If it were me, I’d say the Fluance was a better option vs the Rega P2, it’s built stateside so you’re getting a lot more for the equivalent cash. They’ve got very good reviews all round, newcomer, but not messing around.
I would also say the Schiit Mani is a very budget option, the separation of PSU in the Vincent is a much more attractive proposal IMHO.
Phono stage is incredibly important, it’s not something to overlook and just grab anything, it does influence the overall cleanliness of the signal reaching the amp.
I’m like you though, a bit of colouration doesn’t bother me at all, and in fact, after being recommended flat and accurate sound when I started out, after a few years of experiencing that, I’ve found that colour is in fact what I’m after, a warmer, more romantic presentation.
My vote too would be for the Fluance. I have owned a Rega P3 and was not a fan at all. Far better cartridge involved too. Don’t know if you have read Fremer’s positive review .
Seems you have landed. The Fluance is a strong package for a starter with no fuss, no muss. Free returns, sign up for the news letter on line and save an additional $10.
Regarding the Vincent, your Hegel 90 already leans to the warm side of neutral (slightly). I know this as I listened to it within the last 3 weeks, bought the Hegel 120 for my den. I’d take a pass on the Vincent, as the colored sound will never give you a true indication of the potential of vinyl. To economize, buy the Schitt! My thought is the Vincent is a false economy. For Ultimate performance within your budget that Musical Surroundings Phonomena II stage can’t be beat. If you change your mind on the Phonomena you won’t take a haircut on it.
Now your challenge is to find a location for that turntable. An economical choice may be an Ikea Kallax, as it will support your turntable and hold your new record collection.
I have a few Kallax shelf units and they are an incredible bargain for the price. Very easy to assemble too. It is amazing how strong and sturdy they are for LP storage considering they are fairly light. I am not sure I would use one for a turntable though. I would prefer something more stable and less prone to vibration.
The Kallax loaded up with LPs will get you by. A wall mounted turntable shelf would be ideal For an entry level turntable the Kallax should be just fine.
Alas, I have a mere 20” of width to spare for a table. I actually have one, it’s black and looks quite nice.
While the Fluance RT85 appears the way to go there is one small wrinkle, they are sold out of bamboo and walnut, only having black in stock. The bamboo says in stock by April 30. The walnut makes no mention of when it will return. I prefer one of the wood veneers, particularly walnut. Andrew Robinson said the piano black is not well executed. I’ll wait a bit to see if my preferred finishes return.
In the meantime, can explore phono preamps. Do I understand correctly that the Schiit Mani is not great? The Vincent seems good. A guy on Amazon who owned both the Mani and the Vincent Pho-8 said the one below is way better than either. Thoughts?
For decades, my benchmark for comparison was the old Proprius release of Christmas music, “Cantate Domino,” particularly the massed voices in the “Julsang” track on side two. On my system the LP sounded consistently more “real.” But over the intervening years, not only has digital playback narrowed that gap when playing the first CD release, the gap has been virtually eliminated when using the SACD release.
These days the comparison I use is the old original David Grisman Quintet LP from the late ‘70s, on Kaleidoscope records, with Tony Rice on guitar. The CD sounds extremely good, but there’s an added measure of realism in the LP. It mostly makes itself known in the aural textures of the instruments. It’s subtle but definitely discernible. Like you can “hear” the wood.
That album is interesting in that at the time of its release, TAS just raved about it, and while I thought it sounded very good, I didn’t hear what made it so outstanding. I think the difference between what I heard then and now must be down to the improved resolving power of my equipment today, compared to that first decent system I had back then, in ‘79-‘80 (Denon tt with an Infinity Black Widow arm and Sonus Gold/Blue cart; Apt Holman preamp; GAS Son of Ampzilla; Maggie MG1s).
Second things first, I have no way to rip SACD, so I can’t answer that question. As to the first question, I think SACD has the potential to better CD in sound, and to equal vinyl in sound, and better it in convenience, durability and quality of physical media (no more out-of-round pressings, warps, skips, tics and pops), not to mention the complete removal of a whole raft of other variables that can color playback ('table, arm, cartridge, preamp, step-up devices, VTA, azimuth, tracking force, antiskate, etc.). But I’ll say the same thing about absolutes that I always do - there are none. I have examples of each type of media that outshine the others. Sound quality depends on so much more than just the method of recording and playback.
I have the Lounge Audio phono stage that you posted. I have owned it for several years and have been very pleased with it. This year I had Robert (the guy who actually builds them) upgrade mine to the gold version. I did not need the headphone amp it comes with the gold upgrade, so he made some internal improvements and a mono switch to offset the difference in cost. He is a great guy to work with. We traded some emails and talked on the phone too. It was a pleasure having that kind of one-on-one service with the developer.
The standard version would be fine with an entry level setup. If you decide to upgrade your system later, then you could upgrade the phono stage at the same time like I did.
I’ll jump in here to agree, to some extent, on SACD. I don’t like to think of it as an alternative for vinyl, though. More like something that’s ideal for one thing whereas vinyl is ideal for something else.
#mandatorybanality Both SACD and vinyl have their strengths and weaknesses.
For classical music I go for SACD whenever available. For jazz and prog I prefer vinyl but that may be to a large extent an emotional rather than rational choice.
The purity and clarity of SACD with the dynamic range and the lack of surface noise in quiet parts is unbeatable for classical. Just struggled to listen to some Decca SXLs a while ago and it was really hard to get a good sound out of them. I wonder what people got out of them in the 1960’s equipment.
Modern CDs can sound quite good but IMHO, SACD is well ahead.
I would agree wholeheartedly if, as I said, we’re talking about the potential of the format. Practice is another thing, however. I certainly have many SACDs in my library that sound better than CDs, but I also have more than a few CDs that sound better than SACDs. That’s what prevents me from making statements like “SACD is always better.” I have evidence it isn’t always true.
They should both have the same resolution, so it will depend on the quality of your playback component. The same applies to vinyl playback, the better your turntable, cartilage, and phono stage, the better the sound playing the same record.
Back to the topic, I wouldn’t get into vinyl if I already have a really high performing digital system unless I plan to spend a lot to get a high quality analog rig. There is also the cost of good vinyl recordings. Then It can outperform your digital rig and hold your interest. Otherwise you will just get bore and you will just waste your time and money with a entry level vinyl system.
It don’t necessary have to outperform my digital but close enough to keep my interest. I usually listen to what excites me and vinyl has to reach a certain level before I find it involving and entry level is not it, especially when my digital is at a pretty high level.
