• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Did some interesting cart comparisons last night

beatcomber

beatcomber

AK Member
I wanted to closely compare the carts in my collection, so I digitally captured samples of the following:

Grado Gold1
Grado ZC+ (= Green) with Gold1 stylus
Shure M97xE with brush
Shure M97xE without brush
Shure M91ED with JICO SAS
Shure M91ED with USA-made Hi-Track
Shure M91ED with AVG generic
Stanton 681EEE-S with LP Gear ViVid Line
Denon DL-160

These were all captured using a thedelihaus-modded SL-1200MK2 with upgraded wiring, etc. and a Rega Fono Mini preamp (47k ohm only). The test record is a 1969 "360 Sound" pressing of Blood Sweat & Tears playing a section of "Spinning Wheel" (STILL one of the best sounding records ever).

I'd like to share these samples with you all, but I'm not quite sure what the best to do it is. I could use YouSendIt, but the files will expire after either 100 downloads or 7 days. Would anyone be willing/able to host the files for me? I think you will find them interesting.
 
Register to hide this ad
beat that's a good Lp but I wonder if God Bless The Child or Sometime in Winter might have a bit more dynamics. I'll be interested in your and other members findings..........
 
Stanton681EEES said:
beat that's a good Lp but I wonder if God Bless The Child or Sometime in Winter might have a bit more dynamics. I'll be interested in your and other members findings..........
Click to expand...

I used the middle section where they go into a fast swing beat, with the bleating trumpets and all.

I came away with some different conclusions than I had anticipated, but would like to refrain from sharing them until I find a way for you all to hear them. If worst comes to worst, I'll upload them to YouSendIt for a week.
 
beatcomber said:
I'd like to share these samples with you all, but I'm not quite sure what the best to do it is.
Click to expand...
I've been using 4Shared for exactly that purpose. I liked using my free account so much that I opted to upgrade to a premium account when they offered me a good deal. (No affiliation btw...just a satisfied customer.)

http://www.4shared.com/features.jsp

...and I agree with you 100% about that 1969 Columbia BS&T LP. Awesome!
 
steely said:
I've been using 4Shared for exactly that purpose.
Click to expand...

I used to use 4Shared, but switched to Dropbox. At the time, you couldn't stream from 4shared, you had to download to listen. And wait through a delay on an ad page for 30 seconds before you could download the file. Maybe that's not the case anymore.
 
Dropbox looks like a good option! Stay tuned - I'll try and get the files uploaded within the next 48 hours.

So... Would you prefer that I NOT label the files so that you can first hear them objectively, or do you want to know upfront which is which?
 
Brett a said:
At the time, you couldn't stream from 4shared, you had to download to listen. And wait through a delay on an ad page for 30 seconds before you could download the file. Maybe that's not the case anymore.
Click to expand...
According to the features page you can stream music files from a free account, which is also my recollection. I suppose there might be a delay, possibly with an ad, although, if I remember correctly, there was no delay before streaming - only before downloading. And with my ad blocking Firefox extension, I never saw any ads when I had the free account.
 
beatcomber said:
I wanted to closely compare the carts in my collection, so I digitally captured samples of the following:

Grado Gold1
Grado ZC+ (= Green) with Gold1 stylus
Shure M97xE with brush
Shure M97xE without brush
Shure M91ED with JICO SAS
Shure M91ED with USA-made Hi-Track
Shure M91ED with AVG generic
Stanton 681EEE-S with LP Gear ViVid Line
Denon DL-160
Click to expand...

My 2 cents of advice:

- Keep soundclips short (30sec is OK)
- WAV or FLAC format
- 44KHz sampling rate and 16-bit depth is mighty fine for comparison purposes
- Pack all the files on a single ZIP file
- And upload it to rapidshare, megaupload, 4shared, badongo, etcetera.

Looking forward to hearing the clips!! :banana:
 
But MORE important: Be sure to include samples of the playback *AT THE INNER GROOVES* that is where the cartridges are more challenged.
 
If you could also pick up the tonearm and shout into the cartridge so we can judge the microphonics, that'd be great too.

Seriously though, looking forward to whatever you offer.
 
I would definitely like to have listen and compare the different setups.

Personally, I think it would be more fun and provide better feedback to you if we did not know which was which. Knowing the carts used may give us a preconception of what to expect.
 
flavio81 said:
My 2 cents of advice:

- Keep soundclips short (30sec is OK)
- WAV or FLAC format
- 44KHz sampling rate and 16-bit depth is mighty fine for comparison purposes
- Pack all the files on a single ZIP file
- And upload it to rapidshare, megaupload, 4shared, badongo, etcetera.

Looking forward to hearing the clips!! :banana:
Click to expand...
All good advice....although I'd avoid rapidshare on general principles. (Now it's worth 4 cents! ;))
 
flavio81 said:
My 2 cents of advice:

- Keep soundclips short (30sec is OK)
Click to expand...

I think they are about a minute each, but I can shorten them.

- WAV or FLAC format
Click to expand...

They will be Mac AIFF files, which work like WAV files.

- 44KHz sampling rate and 16-bit depth is mighty fine for comparison purposes
Click to expand...

Done!

- Pack all the files on a single ZIP file
Click to expand...

If the combined size isn't too enormous, that's what I'll do.
 
flavio81 said:
But MORE important: Be sure to include samples of the playback *AT THE INNER GROOVES* that is where the cartridges are more challenged.
Click to expand...

Good idea, but too late. None of these carts have ever had IGD problems though, even the Grado!

What I was mainly interested in comparing was the relative tonal characteristics and, to a lesser extent, detail retrieval capabilities.
 
Last edited:
Brett a said:
If you could also pick up the tonearm and shout into the cartridge so we can judge the microphonics, that'd be great too.

Seriously though, looking forward to whatever you offer.
Click to expand...

Heck, if you're in "North Quabbin," you can just come over and hear 'em!
 
Being interested in this myself....I would like to offer you guys some server space so you don't have to use rapidshare or other ad-riddled crappy free hosting. If FTP upload is ok...ill jump on ssh and set something up for you guys. It'll be direct linking beauty.

I'm mostly interested because I'm looking at upgrading my Grado Green with another stylus (which I didn't know was possible till this thread) or a new cartridge. Naturally ill share some of my own samples from my PX3 rig.

Sent from my SPH-M910 using Tapatalk
 
Beatcomber, am looking forward to hearing the clips, especially the SAS and ViVid, this should be a treat :thmbsp:

Dave/ChairSpud
 
A couple of suggestions:

1) I use microsoft live skydrive in combination with Gladinet sync software to do this..
2) make sure the files are time synced (start from exactly the same point) - this allows people to pull them into multitrack software for direct a/b/c comparison on the fly
3) Normalising them to the same average (RMS) level is critical - the mind plays tricks otherwise! - I normalise to within 0.01db for the comparison files

I load the files up onto skydrive (using gladinet) then copy the link and refer to it on my website....

Look forward to hearing the files

bye for now
David
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom