Audiophile
Dylan
February
22, 2018
Marc,
I
have many Mobile Fidelity 45rpm mono and stereo Bob Dylan LPs. I also have an Audio
Fidelity gold CD of Dylan's Greatest Hits. You wrote a glowing review on MoFi's 45rpm LP of these hits. Is it really that
great a listening experience and thus worth having? I obviously have the songs on my other
45rpm LPs and have the CD itself. And as a 45rpm LP, there cannot be more than two or
three songs per side. Still, if it is a revelatory listening experience in a way that the
gold CD cannot be, hearing these hits back to back on a 45rpm LP, then perhaps I should
pick it up. Your thoughts?
Jeff
Levine
MoFi's
Bob Dylan LPs are wonderful and well worth owning, but I can't say if they will eclipse
the Audio Fidelity gold CD on every rig. If your analog source is up to the task, I am
sure you will hear more inner detail, along with a more natural tonality, with the 45rpm
LPs. Whether the 45rpm Greatest Hits is worthwhile for you, given that you own
the full albums from which the various songs come, is really your call. I prefer to listen
to Dylan album by album, but as I wrote in my review, listening to Greatest Hits
is "like speed-reading a book on Dylan's first seven albums and the musical climate
in which they were created."
Dylan
is also well represented in digital. It used to be the case that the Dylan
recording to find was the DCC gold CD of Highway 61 Revisited [DCC GZS 1021]. It
was a one-off release -- the only Dylan release from DCC. It's a musical masterpiece, and
it sounds warm and like analog in many ways. I've not done a head-to-head comparison with
the Columbia or MoFi SACDs, but either of those will certainly be cheaper to buy right
now, not to mention easier to find than the long-out-of-print DCC release. -Marc
Mickelson
Protecting
wood floors
February
12, 2018
Marc,
I
have my speakers sitting on small pieces of carpet on my wood floor. Is there any benefit
to this, in your opinion? I cannot use spikes on the wood floor as divorce is expensive.
Sheldon
Simon
Any benefit of using carpet under your speakers would be the one you anticipated:
the carpet will protect your wood floors. You can use spikes, however, as long as you use
protective discs (which often come with the spikes) underneath (pennies can also work in a
pinch). Spikes will definitely impart sonic benefits, increasing focus and bass detail
especially.
If
you don't want to take any chance of marring your floors, there is another option:
rubber-and-cork isolators that are used in the HVAC industry to reduce vibration. They are
sold in various sizes, and they are dirt cheap by audiophile standards. These are also
sold for the audiophile market -- the exact same thing, in fact -- but at a much higher
price. Just do a search at www.SupplyHouse.com on "anti-vibration pad" and you'll see
all that are available. These will not only protect your floors but also give vibration
from your speakers somewhere to go, other than all back into the speaker cabinets. (One
note: sometimes rubber can leach into and leave black marks on wood. That may or may not
happen with these pads, but I would use small squares of wax paper or paper towel under
each as a precaution). -Marc Mickelson
Buying
strategy
February
5, 2018
Vance,
I’ve
just read the review of Shunyata’s new line of Sigma cables, as
someone who has used Shunyata since 2003 and knows their strengths -- and the
company’s admirable adherence to value (in other words, not charging $30,000 for
speaker cables that might rightfully cost $10,000).
There
is, however, a question that should be addressed: should one get the very best products
from Shunyata's -- or anyone’s -- line, or should one look at one’s system and
recognize that unless he has a $60,000 or higher system, that his own system’s
capacity may not match the new cables' ability?
A
person may be capable of running the Boston Marathon but not have developed the ability to
do it just yet. That ability will depend on: stamina, constant practice, strengthening the
muscles. In the same way, reviews of audio components promise nirvana if we get the best
cables, but, as those of us with experience know, if we have a good -- but not superior --
speaker, our preamp or amp or Golden Ecstasy cartridge will seem to be saying, “Hey,
I’m sending you the sound of the guitarist’s fingernails on the strings, but
you’re not hearing it. Not my fault.”
This
is why so many forums are filled with downright nasty diatribes about “I’ve
heard such and such and it’s crap.” They ignore that their interconnects' or
their preamp’s strengths allow the macro picture but not the micro picture.
I
bought Sigma-level power cords, but I realized I only had Alpha-level (or Beta, for that
matter!) electronics, so I scaled back on getting "the best" because I realized
my system would not reflect the sonics that the Sigmas (or anyone else’s Sigma-level
cables) would afford.
Please
append a newer ending: “The rest of your system must be equal to the task or you will
not hear what your new Golden Ecstasy cartridge, or Niffleheim DAC converter, or Sigma
cables are actually doing.” Perhaps this way, readers will be reminded to match
apples to apples -- for now -- and be less angry, or, even worse, accuse the reviewer of
being on the take, a shill or a snake-oil salesman for the company. We are losing sight of
the enjoyment of the music because we bought the house without first making sure the
foundation was solid.
And
I very much liked Marc Mickelson’s recent response to a reader who wondered if having a good rack meant one
was free of having to have components isolated from their own internal vibrations. Just as
the house may protect you from the blizzard outside, it won’t protect you from your
drafty walls leaking heat.
Glen
McLeod
You're
building a system, and there is more than one way of doing so to achieve a musically
satisfying outcome. In the old days, it was recommended that you spend the bulk of your
budget on speakers; others would say that the source deserves the greatest expenditure,
because what's lost there cannot be regained.
I'm
not sure there is a rule that works in all instances for all listeners. It’s
certainly true that buying top-of-the-line cables when one’s speakers are only
capable of delivering a small portion of the musical information available would be folly.
That said, top-of-the-line cables like the Sigmas, when paired with any number of
excellent but not stratospherically priced speakers, can greatly enhance a person’s
ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of everything else in the system. Assuming
one has highly resolving speakers, buying high-performance cables can, in the long run, be
a wise financial decision. I say that because I’ve heard cables reveal how wonderful
some moderately priced components actually are and, by contrast, just how lacking some
expensive gear can be. Such revelations have saved me money on more than one occasion.
The
good news is that Shunyata Research and number of other cable manufacturers offer products
at a wide range of prices, and all of their cables are designed to mate well with a
variety of systems whether they be modest or extraordinary. -Vance Hiner
Reader
list
February
1, 2018
Marc,
Add
me to the reader list, please. Thank you!
Mike
Twomey
You've
been added. To join TAB's reader list and find out about new articles first,
send e-mail to rl@theaudiobeat.com.
-Marc Mickelson
