Thanks for playing my record for people! it's selling well because both the music and sound are excellent! Bob Ludwig mastered this and Matthew Lutthans cut lacquers on the TML lathe and mastering system. 22 year old Caelan has a bright future (look him up) in concert and on record!
As an engineer with 40 years of live and recording experience, I can tell you ,your record has been done incredibly well, Your performance is stellar. But the record makes me feel like I am in the room with the bass and piano.
@@SkyFiAudio This might help you understand the purpose of the diamond and gold cartridge . "@gteaz 0 seconds ago @stuarttacey I've got £500 and £300 Grado's, £300 and £100 Sennheiser's headphones etc I also have £20 Psyc that sound warmer and wider than the expensive headphones I have. The other day I thought about upgrading my NAD M10 V2 (used as a pre amp to my forty year old New class A A/B Technics SU-V's) to a NAD M33 (used as a pre amp) and then it clicked. I'm only showing everyone how much money I have. Sound quality never improves no matter how much £££ I put into it."
Bwahahaha. I used to make money. I'm older now and this jaw dropping price is the price for reasonable car purchase. But I love the sentiment and we weren't there to hear velvet on vinyl. I seriously think that the produced today vinyl is inferior.
It would be interesting to hear the Ortofon 2M Black Cartridge on this turntable, for under $1000. That or a Japan's Hana cartridges for under $800. $17,500 is a non-starter for many/almost everyone.
I gather the sweet spot for this price turntable is about $500 or so like a Sumiko Blue Point No. 3 or even the Songbird if you can swing a few more bucks. Yes the M black would be on that list.
I am thankful for the opportunity to listen to such a fine piece of kit that I would never, ever be able to afford. That is a stunning recording made even more so by the gear involved.
I enjoyed this a lot. There are no set rules with audio, and experimenting with different components regardless of price, can sometimes give surprising results. For its price, that lower end Technics delivers beautiful performance. Of course listening on a set of headphones makes it a challenge to fully assess the sound quality, but to my ears, it sounded really good. Keep it real and keep it interesting. Great job!!
@@deangale4496 Dean!!! I would love to send it out to you for as long as you need, but your current financial statement shows you are only worthy of an Ortofon red. Sorry pal.
@@SkyFiAudio Spending stupid money for tiny increases in perceived sound quality just doesn't make sense to me. Diminishing returns. I personally wouldn't spend that sort of money on a cart even if i had it.
@@stuarttaceySee Stuart, sadly your comment is yet another bit of ignorance of the lower level music listeners - "I can't afford something so whoever does is an idiot" kind of attitude, completely negating that something might be better, but it cannot be since you cannot afford it. I've NEVER encountered people with expensive systems with such mindset, only the guys with Chi-Fi stuff and midrange gear who complain about expensive stuff. Not nice.
@@puciohenzap891 I've heard a high end setup costing thousands in a demo setting at a hifi store and it didn't blow me away as sounding much better than my own. There was a little more clarity but it didn't justify the ridiculous cost to me.
It is hard to evaluate without a point of comparison. I would have liked to hear the music first from the default cartridge that Technics fits this out with. And then the gold coil unit. Having said that, it does sound sumptuously detailed and musical. Thanks for sharing!
It wouldn't matter if there was a comparison, you are still going to be listening to it thru TH-cam compression, your DAC & amp, then your headphones or speakers. Demonstrations like these are utterly pointless. All we are hearing is our own equipment.
I think the bass sounds so smooth and the piano sounds natural. It's a great sounding record for sure and I think the Technics did a phenomenal job with the cartridge. The cartridge I could never afford. I have an older Technics SL-Q3 quartz lock turntable with an Ortofon 2M Black that sounds amazing to me. It's feeding through a Nakamichi TA-4A receiver and a pair of Urei 809A studio monitors. I just love the sound of it. Thank you for posting
I felt the choice of music lacked. This was a mono recording and it would have been more interesting to get some sense of stereo image and depth using a well recorded album even as this is being heard via TH-cam.
I have the Technics SL-100C (the SL-1500C w/o the phono preamp) with the HANA ML and it is the best combination for me for clean albums. I can quickly change out the cart with a MM cart for more scratchy records, but still sounds great. Thanks for addressing the issue about how important the cartridge is.
proud owner off a 1973 sl1200 ran it with shure v15 and stanton 681eee back then dealer net was around 300 canadian dollars. cartridges were around 50 northern pesos..
I've had a 681 and a V15-III but couldn't stand them, the IGD was killing when running on a hi end headphone system. The more fancy-schmancy tips like microline or Shibata were a godsend.
You are correct. When the needle drops there is INDEED a 60 cycle hum. You are correct. You Tube although a great way for basic visual content is very lacking in audio fidelity.
This is an interesting video. It's unfortunate though that there's what sounds like a 60-HZ hum as soon as the stylus hits the record surface. I thought I was hearing things so I replayed the video more than once. And sure enough, as soon as that stylus hits the record surface there's that hum. I have no problems on my end with audio, it's apparently coming from somewhere in the audio chain in the demo gear. Amazing no one else has commented. But the cartridge is probably the most important transducer component next to the speakers. So you're correct in that the cartridge is very important and one should not skimp on its quality. Additionally, and I don't want to seem negative (though likely that's the way it will sound [no pun intended]) although TH-cam audio has improved significantly over the years, I don't see how any quality cartridge or audio gear can be properly assessed by playing audio via TH-cam, but it's a good try. And it's interesting to hear such an uncommonly expensive cartridge sound so common. And did they embed a real diamond into it? And if they did, WHY... Seriously, WHY? Assuming I would want to spend that amount of cash on such a cartridge, why the hell would I want to pay for a diamond on my cartridge? Is there some sort of mystical properties of that diamond? Does it auto-correct tracking by some mysterious diamond rays? Of course not! I only want to see diamonds on my rings, and perhaps on my front teeth so that I have a glittering smile. So can I order one without the diamond? I mean that aught to knock off at least a couple thousand I would think, right? And since we're on the topic of gold, is that case on the cartridge gold also, and if it isn't why isn't it? I mean for $14K plus, I want gold on everything. Thanks none-the-less for this interesting video, I will likely consult with you for a decent turntable (but one without diamonds of course).
When people understand little about cartridge construction and materials, they ask snarky questions thinking they are being funny and wise but ultimately they just appear foolish. Which you do, though at least you have the basic point correct: the transducer is key. This does not mean a cartridge this costly is a good value proposition. That's for the buyer to decide, but you could take a few minutes and discover what goes into hand building this particular cartridge and the materials used. However, if you think the piano and bass reproduction here sound "common" I wonder what you were doing instead listening carefully. And yes, TH-cam is not high resolution audio but it's good enough to hear basics, and it will show up bad audio as well as good, and comparisons between components also work well though that wasn't done here.
To @trackingangle929: Perhaps I sound foolish to you, but I think your own trackingangle is off based on the presumptions you have, so let me straighten out some of your misconceptions: First, I'm a professional electronics engineer (with a degree) with over 25 years of practical design experience that covers both tube and solid-state design. I'm quite familiar with what goes into a cartridge's design, a speaker driver design, an audio amp design, etc. I've designed custom audio amps and other gear, including speaker systems; a number of commercial electronic organs utilize my designs. In addition, I play oboe with instrumental groups and I'm a professional organist (church organ) and have given public recitals. Last but not least, I am an "audiophile" (a term I hate, which I will not go into here) as well. So not to blow my own horn, cumulatively, I have both a technical and musical background on these interrelated subject areas (music and electronics) and feel competent enough to comment on any areas related to these two subjects. In terms of my comments, yes, I was throwing in some snarky humor - apparently it touched a chord. As I did say, TH-cam audio has come a long way over the years. I've listened to some excellent recorded performances via TH-cam which had no objectionable compression (but all streamed audio has some), really low distortion, and that retained a significant percentage of dynamic range and timbre detail to render a high-quality, though not necessarily an "audiophile" quality, sound experience. These characteristics do make TH-cam capable of rendering a high level of audio quality assuming it's in the source material to begin with and that nothing has interfered with it in the process of getting it to TH-cam and that nothing additional alters it. But to be perfectly blunt, the kind of quality differences we're talking about with a cartridge are often very subtle in most cases so just playing back audio, as was done in this video, is really not going to reveal as much unless anyone listening plays their own audio through TH-cam as well and can make an A vs B comparison that way. Unless you listen to your audio through TH-cam the comparison is apples to oranges IMO. Such subtleties must be heard on the system you have and plan to use with such a cartridge, and that actually applies to any piece of audio gear. Also to keep in mind is the room (unless you use hi-quality headphones) your system is in because your room is an integral component of your audio system. Now, does this mean that what we hear on this video is not useful? No, not at all. It can be useful to a very limited extent. However, to throw another caveat into such a demonstration. Auditory memory is often flawed; Bell Labs has done lots of research into this area and of all the senses auditory memory is not as accurate as the sense of smell. However, my own personal experience with remembering how something sounds seems to hold up and I expect that's the case with many people and especially those that comment on this video. So I have to wonder a bit about the Bell Labs research. But putting sensory accuracy aside, if this video approached the demo of the cartridge in terms of comparing it to another hi-end, but considerably less expensive, cartridge, the demo could have been more valuable IMO. But simply playing back a track with a particular cartridge doesn't reveal all that much because it's compared to what? It's like seeing an advertisement for a product or service that says "Save 50% now". Ok, but 50% over what? 50% of nothing is still nothing. But if you're paying $500 for something and you can save 50%, that's $250 - so "Save 50% now" is a meaningful statement. But at face value I can't tell how good this $14k cartridge may really be just by listening to it over TH-cam. Can you? I don't think so. Now if the goal was to simply demo the cartridge with an entry level turntable to see what the results are, well that's OK, and IMO it revealed something which I mention next. I can hear that as soon as the stylus hits the surface of the disk there's a hum. Now was the "entry level" Techniques turntable causing a mechanical missmatch between it and the incredible sensitivety of the cartridge, enough to pick up surface noise that exceeded the noise-floor of the cartridge (as well as the rest of the audio chain involved) and came through as the hum I heard? I don't know, but I do know it was there, and it was NOT an electrical ground quality (ground hum) issue because a ground hum would have been apparent before the stylus was set down on the record's surface. So something else was at play. Could this be the result of a mismatch between what was characterized as an "entry-level" turntable with a high-end cartridge? Perhaps. If it was a mismatch then the demo was revealing in that regard. For the hum issue it would again have been interesting to see if using the exact same cartridge in a higher-end turntable would have produced the same results. Since we only heard the audio using just the Techniques turntable and not compared with a more expensive (i.e. "better") turntable, I guess we'll never know. But I highly suspect that, as there are electrical mismatches in circuits, there might have been a mechanical specifications mismatch. Again, at this point it's speculation on my part. The only way to answer the hum question is to experiment with a different turntable. As for the use of gold in cartridges: From an electrical standpoint, gold has certain advantages, but they do not contribute or carry over to differences in percieved audio - that's a common fallacy and misconception. Copper, so far, is the best economical conductor of electricity because it has the least resistance per cross-sectional area to electrons (if you are familiar with so-called electron flow) compared to gold. The advantage gold has, at least in this area, is it is more malleable than copper, is not subjet to surface oxidation as copper is, and is more easily wound than copper, particularly at the very tiny diameters of coil windings found in cartridges and headphones. This makes gold a reliable conductor for critical areas of electronics. Gold conductors, even though they are less of an ideal conductor compared to copper, are widely used to interconnect IC (Integrated Circuit) housing (the case of an Integrated Circuit chip) to the actual chip-carriers which contain actual circuitry and in such cases the length of these gold conductors is quite small, less than 1/4 inch or less, so resistivity of the cross-section of such conductors as compared to an equivalent copper conductor of the same length is inconsequential. Feel free to ask or comment on any of the above. UPDATE 3/16/24: One recent comment was they didn't see the sylus come down on the record surface as I pointed out (and that many others also heard). I just reviewed the video and yes indeed, the video apparently has been edited; The section where the stylus hits the surface of the record has been removed; You will now simply see the stylus playing the track. I suspect SkyFi Audio found my comments (and those besides myself that also heard the hum) to be controversial and decided to eliminate the cause of the controversey. Personally, I think it would have been more proper for SkyFi Audio to leave the video as-is, acknowledge the hum, then repost a new video using the same cartridge with the hum issue resolved. Or if the hum issue could not be resolved provide an explanation for why it was there. But apparently they've removed the offending section of the original video and in so doing they've taken away the opportunity for everyone to hear when the hum occurs - and in effect removing the controversey. Whether they further edited the audio part of the section of video where the stylus is playing the track of music using audio editing tools (to mitigate the original hum) I don't know. Why they chose to edit the video rather than leave it as-is and whether they further edited the section where the track plays with audio editing tools are questions only SkyFi Audio can answer.
Not really core-less, slot-less is more accurate for these motors. Behind the coils is a steel focus plate. Only the G and higher motors are truly core-less and to get decent torque they need two rows of magnets. For these motors to get decent torque, you need the steel focus plate. You can test for the presence of this plate by doing a power off rundown test. 2 minutes for a G, 15 seconds for this motor.
Not silly. You made a good point and provided some valuable information for us consumers of audio and audio gear. Not many of us get a chance to run experiements like this. Thanks!
FINALLY! Someone thinks the way I think and does the experiment I have been waiting for. I have always thought it's ALL ABOUT THE CART and to a lesser extent the synergy between the cart and arm.
I have a 2M Black on my SL1210G - I'm very happy with it, sounds great to me, but I can't lie I'd love to try a cartridge like the one you are using on the SL1510!!!
The important thing about a turntable is that the mechanical noise is minimal. And that it maintains a accurate speed. For example of the Technics sl 1200 Mark II has a rumble figure well below negative 80 decibels. It's significantly quieter than many other turntables. From there you have a good platform to build upon.
I love that you come right out and explain that how important the cartridge is compared to almost everything else. Sidenote: I remember when you demoed the Denon VL12 Prime DJ turntable and many of the comments complained about the tonearm. The VL12 is a fantastic deck; bargain of the century. I don't care if the tonearm looks like it came off a Gemini; it sounds amazing even with a relatively cheap shibata or micro linear cart slapped on it.
For DJing it's better than the 1200 MK7, but if you can get an earlier 1200 that's still king. Out of all the newer direct drive DJ decks including the MK7, Reloop, Audio Technical, etc., Denon is the best, even though it's discontinued. (Denon still sells parts and they're surprisingly not too expensive.) The platter is excellent, the motor/speed stability locks better than any of the above. (And I believe it still has the highest torque?) Functionally the tonearm is fine, it's just not quite as pretty or rock solid as a 1200. There are only a few things I would improve; I wish the loud DENON DJ graphics could be peeled off; there's little bit of play in the pitch control at zero; and I'd love to see an upgraded tonearm. But I love mine. I lucked out and grabbed two for less than $400 each. Total steal.@@sbwlearning1372
What was that hum at start of the music? Something with the capture setup? For that price, at least it should be noise and hum free (except for the usual noise from the record itself). And trying to get an idea of that setup over TH-cam compressed audio...
The hum is my fault, so hard to get an analogue signal into a computer without picking up hum. Spent a bunch of time sorting it out, thats the best I could do. It was picking up all sorts of digital iterfearance so the only option was to have a bit of hum
Yeah, I noticed the hum too. Are you sure it wasn't a grounding issue with the turntable/phono pre? Ground loops are a pernicious problem when connecting chains of gear. There are products that claim to help but I haven't tried anything yet.
I tried every possible combination of grounding. This was the best I could get without inducing a bunch of digital noise. It's quite a tricky setup. Besides this is TH-cam, let's not get too crazy :-).
@@jimrockford3662 Are you saying this $17500 cartridge sounds like poop I'm listening to. I don't think it's that bad maybe worth $400 worth of sound quality.
@@jimrockford3662 If you think that sound is worth more than $17000 then you are really a complete imbecile. And a sucker with a big sign on your forehead.
Another great video...Thanks for doing this one, Fernando! I recently took delivery of a NIB Technics SL-1210GAE 55th Anniversary model...never thought I'd find one at a retail location, but lucked out and snatched it up right away. I was torn between the GAE and VPI's HW-40 direct drive, but I went with the Technics because of the swappable headshells...makes cartridge swapping fun and easy! I think that when we look at whether or not a cartridge is "overkill", rather than dwell on affordability (which is entirely objective as it depends on what the purchaser is comfortable with paying), one has to take into account the music we are playing through the cartridge. For example, I have several MM and MC cartridges...at various price points...and I find that some genres of music and the quality of recording or pressing dictates which cartridge I prefer. Obviously, critical listening on a great pressing matches great on a high-end MC, but I've found that the same MC makes a poorly pressed/recorded record sound worse...for those, a quality MM that still tracks and presents well is better, actually offering a sound that is more pleasing where the MC might come across as too "clinical". Just my $0.02 worth...
Glad you enjoy your SL12010GAE. It's a gorgous machine. I find interesting that you change your cartridge around based on the type of music, that the advantage of the SL-1200 that many overlook. Can you share which cartridge you like for which genre?
@@SkyFiAudio Right now, my favorite MC is my Koetsu Black Goldline. This is the finest cartridge I've ever owned in terms of accuracy, resolution, clarity and separation...and because of this, I tend to use it only on my best vinyl, think of the Analogue Productions pressings of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" or Steely Dan's "Aja". Because these albums are so well recorded, and the pressings are of such high-quality, the Koetsu's revealing nature is put to good use. However, with any material that's not recorded well or pressed poorly, the Koetsu comes off as sterile, too analytical and maybe even "harsh". Here, I prefer my MM cartridges, which don't so much "mask" imperfections, but rather make them far less noticeable. Also, a great vintage MM like a Shure M97xE (mine still has its original stylus), simply sounds better on most of my rock and pop records. It's hard to beat a really good MM for where the emphasis on the music's punch and drive are the main focus, think Led Zepplin, The Who, Daft Punk, etc. For me, it's almost as if my MC carts are too "polite" to rock out...if you know what I mean.
"...lucked out..." Don't you mean 'lucked-in' (unless you have buyer's remorse)? ps I am aware that in certain parts of the world meanings are reversed absolutely.
@wayoutofbounds - Thanks for the insight and would be great to know what other cartridges you’ve had when citing the Koetsu as the finest you’ve owned.
@@wayoutofbounds I've just listened to a new pressing of the black album by Metallica and my original copy of caress of steel by Rush Also fat of the land by the Prodigy . I used a gold ring elite MC through a Jim Hagerman trumpet MC phono stage which is all valves ( tubes to the Americans) I have all the punch and power and bass drive I'll ever need. Got around 10 cartridges. Since the Hagerman arrived I've sold all my mm except for a nagaoka mp150 which I essentially used to clean dirty records. The gold ring is only around 500 new The valves add magic
What do you mean with this video? At the end you ask for comments about if we hear any difference? Any difference compared to what? Where is the alternative soundclip we should compare with? What I hear in the soundclip provided is a quite boomy sound lacking transparency and resolution. The performance I hear is not even close to what I expect and demand from any system that claims to provide good sound.
I can't believe there's so many people that have enough time in the day to actually go through and read all the comments and comment on the comments LOL.
$17,500 and you get a nice low level 60hz hum in the audio. This would be a MASSIVE fail for an $80 setup. Completely unacceptable and I don't know why the OP would just let that slide and not say anything about it. Did they honestly think no one would notice?
Feeding a low voltage analogue source into a computer with no noise is not an easy task. I spent quite a bit of time and effort minimizing the hum. Sorry it didn't meet your standards but as we all know, critically auditioning anything over TH-cam leaves a lot to be desired and I would not take it too seriously. This is more for entertainment than science.
@@SkyFiAudio So, how do you explain the vast number of other people that do this everyday without issue? You either have a grounding problem or a bad cartridge. Let me reiterate the point here; you're showcasing a twenty thousand dollar cartridge and you can't even get clean audio out of it? One would think you'd want nothing but perfection in the video. If I wasn't able to get the audio perfect, I wouldn't even have uploaded this because, at this point, what are you even proving other than justification for people to laugh at expensive products like this? No, honestly, what did you just prove, besides that fact you have no clue of what you're doing or saying?
The sound was great ! I did hear a low-level 60Hz hum before the stylus hit the music's beginning . I agree with your price ratio , but wouldn't rule out a One to one turntable / cartridge cost .
I came here for the hum comments. While I appreciate the video, no one is going to take a sound clip video seriously, if you aren’t knowledgeable or serious enough to take care of that 60 cycle hum. Also, in the future, if you want to highlight the sound of a cartridge, give us another cartridge to compare it to so we can hear the difference. Best of luck.
I tell you now from someone who does electronics hifi is the biggest rip off going and believe me it is. 17,000 for a needle with the pops and crack to go with it. Play the cd version for less and get more detail. I repaired amps,cd players, etc and believe me these high ends use most of the same components to standard hifi. I seen cd players at £500 beat cd players at £5000 range. Put the stuff on an oscilloscope and your see it’s all a rip off. I’m not saying cheap is just as good, but you spend a reasonable amount of money then you got a good system. I repair lots of stuff and seen it all and it’s a joke what people pay for something that is no better than something less the half the price.
Actually, this pickup will produce LESS surface noise due to the extreme fine line contact stylus assembly. The line contact stylus scans a much longer area of the groove wall, so little bits of dust and gunk in the grooves scan at much lower volume. I owned the predecessor to this pickup, the Clearaudio Insider Wood Reference, which is absolutely the best pickup in my experience. A pickup like this demands to be used with the best turntable/arm combination. I was using an SME 20/SME V combination and it was ideal, the mass of the arm matched the compliance of the pickup perfectly. The turntable itself had the best isolation in my experience. The tracking force was higher than typical, which was compensated by the stylus shape, so record wear was not a problem. I'm completely out of analog at this point, but as I understand it the Goldfinger is a further refinement from the Insider. You also need an audio system that's capable of resolving the performance from a pickup like this.
My vinyl b a r e l y has any surface noise. Are you happy with listening CD’s. Does that make you happy? Well I am honestly happy with you. Then why the Effemm do you feel the urge to spend time coming here to put down how other people choose to enjoy their music. So you must not be that happy with your CD’s. I mean to feel the need to be here putting down other people ‘s choices. Or,,,,, or you simply are a bully . A bully is a coward, a fascist , an intolerant coward psychopath with a small dick. Thank you. Have a nice day.
You are absolutely right and I confirm everything you wrote... Just the other day I was at a Hi-fi repairer in my city here in Italy and he was repairing a McIntosh CD player of which I don't remember the model precisely but certainly of high range high...He showed me the reading mechanism...It was a very simple cheap Philips mechanism and the repairman himself told me that those devices have a great name but they are not eternal and as you rightly said they are built with standard components... THEY ARE LUXURY OBJECTS AND PRICES LIKE LUXURY OBJECTS.!!!
Thanks for posting this video. Obviously, that cartridge is way out of my league. I was surprised that you characterized the TT as entry but robust since it’s something much more than I would paid ever. I won’t comment on the sound quality but I’ll say there are still a little snap crackle and pop about two third into the track and make me feel awfully good on what I already have - Fluence RT-85 with DL-110 and tube phono pre. My day to day work horse is the old beater SL-J11D (my budget Technics) with Grado Black and a ChiFi tube pre. Just did a speed calibration yesterday. I am sure streaming from uTube doesn’t justify the caliber but again it’s so fun to listen to it and listen and admire from afar like checking out a Ferrari when I am driving a Subi. Thanks again!😂. I do like to see the cartridges mounted on a Marantz TT 15S1 ‘cause that is one of the most aesthetically pleasing gear to me. Cheers!
I'm glad you recognize this video is intended for entertainment more than critical listening. You've assembled a really nice rig as described above I bet it sounds stellar. Agreed the 15s1 is a good looking table and well made.
I swear, one minute after the stylus hit the record, I said out loud, "Gorgeous!"🤩 Can you help me out here? What are WE listening to off of the TH-cam limitations? Do you have the pre-outs plugged into the camera/recording rig? Most others have their room acoustics involved, and that NEVER helps! Thank you! ~Dave Smith, a suburb of Chicago.
What a great experience, my father always told me your advice about the importance of the cartridge and phonostage while the turntable itself just needs to be accurate (he was a big fan of Edgar Villchur and his AR XA turntable). Nevertheless, I went on this big journey, spending a lot of money, and at the end of it all, learnt my lesson. Thanks for endorsing this philosophy which will guide others not to make the same mistake that I made.
Incredible, simply incredible. I've NEVER heard a record sound so good whilst playing TH-cam in the shower. My jaw dropped. Album downloaded on Tidal, liked and subscribed 🤗 Thank you sir 👍
Why didn’t you run some tests by digitizing the signal using the expensive and the stock cartridge and then see if there is any actual difference in frequency response, dynamic range and signal to noise ratio ? You can do meaningful tests even in Audacity if you want.
I have this turntable and love it. I recently retired and decided to recommission my vinyl collection that's been stored in the attic for the past 35 years. I don't intend to buy any new vinyl but just wanted to access my large vinyl collection every know and again. It's a great value turntable and does a terrific job although I must admit I just cannot be bothered with all the faffing around and hassle associated with vinyl- it's just to labour intensive compared to digital. I am using it on very rare occasions!
@SkyFiAudio Fernando, other than introducing your viewers to great new music that they might not have been aware of otherwise, I'm struggling to understand the usefulness or goal of this video??? Side note: At the beginning of the video did you address your audience and viewers as, "Hey CHANNEL..."? 1. As several others noted, and you confirmed in a comment, there was a consistently audible low-level mechanical hum/vibration during playback of the vinyl (not an Electrical "60Hz hum"/ground loop, etc.). 2. Either your Capture of the audio or the Upload to TH-cam was in MONO! :/ I would be interested to know what your signal chain was for this particular "vinyl rip"? Was it the phono preamp output from the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge fed into the line-level inputs of the cheap $69 M-Audio M-Track Duo USB audio interface??? :/ 3. The background noise floor as well as the vinyl surface noise of this brand new vinyl LP were both quite high and distracting. :( 4. After the end of the playback of the track, you asked your viewers/listeners, "...did you hear a difference?" However, you didn't provide any type of REFERENCE for comparison. So, a "difference" as compared to WHAT? Without a Reference, there is no baseline for comparison in order to determine "a difference". You also provided no details as to the signal chain that was used to capture this vinyl rip, so again, it's impossible for your listeners to derive any type of apples-to-apples differences or a real-world comparison. I perform my own digital vinyl rips using very modest gear from both "normal" and high-quality vinyl pressings that IMO sound vastly superior to this example, even if I output or convert the lossless 24/96 WAV files as 192kbps MP3 or AAC to approximate TH-cam's Lossy compression codec. In reference to # 3 above, although I'm an avid vinyl enthusiast, I'd much rather listen to this particular recording in its native 24/96 digital recording format that was used to cut the lacquer for the vinyl release. ;) And while I am in full agreement that the cartridge/stylus and its proper setup/tracking is THE most important element of any turntable as it is the direct electromechanical interface between you and the music (just as the quality of the microphones & microphone preamps that are used to capture the original recording, as well as the loudspeakers & acoustic environment that are used to listen to the playback of the recording), IMPO, this cart needs A MUCH LARGER DIAMOND mounted to its forehead in order for it to be worth that asking price. :-P The addition of the diamond for purely aesthetic/cosmetic purposes IMO is simply ridiculous and "cheesy" for lack of a better word. The use of the gold housing also seem dubious, though it may provide better anti-resonance/damping properties from external acoustic sources. I haven't read the "white paper" for this cartridge, so IDK. FWIW, my advice when trying to showcase the Sound Quality or any DIFFERENCES in the perceived audio quality of any type of component(s) are to: # 1. Capture the audio as accurately as possible. I would look into acquiring a Tascam DA-3000 mastering recorder in order to capture the output directly from your best phono preamp using 24-bit PCM or DSD if preferred. They can be found on eBay at reasonable prices. FYI, this is what reknowned recording and mastering engineer Kevin Gray uses for digital masters/archiving, including being used as the playback source to record cutting lathes. # 2. Provide the original Digital File, or at least some other cartridge or component as a comparative REFERENCE to what you are trying to showcase. # 3. Upload all of the original captured lossless files for download by your viewers/listeners via a cloud storage file server for direct comparison in their own systems in order to eliminate the Lossy compression/artifacts/limitations of listening over TH-cam (preferably using Foobar2000 to play all of the lossless files randomly via its companion "A/B/X Comparator" Plugin). # 4. Upload and provide all of the different files as only being labelled as "A", "B", "C", etcetera, so none of your viewers/listeners know which file they are listening to...until you reveal which was which at a predetermined later date, so that it is a completely 100% UNSIGHTED listening test, a.k.a. "blind test" which eliminates all expectation and confirmation bias due to price, brand prestige, personal preference/association, etc. Refer to: "Audio Musings by Sean Olive - The Dishonesty of Sighted Listening Tests" (sean.olive.blogspot.2009.04)
sounds great , i also want to record my vinyl with my android smartphone, wich equipment/ cables do i nee to record my vinyl sound from the hifi setup?thanks!
When we were selling audio in the mid '80s, it was commonly viewed that phono cartridges and speakers had the most impact on sound (read as colored the sound most) much, much more than any other choice made. Still.... I have to believe, that the perceived quality and accuracy of this cartridge FAR exceeds the cost and quality of the cutting lathe. So what does it mean to have something "way more accurate" than the thing that created the given LP in the first place?
This was really a good demo idea and the recommendations at the end of the video makes absolute sense. I have been playing turntables, tonearms and cartridges for the last 50 years, and have concluded there is no universal combination. The cartridge-turntable-tonearm combination is an endless abyss of experimentation and changes with maturity. I mainly listen to Rock, Jazz and Classical and my preference for a singular c-t-t is nowhere near an end. The thing to remember here is to set up any cartridge the best that you can and if you can't, PAY SOMEBODY to do it for you. The turntable makes the least difference but the cartridge and tonearm combination is most important as that's where the real adjustments become critical, and can make an inexpensive cartridge sound better than one costing ten times it's price. As an aside, spend the money on the best record cleaning system you can afford, because that's where it all begins and provides the ultimate satisfaction. Anyway that was an excellent record and just note how CLEAN it was. Bob Ludwig has retired ... I already miss him.
Hey Fernando, still digging my LP 12 with the Starling Cartridge (by the way) ironic that I’m listening to this video through the speaker of my iPad….gonna have to watch again on my Yamaha home theatre…Btw, I have the Technics SL 1300, what cart would you recommend For this one Ortofon Black maybe?
I'd be more interested in, as a beginner, whether it would be worth upgrading to a $1000 (AUD) cartridge on a $800 turntable that comes standard with a $300 cartridge? Namely the Ortofon 2M Black cartridge on a Fluance RT85, that usually has a 2M Blue. Or is it better to just upgrade the whole turntable to something around the $2k mark?
I am just wondering If this will sound just as good on My Technics SL1210mk2 with the Nagaoka MP150 cart, through a Schiit Mani 2 (Phono Stage)?. I need to get a copy now. This cart Is brilliant sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
The main sound difference I have found on where the magic happens is a moving coil Phono cartridge and the Phono preamp. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to have high quality sound, because the returs will be minimal to none. It also depends on the synergy of your equipment. I heard my cousin's friend system, consisting of an old Sherwood S-8000 tube receiver, a pair of Quads 57, a REL T/7x Subwoofer, a Fluance turntable with a Signet Moving coil cartridge and a Parasound Zphono preamp and it sounded to me like what perfection suppose to sound for my ears. The thing is that I don't know how good it would sound on my living room, as it all comes to synergy.
This isn't a *mono* cartridge is it? Why didn't you capture it in stereo? Despite compression losses through TH-cam I feel like this could've sounded a LOT better. 🤔
Someone else already pointed out the 60hz hum. I just wanted to add though, this record is supposed to be stereo. Your sound sample however, sounds like a mono fold-down. There is zero separation.
hola Fer, never have felt the 'urge' of going beyond, say, a Nagaoka 500. But I do now wonder if instead of breaking the bank for a new TT or other things in the chain, well, to follow your advice and really find the best MM one I can find. Pondering pondering pondering
FYI, The Goldfinger weighing in at 16g total and being made of 14 Karat gold is going to have less than $580 worth of Gold on it. The diamond isn't flawless or anything either. It's safe to assume that there's less than $1K in luxury materials cost. What you're paying for is the added value of the design of the piece, they stylus etc, more than the materials themselves.
I'm a musician (1967), music producer (1975) and owner of labels since 1977 (moved to CD's in 1985) but I never stopped pressing vinyl. First, this is a great record and appreciate SkyFiAudio for showcasing it. Being involved in all phases of audio from recording to mastering to plating, pressing, etc., every step is critical including mic placement for a great recording. The recording is wonderful and the mastering is exquisite. Just listening on my earbuds and computer speakers is wonderful and if I can hear the soundstage and nuances on this, I can only imagine what it would sound like on my system. By the way I think speakers are another critical aspect of great sound reproduction. Mine are 3 way (2 - paper cone speakers for low and mids) and 1 small folded horn for the highs. They have active crossovers with knobs, not microswitches so I can fully tune to room and to my liking. Would never spend this much on a cartridge, but will be dropping coin for the LP. Thanks.
I have a question for you sir. I have bought and experienced early CD players from Sony and Phillip and to me they sound like crap, not even close to the newer CD players. **How people, especially Audiophiles accepted this CD players that sound flat and bland, insteady of the great sounding Analog equipment of those days like Turntables, Reel to reels and highend cassette decks?!!
@@TravelandAudio- First, all audio playback mediums have their own advantages, disadvantages and limitations. When CD's first came out there were challenges. The Engineers needed to learn how to record digital sound properly. The sound scape and dynamic range is totally different with digital. Some learned a little faster and people like me had a longer time to adjust. EX: I finished up mixing a project and months later, I return to the studio and go... "what happened to the mixing board?" Engineer pointed to a computer screen and say there. My first intro to Pro-Tools. NOTE: Another thing is when major labels pulled Master tapes of previously recorded material that were mixed for analog's limits, they didn't remix them and just issued out on binary code. The low end was almost non-existant and the highs were so shrill and offense for me when they did this. It was more the fault of the CD mastering than the players but players had their own issues when sampling rates were not uniform. They sounded like crap for a reason. The lack of mid-range is what bothers me the most in modern recordings. As to why it was so acceptable? I have no idea.
@@cguzelli1Thank You Sir for your very knowledgeable answer. I’m not an audiophile, but an audio freak! 😅 I love to experience vintage and modern equipment, my house these days looks like a museum or audio store. I admire how fantastic vintage audio equipment sounds, as my first impression was that it would sound primitive, but I was amazed at how great it sounds. My only and biggest disappointment has only been Early CD players!
Why? If the mass is correct, resonance freq of the cart + arm is correct, there is nothing wrong with it - except what the listeren feels about such combination. In the end price is relative, I bet it costs way below $1k to build such a cartridge but there is a massive "TOTL tax" on hi-end gear.
Interesting exercise but it's really impossible to get a clear audio picture of what's going on in this format. TH-cam audio compression, the quality of the internet connection, and the speakers in the laptop all sort of serve to wash away any kind of real information. Maybe putting two Technics decks side by side with a $300 cartridge in one and this 17K one on another and switching between 15-second clips of the same disc would bring out the differences. Actually, now that I think about it maybe getting staff together and having them blind listen and then record their reactions and thoughts might give us the most information. There is always a good amount of subjectivity in listening so an aggregate collection of experienced listeners could yield the most amount of valuable info. One of course risks having a cheaper option win and then undercutting your market for higher end cartridges too.
Very unique demo……waaaay over the top cartridge, but probably elevated the tables ability to the max. Have a Rega P9 running Clearaudio Maestro MM cartridge and really enjoy it. My vintage Luxman PD 272 has a Shure V15 cartridge Awesome fun. Love this hobby
I've got that same turntable, I suggest the audiotechnica vm540 at around 250$. It sounds way better than the ortofon red and blue that I had previously tried. Can't imagine the Sl1500c play any better (Yamaha AS2100 and Klipsch Rf-7III complete the set)
Grounding the table made the hum worse and brought in a bunch of digital noise. If anyone can suggest to feed a turntable quietly into a computer input I'm all ears!
@@SkyFiAudioyes, use a proper studio quality audio interface. There’s a million of them. I don’t know what you are using, but if you can’t solve a simple hum problem, maybe you’re not ready to make a video about a $17k cartridge.
I can't really evaluate the equipment. I like the TT. I have an original unmodified LP12 with an Ortofon OM10.The album was impeccably recorded but to me overly smooth. Musically, now, after a few minutes, I can't recall any of it. Very lounge. I'd suggest that the works of the cartridge would work just as well in another well engineered body, at a fraction of the cost.
I would have used the 17000 ekstra on the room… also.. i love playing vinyl! But i feel it is too much possible loss.. what if the production machine cost less than this picup ..😅 and then the insane need for clean record..?
Fascinating and a very good demonstration. I also own a Technics SP-25 broadcast turntable, which is basically a beefed up 1200 and partnered this with an Origin Live silver mark iv arm, but I'm now realising my cartridge selection (Ortofon 2M blue, Goldring E4 and Nagaoka MP110) are way below the quality that could be achieved. The sound of the Clearaudio Goldfinger was so good, especially in the bass, amazing it could perform so well on the Technics deck. I can't imagine spending that sort of money though, thanks for recommending the sweet spot of cartridge selection for each deck, very useful info. Enjoyed the video, now subscribed.
Thanks for playing my record for people! it's selling well because both the music and sound are excellent! Bob Ludwig mastered this and Matthew Lutthans cut lacquers on the TML lathe and mastering system. 22 year old Caelan has a bright future (look him up) in concert and on record!
As an engineer with 40 years of live and recording experience, I can tell you ,your record has been done incredibly well,
Your performance is stellar. But the record makes me feel like I am in the room with the bass and piano.
Do you really mean Bob Ludwig 😂 ? Maybe Bernie G.
@@highfell1Bob mastered. Duke Markos recorded and mixed it per our feedback
@@BobJohnson-xo7hrI agree about the in the room sound. We worked very hard to achieve that
Guys, link to purchase the record in the video description. Let's support this great work so that it keeps on coming...
My wife showed me a car she was interested in, and I was like "Sheesh, I could buy a diamond-studded gold turn table cartrige for that price!"
haha you found one! Not sure what the purpose of the diamond is, wish the manufacturer would comment on it.
@@SkyFiAudio This might help you understand the purpose of the diamond and gold cartridge .
"@gteaz 0 seconds ago
@stuarttacey I've got £500 and £300 Grado's, £300 and £100 Sennheiser's headphones etc
I also have £20 Psyc that sound warmer and wider than the expensive headphones I have.
The other day I thought about upgrading my NAD M10 V2 (used as a pre amp to my forty year old New class A A/B Technics SU-V's) to a NAD M33 (used as a pre amp)
and then it clicked.
I'm only showing everyone how much money I have. Sound quality never improves no matter how much £££ I put into it."
😂😂😂
Bwahahaha. I used to make money. I'm older now and this jaw dropping price is the price for reasonable car purchase. But I love the sentiment and we weren't there to hear velvet on vinyl. I seriously think that the produced today vinyl is inferior.
It would be interesting to hear the Ortofon 2M Black Cartridge on this turntable, for under $1000. That or a Japan's Hana cartridges for under $800.
$17,500 is a non-starter for many/almost everyone.
I gather the sweet spot for this price turntable is about $500 or so like a Sumiko Blue Point No. 3 or even the Songbird if you can swing a few more bucks. Yes the M black would be on that list.
I would say better than that black is the audio Technica at33sa that is a spectacular cart and not a lot of money
I have that exact setup, Ortofon 2M Black works awesome, and I’ve tried a few at the 800-1000 range
I think the Audio Technica range of carts offer better value for money and would be my choice.
I’ve got the 2M Black LVB250 running on my Technics SL-1210 MK2. It sounds awesome.
It would be nice to hear a comparison with a lesser cartridge
That’s what I hoped for otherwise I have no idea if it sounds better than a 50£ cartridge
WTF...........no comparison!!
You cannot have a sound comparison here on TH-cam. You have to be there to hear it.
Bullshit anyway . Human ear can't hear a difference.
They’ll never do that - it risks totally upending their world
I am thankful for the opportunity to listen to such a fine piece of kit that I would never, ever be able to afford. That is a stunning recording made even more so by the gear involved.
Glad you liked it, thanks for watching.
primmiTiFF trä$h 4090 ti 5090 >:
Ok, never in my lifetime would I be able to afford a cart that expensive but I’m definitely off to buy that record 👌🏽
I enjoyed this a lot. There are no set rules with audio, and experimenting with different components regardless of price, can sometimes give surprising results. For its price, that lower end Technics delivers beautiful performance. Of course listening on a set of headphones makes it a challenge to fully assess the sound quality, but to my ears, it sounded really good. Keep it real and keep it interesting. Great job!!
Yes send me your $17500 cartridges so I can test them.and write a great review
@@deangale4496 Dean!!! I would love to send it out to you for as long as you need, but your current financial statement shows you are only worthy of an Ortofon red. Sorry pal.
The beauty is in the ear of the listener... in which case nothing is silly.
Fine experiment, thanks for sharing. Regards,
stupidity in the face of knowledge is always silly.
Some people have more money than sense. I'm perfectly happy with my AT-VM95ML and Ortofon Super OM40 on my Technics 1210MK2.
To a super wealthy person, $17k is peanuts. To a poor person $400 on a cartridge is insane. It's all relative. :-).
@@SkyFiAudio Spending stupid money for tiny increases in perceived sound quality just doesn't make sense to me. Diminishing returns. I personally wouldn't spend that sort of money on a cart even if i had it.
@@stuarttaceySee Stuart, sadly your comment is yet another bit of ignorance of the lower level music listeners - "I can't afford something so whoever does is an idiot" kind of attitude, completely negating that something might be better, but it cannot be since you cannot afford it. I've NEVER encountered people with expensive systems with such mindset, only the guys with Chi-Fi stuff and midrange gear who complain about expensive stuff. Not nice.
@@puciohenzap891 I've heard a high end setup costing thousands in a demo setting at a hifi store and it didn't blow me away as sounding much better than my own. There was a little more clarity but it didn't justify the ridiculous cost to me.
You don't have to be wealthy to know that spending $17,000 on a cartridge is dumb as hell@@SkyFiAudio
The little diamond on the front got me cackling 😅😅😅 that is hilarious. Great piano playing!
It is hard to evaluate without a point of comparison. I would have liked to hear the music first from the default cartridge that Technics fits this out with. And then the gold coil unit. Having said that, it does sound sumptuously detailed and musical. Thanks for sharing!
It wouldn't matter if there was a comparison, you are still going to be listening to it thru TH-cam compression, your DAC & amp, then your headphones or speakers. Demonstrations like these are utterly pointless. All we are hearing is our own equipment.
@@willielasttrue and not. If you compare the cart, and nothing else: the comparison is valid, just not accurate.
I think the bass sounds so smooth and the piano sounds natural. It's a great sounding record for sure and I think the Technics did a phenomenal job with the cartridge. The cartridge I could never afford. I have an older Technics SL-Q3 quartz lock turntable with an Ortofon 2M Black that sounds amazing to me. It's feeding through a Nakamichi TA-4A receiver and a pair of Urei 809A studio monitors. I just love the sound of it. Thank you for posting
Thats a nice setup
@@ColocasiaCorm thank you.
Thanks, Fernando, love your channel. Record was awesome.
I felt the choice of music lacked. This was a mono recording and it would have been more interesting to get some sense of stereo image and depth using a well recorded album even as this is being heard via TH-cam.
Classical and Jazz sounds great on everything!
Thanks anyway for the memories 😀
the church organ will sound impressive on the portable radio in the phone booth
Simply because they use acoustic instruments rather than electric/electronic (read : innatural) instruments.
Exactly. Rock muaic can sound horrible on the wrong system. Far less forgiving
Yes, fun video but if you don’t play a comparison cartridge how are we supposed to evaluate?
I have the Technics SL-100C (the SL-1500C w/o the phono preamp) with the HANA ML and it is the best combination for me for clean albums. I can quickly change out the cart with a MM cart for more scratchy records, but still sounds great.
Thanks for addressing the issue about how important the cartridge is.
Sl100C here as well with At33PTG/II MC, iphono 2 with xpower powersupply, sounds great on HD600 with topping a30 headphone amp
proud owner off a 1973 sl1200 ran it with shure v15 and stanton 681eee back then dealer net was around 300 canadian dollars. cartridges were around 50 northern pesos..
I still run Stanton 681eee can't find better for less!
I've had a 681 and a V15-III but couldn't stand them, the IGD was killing when running on a hi end headphone system. The more fancy-schmancy tips like microline or Shibata were a godsend.
@@puciohenzap891 no problems with my Sennheiser 424
you proved your point, the turntables main job is not to influence the sound of the cartridge. good job.
I mean this is exactly what it should be:
a) Robust
b) Accurate, low Wow&Flutter
c) Good arm geometry and bearing
You are correct. When the needle drops there is INDEED a 60 cycle hum.
You are correct. You Tube although a great way for basic visual content is very lacking in audio fidelity.
This is an interesting video. It's unfortunate though that there's what sounds like a 60-HZ hum as soon as the stylus hits the record surface. I thought I was hearing things so I replayed the video more than once. And sure enough, as soon as that stylus hits the record surface there's that hum. I have no problems on my end with audio, it's apparently coming from somewhere in the audio chain in the demo gear. Amazing no one else has commented. But the cartridge is probably the most important transducer component next to the speakers. So you're correct in that the cartridge is very important and one should not skimp on its quality.
Additionally, and I don't want to seem negative (though likely that's the way it will sound [no pun intended]) although TH-cam audio has improved significantly over the years, I don't see how any quality cartridge or audio gear can be properly assessed by playing audio via TH-cam, but it's a good try. And it's interesting to hear such an uncommonly expensive cartridge sound so common. And did they embed a real diamond into it? And if they did, WHY... Seriously, WHY? Assuming I would want to spend that amount of cash on such a cartridge, why the hell would I want to pay for a diamond on my cartridge? Is there some sort of mystical properties of that diamond? Does it auto-correct tracking by some mysterious diamond rays? Of course not! I only want to see diamonds on my rings, and perhaps on my front teeth so that I have a glittering smile. So can I order one without the diamond? I mean that aught to knock off at least a couple thousand I would think, right? And since we're on the topic of gold, is that case on the cartridge gold also, and if it isn't why isn't it? I mean for $14K plus, I want gold on everything. Thanks none-the-less for this interesting video, I will likely consult with you for a decent turntable (but one without diamonds of course).
Ouch!
When people understand little about cartridge construction and materials, they ask snarky questions thinking they are being funny and wise but ultimately they just appear foolish. Which you do, though at least you have the basic point correct: the transducer is key. This does not mean a cartridge this costly is a good value proposition. That's for the buyer to decide, but you could take a few minutes and discover what goes into hand building this particular cartridge and the materials used. However, if you think the piano and bass reproduction here sound "common" I wonder what you were doing instead listening carefully. And yes, TH-cam is not high resolution audio but it's good enough to hear basics, and it will show up bad audio as well as good, and comparisons between components also work well though that wasn't done here.
To @trackingangle929: Perhaps I sound foolish to you, but I think your own trackingangle is off based on the presumptions you have, so let me straighten out some of your misconceptions: First, I'm a professional electronics engineer (with a degree) with over 25 years of practical design experience that covers both tube and solid-state design. I'm quite familiar with what goes into a cartridge's design, a speaker driver design, an audio amp design, etc. I've designed custom audio amps and other gear, including speaker systems; a number of commercial electronic organs utilize my designs. In addition, I play oboe with instrumental groups and I'm a professional organist (church organ) and have given public recitals. Last but not least, I am an "audiophile" (a term I hate, which I will not go into here) as well. So not to blow my own horn, cumulatively, I have both a technical and musical background on these interrelated subject areas (music and electronics) and feel competent enough to comment on any areas related to these two subjects.
In terms of my comments, yes, I was throwing in some snarky humor - apparently it touched a chord.
As I did say, TH-cam audio has come a long way over the years. I've listened to some excellent recorded performances via TH-cam which had no objectionable compression (but all streamed audio has some), really low distortion, and that retained a significant percentage of dynamic range and timbre detail to render a high-quality, though not necessarily an "audiophile" quality, sound experience. These characteristics do make TH-cam capable of rendering a high level of audio quality assuming it's in the source material to begin with and that nothing has interfered with it in the process of getting it to TH-cam and that nothing additional alters it.
But to be perfectly blunt, the kind of quality differences we're talking about with a cartridge are often very subtle in most cases so just playing back audio, as was done in this video, is really not going to reveal as much unless anyone listening plays their own audio through TH-cam as well and can make an A vs B comparison that way.
Unless you listen to your audio through TH-cam the comparison is apples to oranges IMO. Such subtleties must be heard on the system you have and plan to use with such a cartridge, and that actually applies to any piece of audio gear.
Also to keep in mind is the room (unless you use hi-quality headphones) your system is in because your room is an integral component of your audio system. Now, does this mean that what we hear on this video is not useful? No, not at all. It can be useful to a very limited extent.
However, to throw another caveat into such a demonstration. Auditory memory is often flawed; Bell Labs has done lots of research into this area and of all the senses auditory memory is not as accurate as the sense of smell. However, my own personal experience with remembering how something sounds seems to hold up and I expect that's the case with many people and especially those that comment on this video. So I have to wonder a bit about the Bell Labs research.
But putting sensory accuracy aside, if this video approached the demo of the cartridge in terms of comparing it to another hi-end, but considerably less expensive, cartridge, the demo could have been more valuable IMO. But simply playing back a track with a particular cartridge doesn't reveal all that much because it's compared to what? It's like seeing an advertisement for a product or service that says "Save 50% now". Ok, but 50% over what? 50% of nothing is still nothing. But if you're paying $500 for something and you can save 50%, that's $250 - so "Save 50% now" is a meaningful statement. But at face value I can't tell how good this $14k cartridge may really be just by listening to it over TH-cam. Can you? I don't think so. Now if the goal was to simply demo the cartridge with an entry level turntable to see what the results are, well that's OK, and IMO it revealed something which I mention next.
I can hear that as soon as the stylus hits the surface of the disk there's a hum. Now was the "entry level" Techniques turntable causing a mechanical missmatch between it and the incredible sensitivety of the cartridge, enough to pick up surface noise that exceeded the noise-floor of the cartridge (as well as the rest of the audio chain involved) and came through as the hum I heard? I don't know, but I do know it was there, and it was NOT an electrical ground quality (ground hum) issue because a ground hum would have been apparent before the stylus was set down on the record's surface. So something else was at play. Could this be the result of a mismatch between what was characterized as an "entry-level" turntable with a high-end cartridge? Perhaps. If it was a mismatch then the demo was revealing in that regard. For the hum issue it would again have been interesting to see if using the exact same cartridge in a higher-end turntable would have produced the same results. Since we only heard the audio using just the Techniques turntable and not compared with a more expensive (i.e. "better") turntable, I guess we'll never know. But I highly suspect that, as there are electrical mismatches in circuits, there might have been a mechanical specifications mismatch. Again, at this point it's speculation on my part. The only way to answer the hum question is to experiment with a different turntable.
As for the use of gold in cartridges: From an electrical standpoint, gold has certain advantages, but they do not contribute or carry over to differences in percieved audio - that's a common fallacy and misconception. Copper, so far, is the best economical conductor of electricity because it has the least resistance per cross-sectional area to electrons (if you are familiar with so-called electron flow) compared to gold. The advantage gold has, at least in this area, is it is more malleable than copper, is not subjet to surface oxidation as copper is, and is more easily wound than copper, particularly at the very tiny diameters of coil windings found in cartridges and headphones. This makes gold a reliable conductor for critical areas of electronics. Gold conductors, even though they are less of an ideal conductor compared to copper, are widely used to interconnect IC (Integrated Circuit) housing (the case of an Integrated Circuit chip) to the actual chip-carriers which contain actual circuitry and in such cases the length of these gold conductors is quite small, less than 1/4 inch or less, so resistivity of the cross-section of such conductors as compared to an equivalent copper conductor of the same length is inconsequential.
Feel free to ask or comment on any of the above.
UPDATE 3/16/24: One recent comment was they didn't see the sylus come down on the record surface as I pointed out (and that many others also heard). I just reviewed the video and yes indeed, the video apparently has been edited; The section where the stylus hits the surface of the record has been removed; You will now simply see the stylus playing the track.
I suspect SkyFi Audio found my comments (and those besides myself that also heard the hum) to be controversial and decided to eliminate the cause of the controversey.
Personally, I think it would have been more proper for SkyFi Audio to leave the video as-is, acknowledge the hum, then repost a new video using the same cartridge with the hum issue resolved. Or if the hum issue could not be resolved provide an explanation for why it was there. But apparently they've removed the offending section of the original video and in so doing they've taken away the opportunity for everyone to hear when the hum occurs - and in effect removing the controversey. Whether they further edited the audio part of the section of video where the stylus is playing the track of music using audio editing tools (to mitigate the original hum) I don't know. Why they chose to edit the video rather than leave it as-is and whether they further edited the section where the track plays with audio editing tools are questions only SkyFi Audio can answer.
@@DIYerGuyindeed, there was a hum, I noticed it immediately. I guess I'll join the snark club with you. lol
@@DIYerGuy BAM. That sir, is a high quality comment, and the rare one that makes scrolling through comment sections totally worth the time.
Thanks for showcasing the album!
love Technics, the new coreless motors are fantastic
I didn't like the earlier direct-drives, but, to me, with the 1200G, it actually plays music.
Not really core-less, slot-less is more accurate for these motors. Behind the coils is a steel focus plate. Only the G and higher motors are truly core-less and to get decent torque they need two rows of magnets. For these motors to get decent torque, you need the steel focus plate. You can test for the presence of this plate by doing a power off rundown test. 2 minutes for a G, 15 seconds for this motor.
Not silly. You made a good point and provided some valuable information for us consumers of audio and audio gear. Not many of us get a chance to run experiements like this. Thanks!
FINALLY! Someone thinks the way I think and does the experiment I have been waiting for. I have always thought it's ALL ABOUT THE CART and to a lesser extent the synergy between the cart and arm.
That was fun because where else can you see this done?! Thank you for confirming that the cartridge is the sweet spot in turntable setup.❤
I have a 2M Black on my SL1210G - I'm very happy with it, sounds great to me, but I can't lie I'd love to try a cartridge like the one you are using on the SL1510!!!
The important thing about a turntable is that the mechanical noise is minimal. And that it maintains a accurate speed. For example of the Technics sl 1200 Mark II has a rumble figure well below negative 80 decibels. It's significantly quieter than many other turntables. From there you have a good platform to build upon.
I love that you come right out and explain that how important the cartridge is compared to almost everything else. Sidenote: I remember when you demoed the Denon VL12 Prime DJ turntable and many of the comments complained about the tonearm. The VL12 is a fantastic deck; bargain of the century. I don't care if the tonearm looks like it came off a Gemini; it sounds amazing even with a relatively cheap shibata or micro linear cart slapped on it.
I remember that turntable, quite a mediocre arm indeed but with a good cartridge it was impressive what it could do. Thanks for writing sir.
Was it as good or even better than a technics 1200 ? It's on my radar
For DJing it's better than the 1200 MK7, but if you can get an earlier 1200 that's still king. Out of all the newer direct drive DJ decks including the MK7, Reloop, Audio Technical, etc., Denon is the best, even though it's discontinued. (Denon still sells parts and they're surprisingly not too expensive.) The platter is excellent, the motor/speed stability locks better than any of the above. (And I believe it still has the highest torque?) Functionally the tonearm is fine, it's just not quite as pretty or rock solid as a 1200. There are only a few things I would improve; I wish the loud DENON DJ graphics could be peeled off; there's little bit of play in the pitch control at zero; and I'd love to see an upgraded tonearm. But I love mine. I lucked out and grabbed two for less than $400 each. Total steal.@@sbwlearning1372
What was that hum at start of the music? Something with the capture setup? For that price, at least it should be noise and hum free (except for the usual noise from the record itself). And trying to get an idea of that setup over TH-cam compressed audio...
The hum is my fault, so hard to get an analogue signal into a computer without picking up hum. Spent a bunch of time sorting it out, thats the best I could do. It was picking up all sorts of digital iterfearance so the only option was to have a bit of hum
Yeah, I noticed the hum too. Are you sure it wasn't a grounding issue with the turntable/phono pre? Ground loops are a pernicious problem when connecting chains of gear.
There are products that claim to help but I haven't tried anything yet.
I tried every possible combination of grounding. This was the best I could get without inducing a bunch of digital noise. It's quite a tricky setup. Besides this is TH-cam, let's not get too crazy :-).
I don't hear $17,500.00 I hear $400.00
Does that mean you're not interested in buying it? :-). Thanks for writing sir! Stay in touch.
😂
Hey 4vinyl sound, I think you hear 💩.
@@jimrockford3662 Are you saying this $17500 cartridge sounds like poop I'm listening to. I don't think it's that bad maybe worth $400 worth of sound quality.
@@jimrockford3662 If you think that sound is worth more than $17000 then you are really a complete imbecile. And a sucker with a big sign on your forehead.
There was hum before the needle dropped, and the bass sounds bloated. What mics and and audio interface did you use for the recording?
Did you fail to also notice that the video is MONO?
NO HUM UNTIL THE NEEDLE HITS THE RECORD WHAT IS EVERYBODY DEAF?
@@jimbennett2795yes I’m over 60
Another great video...Thanks for doing this one, Fernando! I recently took delivery of a NIB Technics SL-1210GAE 55th Anniversary model...never thought I'd find one at a retail location, but lucked out and snatched it up right away. I was torn between the GAE and VPI's HW-40 direct drive, but I went with the Technics because of the swappable headshells...makes cartridge swapping fun and easy! I think that when we look at whether or not a cartridge is "overkill", rather than dwell on affordability (which is entirely objective as it depends on what the purchaser is comfortable with paying), one has to take into account the music we are playing through the cartridge. For example, I have several MM and MC cartridges...at various price points...and I find that some genres of music and the quality of recording or pressing dictates which cartridge I prefer. Obviously, critical listening on a great pressing matches great on a high-end MC, but I've found that the same MC makes a poorly pressed/recorded record sound worse...for those, a quality MM that still tracks and presents well is better, actually offering a sound that is more pleasing where the MC might come across as too "clinical". Just my $0.02 worth...
Glad you enjoy your SL12010GAE. It's a gorgous machine. I find interesting that you change your cartridge around based on the type of music, that the advantage of the SL-1200 that many overlook. Can you share which cartridge you like for which genre?
@@SkyFiAudio Right now, my favorite MC is my Koetsu Black Goldline. This is the finest cartridge I've ever owned in terms of accuracy, resolution, clarity and separation...and because of this, I tend to use it only on my best vinyl, think of the Analogue Productions pressings of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" or Steely Dan's "Aja". Because these albums are so well recorded, and the pressings are of such high-quality, the Koetsu's revealing nature is put to good use. However, with any material that's not recorded well or pressed poorly, the Koetsu comes off as sterile, too analytical and maybe even "harsh". Here, I prefer my MM cartridges, which don't so much "mask" imperfections, but rather make them far less noticeable. Also, a great vintage MM like a Shure M97xE (mine still has its original stylus), simply sounds better on most of my rock and pop records. It's hard to beat a really good MM for where the emphasis on the music's punch and drive are the main focus, think Led Zepplin, The Who, Daft Punk, etc. For me, it's almost as if my MC carts are too "polite" to rock out...if you know what I mean.
"...lucked out..." Don't you mean 'lucked-in' (unless you have buyer's remorse)? ps I am aware that in certain parts of the world meanings are reversed absolutely.
@wayoutofbounds - Thanks for the insight and would be great to know what other cartridges you’ve had when citing the Koetsu as the finest you’ve owned.
@@wayoutofbounds I've just listened to a new pressing of the black album by Metallica and my original copy of caress of steel by Rush Also fat of the land by the Prodigy .
I used a gold ring elite MC through a Jim Hagerman trumpet MC phono stage which is all valves ( tubes to the Americans)
I have all the punch and power and bass drive I'll ever need. Got around 10 cartridges. Since the Hagerman arrived I've sold all my mm except for a nagaoka mp150 which I essentially used to clean dirty records.
The gold ring is only around 500 new
The valves add magic
What do you mean with this video?
At the end you ask for comments about if we hear any difference?
Any difference compared to what?
Where is the alternative soundclip we should compare with?
What I hear in the soundclip provided is a quite boomy sound lacking transparency and resolution. The performance I hear is not even close to what I expect and demand from any system that claims to provide good sound.
I agree, it's sounds very average to me, heard much better from much less
My opinion it sound like crap. My $49 Sony DVD player blows thus out of the water. Overpriced 🐍 🛢.
It did sound magical. Thank you!
At what price point do we get beyond flawless?
I can't believe there's so many people that have enough time in the day to actually go through and read all the comments and comment on the comments LOL.
I wish you did a comparison to something like an Ortofon black. It would help to highlight how special this cartridge is.
$17,500 and you get a nice low level 60hz hum in the audio. This would be a MASSIVE fail for an $80 setup. Completely unacceptable and I don't know why the OP would just let that slide and not say anything about it. Did they honestly think no one would notice?
Feeding a low voltage analogue source into a computer with no noise is not an easy task. I spent quite a bit of time and effort minimizing the hum. Sorry it didn't meet your standards but as we all know, critically auditioning anything over TH-cam leaves a lot to be desired and I would not take it too seriously. This is more for entertainment than science.
@@SkyFiAudio So, how do you explain the vast number of other people that do this everyday without issue? You either have a grounding problem or a bad cartridge.
Let me reiterate the point here; you're showcasing a twenty thousand dollar cartridge and you can't even get clean audio out of it? One would think you'd want nothing but perfection in the video.
If I wasn't able to get the audio perfect, I wouldn't even have uploaded this because, at this point, what are you even proving other than justification for people to laugh at expensive products like this?
No, honestly, what did you just prove, besides that fact you have no clue of what you're doing or saying?
Stunning sound. I mean the clarity and depth. I’m hearing detail I didn’t hear before! Thanks man!❤
Pimp my Technics...🙂
Joking apart...right up there with the very best bass I've ever heard on TH-cam
Hey mate, thanks for the feedback, glad you liked it.
The sound was great ! I did hear a low-level 60Hz hum before the stylus hit the music's beginning . I agree with your price ratio , but wouldn't rule out a One to one turntable / cartridge cost .
WRONG TRY AGAIN!
I came here for the hum comments. While I appreciate the video, no one is going to take a sound clip video seriously, if you aren’t knowledgeable or serious enough to take care of that 60 cycle hum. Also, in the future, if you want to highlight the sound of a cartridge, give us another cartridge to compare it to so we can hear the difference. Best of luck.
Agreed, I should have played another cartridge. Next time.
Great video. Amazing work. Hi I live in Prague and I could get a 1200GR or a 1500 for same price, which one is best sounding?
I tell you now from someone who does electronics hifi is the biggest rip off going and believe me it is. 17,000 for a needle with the pops and crack to go with it. Play the cd version for less and get more detail. I repaired amps,cd players, etc and believe me these high ends use most of the same components to standard hifi. I seen cd players at £500 beat cd players at £5000 range. Put the stuff on an oscilloscope and your see it’s all a rip off. I’m not saying cheap is just as good, but you spend a reasonable amount of money then you got a good system. I repair lots of stuff and seen it all and it’s a joke what people pay for something that is no better than something less the half the price.
Actually, this pickup will produce LESS surface noise due to the extreme fine line contact stylus assembly. The line contact stylus scans a much longer area of the groove wall, so little bits of dust and gunk in the grooves scan at much lower volume. I owned the predecessor to this pickup, the Clearaudio Insider Wood Reference, which is absolutely the best pickup in my experience. A pickup like this demands to be used with the best turntable/arm combination. I was using an SME 20/SME V combination and it was ideal, the mass of the arm matched the compliance of the pickup perfectly. The turntable itself had the best isolation in my experience. The tracking force was higher than typical, which was compensated by the stylus shape, so record wear was not a problem. I'm completely out of analog at this point, but as I understand it the Goldfinger is a further refinement from the Insider. You also need an audio system that's capable of resolving the performance from a pickup like this.
My vinyl b a r e l y has any surface noise. Are you happy with listening CD’s. Does that make you happy? Well I am honestly happy with you. Then why the Effemm do you feel the urge to spend time coming here to put down how other people choose to enjoy their music. So you must not be that happy with your CD’s. I mean to feel the need to be here putting down other people ‘s choices. Or,,,,, or you simply are a bully . A bully is a coward, a fascist , an intolerant coward psychopath with a small dick. Thank you. Have a nice day.
You are absolutely right and I confirm everything you wrote... Just the other day I was at a Hi-fi repairer in my city here in Italy and he was repairing a McIntosh CD player of which I don't remember the model precisely but certainly of high range high...He showed me the reading mechanism...It was a very simple cheap Philips mechanism and the repairman himself told me that those devices have a great name but they are not eternal and as you rightly said they are built with standard components... THEY ARE LUXURY OBJECTS AND PRICES LIKE LUXURY OBJECTS.!!!
Amen!
@@alanl2550 👏🎼🎼🎼🏆🏆🏆👽😅😱😱🏆👏👏🎼🏆🍓🍓🍓🎼👏🎼🏆👏👏🎼🏆🤣🤣🤣🤣👏🎼🤣🤣🤣
Even through TH-cam and my small office system, it sounds great. A large part of that is the quality of the recording. I may pick up that album.
Thanks for posting this video. Obviously, that cartridge is way out of my league. I was surprised that you characterized the TT as entry but robust since it’s something much more than I would paid ever. I won’t comment on the sound quality but I’ll say there are still a little snap crackle and pop about two third into the track and make me feel awfully good on what I already have - Fluence RT-85 with DL-110 and tube phono pre. My day to day work horse is the old beater SL-J11D (my budget Technics) with Grado Black and a ChiFi tube pre. Just did a speed calibration yesterday. I am sure streaming from uTube doesn’t justify the caliber but again it’s so fun to listen to it and listen and admire from afar like checking out a Ferrari when I am driving a Subi. Thanks again!😂. I do like to see the cartridges mounted on a Marantz TT 15S1 ‘cause that is one of the most aesthetically pleasing gear to me. Cheers!
I'm glad you recognize this video is intended for entertainment more than critical listening. You've assembled a really nice rig as described above I bet it sounds stellar. Agreed the 15s1 is a good looking table and well made.
What was the humming noise from when put the cartridge down in the record groove ? Inquiring minding would like to know ?
@@robertthurston6858I wondered that too.
I swear, one minute after the stylus hit the record, I said out loud, "Gorgeous!"🤩
Can you help me out here? What are WE listening to off of the TH-cam limitations? Do you have the pre-outs plugged into the camera/recording rig? Most others have their room acoustics involved, and that NEVER helps! Thank you! ~Dave Smith, a suburb of Chicago.
I hate all those little clicks, thank you for reminding me how much better a CD player I pulled out of the trash sounds.
you shouldn't watch turntable demonstration videos if they are going to trigger you like this.
Pure copium. Enjoy your flat, lifeless, unalive'd sound.
@@thomosburn8740 There shouldn't be all these clicks on a brand new pressing...
Ignorance is bliss.
You probably eat hot dogs, too...
What a great experience, my father always told me your advice about the importance of the cartridge and phonostage while the turntable itself just needs to be accurate (he was a big fan of Edgar Villchur and his AR XA turntable). Nevertheless, I went on this big journey, spending a lot of money, and at the end of it all, learnt my lesson. Thanks for endorsing this philosophy which will guide others not to make the same mistake that I made.
Glad you got some value out of this Ruben.
Overkill. Waist of money. Sound can only be so good then becomes a financial addict.
Do they need a gold body and diamond?
The 1500c has a great arm and motor plus metal plinth top. Extremely solid.
I hear the rip in mono? Was the LP recorded in mono? The intro with Fernando speaking is normal stereo.
Not sure what you mean, I recorded myself in mono and the record on stereo. Must be the internet getting in the way. Cheers. sir.
@@SkyFiAudioThe music definitely sounds mono Fernando, especially when you hear the pops/clicks exactly in the middle.
Incredible, simply incredible. I've NEVER heard a record sound so good whilst playing TH-cam in the shower. My jaw dropped. Album downloaded on Tidal, liked and subscribed 🤗 Thank you sir 👍
Why didn’t you run some tests by digitizing the signal using the expensive and the stock cartridge and then see if there is any actual difference in frequency response, dynamic range and signal to noise ratio ? You can do meaningful tests even in Audacity if you want.
A $500.00 cartridge with a $17,000.00 diamond attatched to it must sound amazing.
Is the Mytek being used as the phono preamp? And if so, are you running it with the internal SMPS or are you using an external 12v LPS/battery?
Would this work on my Crossley Voyager vinyls player?
Not without the adapter kit for a paltry sum of $2500.00.
Nice smooth creamy sound. Quiet record surface....what does this sound like on a cart that most people are going to use??
It would be interesting to compare the results of this with the sanme turntable/arm using a modest Denon DL 103.
I have this turntable and love it. I recently retired and decided to recommission my vinyl collection that's been stored in the attic for the past 35 years. I don't intend to buy any new vinyl but just wanted to access my large vinyl collection every know and again. It's a great value turntable and does a terrific job although I must admit I just cannot be bothered with all the faffing around and hassle associated with vinyl- it's just to labour intensive compared to digital.
I am using it on very rare occasions!
Nice detail and clear highs. How do the inner tracks sound, I wonder. $17,500 wow. I’d be scared to breathe near it.
Remarkable. Turntables amaze me with their primitive mode of operation, yet have stellar tonality and air.
Must be the pattern buffers.
@SkyFiAudio
Fernando, other than introducing your viewers to great new music that they might not have been aware of otherwise, I'm struggling to understand the usefulness or goal of this video???
Side note: At the beginning of the video did you address your audience and viewers as, "Hey CHANNEL..."?
1. As several others noted, and you confirmed in a comment, there was a consistently audible low-level mechanical hum/vibration during playback of the vinyl (not an Electrical "60Hz hum"/ground loop, etc.).
2. Either your Capture of the audio or the Upload to TH-cam was in MONO! :/ I would be interested to know what your signal chain was for this particular "vinyl rip"? Was it the phono preamp output from the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge fed into the line-level inputs of the cheap $69 M-Audio M-Track Duo USB audio interface??? :/
3. The background noise floor as well as the vinyl surface noise of this brand new vinyl LP were both quite high and distracting. :(
4. After the end of the playback of the track, you asked your viewers/listeners, "...did you hear a difference?" However, you didn't provide any type of REFERENCE for comparison. So, a "difference" as compared to WHAT? Without a Reference, there is no baseline for comparison in order to determine "a difference". You also provided no details as to the signal chain that was used to capture this vinyl rip, so again, it's impossible for your listeners to derive any type of apples-to-apples differences or a real-world comparison.
I perform my own digital vinyl rips using very modest gear from both "normal" and high-quality vinyl pressings that IMO sound vastly superior to this example, even if I output or convert the lossless 24/96 WAV files as 192kbps MP3 or AAC to approximate TH-cam's Lossy compression codec.
In reference to # 3 above, although I'm an avid vinyl enthusiast, I'd much rather listen to this particular recording in its native 24/96 digital recording format that was used to cut the lacquer for the vinyl release. ;)
And while I am in full agreement that the cartridge/stylus and its proper setup/tracking is THE most important element of any turntable as it is the direct electromechanical interface between you and the music (just as the quality of the microphones & microphone preamps that are used to capture the original recording, as well as the loudspeakers & acoustic environment that are used to listen to the playback of the recording), IMPO, this cart needs A MUCH LARGER DIAMOND mounted to its forehead in order for it to be worth that asking price. :-P
The addition of the diamond for purely aesthetic/cosmetic purposes IMO is simply ridiculous and "cheesy" for lack of a better word. The use of the gold housing also seem dubious, though it may provide better anti-resonance/damping properties from external acoustic sources. I haven't read the "white paper" for this cartridge, so IDK.
FWIW, my advice when trying to showcase the Sound Quality or any DIFFERENCES in the perceived audio quality of any type of component(s) are to:
# 1. Capture the audio as accurately as possible. I would look into acquiring a Tascam DA-3000 mastering recorder in order to capture the output directly from your best phono preamp using 24-bit PCM or DSD if preferred. They can be found on eBay at reasonable prices. FYI, this is what reknowned recording and mastering engineer Kevin Gray uses for digital masters/archiving, including being used as the playback source to record cutting lathes.
# 2. Provide the original Digital File, or at least some other cartridge or component as a comparative REFERENCE to what you are trying to showcase.
# 3. Upload all of the original captured lossless files for download by your viewers/listeners via a cloud storage file server for direct comparison in their own systems in order to eliminate the Lossy compression/artifacts/limitations of listening over TH-cam (preferably using Foobar2000 to play all of the lossless files randomly via its companion "A/B/X Comparator" Plugin).
# 4. Upload and provide all of the different files as only being labelled as "A", "B", "C", etcetera, so none of your viewers/listeners know which file they are listening to...until you reveal which was which at a predetermined later date, so that it is a completely 100% UNSIGHTED listening test, a.k.a. "blind test" which eliminates all expectation and confirmation bias due to price, brand prestige, personal preference/association, etc.
Refer to:
"Audio Musings by Sean Olive - The Dishonesty of Sighted Listening Tests" (sean.olive.blogspot.2009.04)
sounds great , i also want to record my vinyl with my android smartphone, wich equipment/ cables do i nee to record my vinyl sound from the hifi setup?thanks!
When we were selling audio in the mid '80s, it was commonly viewed that phono cartridges and speakers had the most impact on sound (read as colored the sound most) much, much more than any other choice made. Still.... I have to believe, that the perceived quality and accuracy of this cartridge FAR exceeds the cost and quality of the cutting lathe. So what does it mean to have something "way more accurate" than the thing that created the given LP in the first place?
Would the Ortofon 2M black work well with this turntable
Very nice!
The sound is very natural, and palpable. Maybe I missed your mention of it…if you don’t mind, what is the rest of the system?
This was really a good demo idea and the recommendations at the end of the video makes absolute sense. I have been playing turntables, tonearms and cartridges for the last 50 years, and have concluded there is no universal combination. The cartridge-turntable-tonearm combination is an endless abyss of experimentation and changes with maturity. I mainly listen to Rock, Jazz and Classical and my preference for a singular c-t-t is nowhere near an end. The thing to remember here is to set up any cartridge the best that you can and if you can't, PAY SOMEBODY to do it for you. The turntable makes the least difference but the cartridge and tonearm combination is most important as that's where the real adjustments become critical, and can make an inexpensive cartridge sound better than one costing ten times it's price. As an aside, spend the money on the best record cleaning system you can afford, because that's where it all begins and provides the ultimate satisfaction. Anyway that was an excellent record and just note how CLEAN it was. Bob Ludwig has retired ... I already miss him.
Hey Fernando, still digging my LP 12 with the Starling Cartridge (by the way) ironic that I’m listening to this video through the speaker of my iPad….gonna have to watch again on my Yamaha home theatre…Btw, I have the Technics SL 1300, what cart would you recommend For this one Ortofon Black maybe?
Hey mate, glad you're still using it, great table. Yes Ortofon Black or Sumiko Blue Point No. 3.
Thanks , I’ll give em a try
I'd be more interested in, as a beginner, whether it would be worth upgrading to a $1000 (AUD) cartridge on a $800 turntable that comes standard with a $300 cartridge? Namely the Ortofon 2M Black cartridge on a Fluance RT85, that usually has a 2M Blue. Or is it better to just upgrade the whole turntable to something around the $2k mark?
No A/B test? Are we concerned that it's not going to be a big enough difference?
I am just wondering If this will sound just as good on My Technics SL1210mk2 with the Nagaoka MP150 cart, through a Schiit Mani 2 (Phono Stage)?. I need to get a copy now. This cart Is brilliant sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
The main sound difference I have found on where the magic happens is a moving coil Phono cartridge and the Phono preamp.
You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to have high quality sound, because the returs will be minimal to none.
It also depends on the synergy of your equipment. I heard my cousin's friend system, consisting of an old Sherwood S-8000 tube receiver, a pair of Quads 57, a REL T/7x Subwoofer, a Fluance turntable with a Signet Moving coil cartridge and a Parasound Zphono preamp and it sounded to me like what perfection suppose to sound for my ears. The thing is that I don't know how good it would sound on my living room, as it all comes to synergy.
I would like to hear the cartridge through my SME series 3 arm on my Pink Triangle PTOO.
Hi. Do you know where I can find supplier for the control chip in the Technics SP-15? Thoughts? Thank you!
If you break the cantilever can you send it back for repair?🥺😫
This isn't a *mono* cartridge is it? Why didn't you capture it in stereo? Despite compression losses through TH-cam I feel like this could've sounded a LOT better. 🤔
Someone else already pointed out the 60hz hum. I just wanted to add though, this record is supposed to be stereo. Your sound sample however, sounds like a mono fold-down. There is zero separation.
hola Fer, never have felt the 'urge' of going beyond, say, a Nagaoka 500. But I do now wonder if instead of breaking the bank for a new TT or other things in the chain, well, to follow your advice and really find the best MM one I can find. Pondering pondering pondering
FYI, The Goldfinger weighing in at 16g total and being made of 14 Karat gold is going to have less than $580 worth of Gold on it. The diamond isn't flawless or anything either. It's safe to assume that there's less than $1K in luxury materials cost. What you're paying for is the added value of the design of the piece, they stylus etc, more than the materials themselves.
I’ve a very simple system I love, KEF LS50 Meta’s connected to a Bluesound Powernode with Chord speaker cables. Total cost around 2k
I'm a musician (1967), music producer (1975) and owner of labels since 1977 (moved to CD's in 1985) but I never stopped pressing vinyl. First, this is a great record and appreciate SkyFiAudio for showcasing it. Being involved in all phases of audio from recording to mastering to plating, pressing, etc., every step is critical including mic placement for a great recording. The recording is wonderful and the mastering is exquisite. Just listening on my earbuds and computer speakers is wonderful and if I can hear the soundstage and nuances on this, I can only imagine what it would sound like on my system. By the way I think speakers are another critical aspect of great sound reproduction. Mine are 3 way (2 - paper cone speakers for low and mids) and 1 small folded horn for the highs. They have active crossovers with knobs, not microswitches so I can fully tune to room and to my liking. Would never spend this much on a cartridge, but will be dropping coin for the LP. Thanks.
I have a question for you sir. I have bought and experienced early CD players from Sony and Phillip and to me they sound like crap, not even close to the newer CD players.
**How people, especially Audiophiles accepted this CD players that sound flat and bland, insteady of the great sounding Analog equipment of those days like Turntables, Reel to reels and highend cassette decks?!!
@@TravelandAudio- First, all audio playback mediums have their own advantages, disadvantages and limitations. When CD's first came out there were challenges. The Engineers needed to learn how to record digital sound properly. The sound scape and dynamic range is totally different with digital. Some learned a little faster and people like me had a longer time to adjust. EX: I finished up mixing a project and months later, I return to the studio and go... "what happened to the mixing board?" Engineer pointed to a computer screen and say there. My first intro to Pro-Tools. NOTE: Another thing is when major labels pulled Master tapes of previously recorded material that were mixed for analog's limits, they didn't remix them and just issued out on binary code. The low end was almost non-existant and the highs were so shrill and offense for me when they did this. It was more the fault of the CD mastering than the players but players had their own issues when sampling rates were not uniform. They sounded like crap for a reason. The lack of mid-range is what bothers me the most in modern recordings. As to why it was so acceptable? I have no idea.
@@cguzelli1Thank You Sir for your very knowledgeable answer. I’m not an audiophile, but an audio freak! 😅
I love to experience vintage and modern equipment, my house these days looks like a museum or audio store.
I admire how fantastic vintage audio equipment sounds, as my first impression was that it would sound primitive, but I was amazed at how great it sounds. My only and biggest disappointment has only been Early CD players!
how much should I spend if I find sony t n 77 es?, I hope you have done a video on that?
Is it not defeating the object playing it on a mid range turntable /arm?
Why? If the mass is correct, resonance freq of the cart + arm is correct, there is nothing wrong with it - except what the listeren feels about such combination. In the end price is relative, I bet it costs way below $1k to build such a cartridge but there is a massive "TOTL tax" on hi-end gear.
Interesting exercise but it's really impossible to get a clear audio picture of what's going on in this format. TH-cam audio compression, the quality of the internet connection, and the speakers in the laptop all sort of serve to wash away any kind of real information. Maybe putting two Technics decks side by side with a $300 cartridge in one and this 17K one on another and switching between 15-second clips of the same disc would bring out the differences. Actually, now that I think about it maybe getting staff together and having them blind listen and then record their reactions and thoughts might give us the most information. There is always a good amount of subjectivity in listening so an aggregate collection of experienced listeners could yield the most amount of valuable info. One of course risks having a cheaper option win and then undercutting your market for higher end cartridges too.
Fernando where are u Jersey Shore that water looks nice in background
Im Miami for the winter, sure is nice here. Also get lots of nice natural light for the videos. Thanks for writing sir.
Very unique demo……waaaay over the top cartridge, but probably elevated the tables ability to the max. Have a Rega P9 running Clearaudio Maestro MM cartridge and really enjoy it. My vintage Luxman PD 272 has a Shure V15 cartridge Awesome fun. Love this hobby
I've got that same turntable, I suggest the audiotechnica vm540 at around 250$. It sounds way better than the ortofon red and blue that I had previously tried. Can't imagine the Sl1500c play any better (Yamaha AS2100 and Klipsch Rf-7III complete the set)
4:45 what's that hum?
Grounding the table made the hum worse and brought in a bunch of digital noise. If anyone can suggest to feed a turntable quietly into a computer input I'm all ears!
@@SkyFiAudio the sl-1500c has a nice build-in phono pre with line signal out - did you use that? that one is dead quiet.
@@SkyFiAudioyes, use a proper studio quality audio interface. There’s a million of them. I don’t know what you are using, but if you can’t solve a simple hum problem, maybe you’re not ready to make a video about a $17k cartridge.
Zenith 2G Turntables play quite good, if you set up the tone arm right.
I love your videos and the recent 1200g was my favorite.....
Do you have plans to review the 1200gr2.....perhaps with an Ortofon 2M-Black?
Thanks!
I can't really evaluate the equipment. I like the TT. I have an original unmodified LP12 with an Ortofon OM10.The album was impeccably recorded but to me overly smooth. Musically, now, after a few minutes, I can't recall any of it. Very lounge. I'd suggest that the works of the cartridge would work just as well in another well engineered body, at a fraction of the cost.
2.8g tracking force seems to be on the high side. Wouldn't this lead to more record wear?
Seems high to me too.
Depends on the stylus and setup, 2.8 isn't THAT extreme but feels quite high for such a high end cart, IIRC Van Den Hul carts track at around 1-1.3g.
Sounds fantastic. I have an SL1500C with a VM750SH, very nice combo!
The $17,000.00 diamond sounds so nice through every note of the music.
I would have used the 17000 ekstra on the room… also.. i love playing vinyl! But i feel it is too much possible loss.. what if the production machine cost less than this picup ..😅 and then the insane need for clean record..?
Thank you for sharing this very fine music! I got lost in a wonderful dreamy trance of wellbeing..
Fascinating and a very good demonstration. I also own a Technics SP-25 broadcast turntable, which is basically a beefed up 1200 and partnered this with an Origin Live silver mark iv arm, but I'm now realising my cartridge selection (Ortofon 2M blue, Goldring E4 and Nagaoka MP110) are way below the quality that could be achieved. The sound of the Clearaudio Goldfinger was so good, especially in the bass, amazing it could perform so well on the Technics deck. I can't imagine spending that sort of money though, thanks for recommending the sweet spot of cartridge selection for each deck, very useful info. Enjoyed the video, now subscribed.