Pioneer
DV-79AVi
May
25, 2017
Marc,
Did you recommend the Pioneer DV-79AVi due to its excellent SACD and
DVD-Audio playback or do the CDs also sound excellent? The prices are great, of course,
due to no Blu-ray playback, but I'm wondering what price level of CD players it is
comparable to.
Jeff
Levine
I
actually own two Pioneer Elite DV-79AVi's and I paid less than $200 for both of them. They
sound just as good with CDs as with high-rez media and really differentiate the
differences among the formats -- and different versions of the same recording -- really
well. Overall, I'd say the sound quality is comparable to CD players above the DV-79AVi's
original retail price, $1000, although I can't claim to be well versed on players in this
price range. In fact, because of file and streaming replay, there aren't many players in
this price range anymore, so buying used is really your only option. -Marc Mickelson
Organizing
LPs
May
15, 2017
Marc,
I
have been collecting 45rpm and mono LPs in the last few years, so I am wondering how you
go about organizing your LPs. Do you separate 45s from 33s? And do you separate your mono
LPs? My biggest worry in the past was whether to separate only my classical, jazz and
rock, or to further separate folk and progressive rock. Such life challenges!
Jeff
Levine
You've
asked one of the eternal audiophile questions: how do you organize a music collection? I
recall a scene from the movie High Fidelity in which the subject was discussed
and the various principles mentioned. Ultimately, the answer is, whatever organizing
principle works for you. For me, that's filing all LPs, whether stereo or mono, 33 or
45rpm, by genre and performer. In that way, when I'm in the mood to listen to some
Thelonious Monk, for instance, I can make my choice from all of his LPs in my collection
(digital media is stored separately, of course, but in the same way). This makes the most
sense to me. Others, however, put all Mobile Fidelity titles, or all 45rpm sets, together,
and I've done some of that too, but eventually, when I find the time to do so (curating a
large music collection is work), I refile everything by artist. -Marc Mickelson
YBA?
May
7, 2017
Marc,
I’ve
been reading about YBA and their recent alliance with Shanling. YBA designs, Shanling
manufactures.
I
understand from talking to someone at the company that all of the YBA Signature parts come
from France and each Signature piece is QAed/signed off on by Yves-Bernard André himself.
Have
you heard any of YBA's newer products? I recall YBA being one of the elite brands some 15+
years ago.
Larry
Phillips
Like
you, I remember YBA from many years ago -- about 20 in my case. I auditioned a YBA amp (I
don't remember which one) and thought it sounded both distinctive and very good. In some
ways, it reminded me of what I heard from 47 Laboratory equipment years later: a notable
sense of directness and delicacy, and the revealing of low-level detail to an astounding
degree. You can surmise by this that I haven't heard any YBA equipment lately and I was
unaware of the details you share. We'll be sure to seek out YBA at shows, so you may see
some coverage of the brand on TAB at some point soon. -Marc Mickelson
Reader
list
May
1, 2017
Marc,
Kindly
add me to your e-mailing list.
Denis
Tossan
All
done. To join TAB's reader e-mail list and find out about new articles first,
send e-mail to rl@theaudiobeat.com.
-Marc Mickelson
