 3D imaging from Don Cherry's trumpet too.

I've got no hums going on and the noise floor is really nice and silent.

Sitting at ~150 Ohms on the AT-ART9XI
View attachment 194450
Click to expand...
Can you put the top back on with those tubes?
 
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