Article: Meet The Audiophile Style Community | Volume 13

[StephenJK]

I apologize for not having replied to these comments sooner - for some reason Outlook was blocking mail from this site.  The stereo is more or less the same but there was a plan to make a couple of improvements - those are now done. 

 

This is the living room of our downsized home in the burbs.  I tore out the old oak strip flooring, installed new pre-finished white oak, painted the room, installed valence lights, ran a CAT5 cable down to the fiber hub and replaced the laptop with an Intel NUC that is running Roon with their Roon Optimized Core Server (ROCK).

 

The valence lights are a funny story.  The house was built in 1963, and a switch was installed to a pancake box that was spotted up in the picture window valence.  Lights were never installed because in those days people installed sheers and drapes on the ceiling, leaving no room for the lights.  For over fifty years people have puzzled over what that extra switch was for.  I installed blinds with the rail supported from the wall and dimmable LED's - it works great.  

 

As you can see, the little table is gone, the extra chairs are stored away and this is the "final" configuration.  

 

Edit:  How could I forget the Gaia II footers on the speakers - major improvement in bass response and delivery.

[StephenJK]

On 12/15/2020 at 12:39 PM, Confused said:

This was a particularly interesting one for me.  🙂

 

Firstly, I too have the Blade / Devialet combination here in the UK.  Secondly, I have a brother who lives in Toronto.  

 

It's a small world, as they say.  I tried a lot of amps with the Blades before deciding to get my first Devialet.  For what it's worth, I was not particularly taken by Devialet's "chrome pizza box" looks or it's all in one functionality, but I bought one anyway because I could not find anything that sounded better with the Blades for similar money.

 

@StephenJK - You mention an issue regarding recording LP's, I presume this is solved now as you mention this in the past tense?  I am only asking because this should be reasonably easy to do with the Devialet, so I guess I am slightly curious as to what the issue might have been.

 

A nice system, although the Eligin & Winter Garden is something else, I have to say!

 

The issue with recording LPs ended up with discovering that the USB connection to the Devialet Master monoblock is bi-directional.  In other words, as you play a record the analog input is digitized and then has the RIAA equalization and cartridge loading done in the digital domain.  That signal that is then passed along to the DAC for output to the speakers is also available on the USB cable as an input to a computer.  

 

I continue to use VinylStudio, but now instead of a digital recorder can record directly to the hard drive of a laptop.  It's a bit clumsier than using the digital recorder, but with over 1,500 LPs recorded I just don't have that many left to do.

[StephenJK]

On 12/11/2020 at 7:38 PM, Rexp said:

I see you still have your turntable ( what is it btw?) in pride of place. Does that mean you still prefer to play a record rather than the needle drop? 

Turntable is a Clearaudio Innovation Compact with the Universal tonearm, VTA lifter and a Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua cartridge.  Without a doubt the best sound I have ever had from a turntable/cartridge combination.  

 

I still enjoy playing LPs, but the goal was to digitize them so that they would sound the same in the analog or digital world.  The LPs were recorded at 1 bit, 5.66 MHz, converted to 24/96 FLAC, mastered and saved in that final format.  I tested recordings with 24/192 but really couldn't hear any difference between that and 24/96.  

 

Of course, a lousy LP sounds poor regardless.  The LPs I had the worst luck with were the mono Classical and Opera titles.  A lot were thrown away.  Oh, and the frustration with everything more or less OK until side 5 and then disaster.  The software I use, VinylStudio can handle clicks, pops and scratches but the LPs played on that old console stereo with the ceramic needle - those cause a lot of damage that makes the record unplayable.  

[StephenJK]

On 12/12/2020 at 11:48 AM, LoryWiv said:

Beautiful set up. Framed "Blues For Allah" cover is a very nice touch!

That is a limited art print by Philip Garris that was used as the cover art for Blues for Allah. 
 

I bought that from an ad in Rolling Stone back in the late 70’s. It’s been reframed a couple of times, and is due for a change.