What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

[Holden]

With good Mahler symphony recordings I end up at 71-72 dB average to hear the softest parts. Peaks at 105-107 dB, uha. That's on my main stereo of course.

Today I received a Sennheiser new cable for my 30 year old HD 580 Precision headphones. They are still very nice driven by the excellent little  USB powered Topping DX1. Great home office setup.

Did you get a shorter cable like I did for my 580s? The originals were just too long.

I agree that even compared with the latest headphones around for the price today these are still outstanding cans.

[Atriod]

I have a Roon Nucleus Plus and like it very much. I got sick and tired of problems with both a MacBook Pro a a Windows based laptop, so I was happy to switch to a streamer. Roon's software has a fairly steep learning curve, and I still prefer the library management of the software I used with my laptops (Audirvrana and JRiver), but I have come to terms with it and made it more workable. (I won't bore people with the issues and solutions!) Once I got used to it, Roon's software is pretty amazing.

I would love to read more about what you thought about Roon and how you use it. I am using JRiver because after years I have it configured very well to work with classical but it's quite a dated looking app and its networking/hardware streamer use sucks compared to Roon.

[Bachtoven]

I would love to read more about what you thought about Roon and how you use it. I am using JRiver because after years I have it configured very well to work with classical but it's quite a dated looking app and its networking/hardware streamer use sucks compared to Roon.

The only aspect of Roon I dislike is its playlist format. With JRiver, I could create playlists by historical eras (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary) or whatever I chose to title them. It would display the cover, but the individual tracks were not visible until I clicked on the cover image. With Roon's user-created playlists, all of the tracks are in a vertical list under the album's cover image, and since some recordings have literally hundreds of tracks, and some playlists have hundreds of albums, I'd have to plow through maybe a thousand or more tracks to get to the recording I want. So, with Roon, a work around is to use its bookmark tool. I can title it whatever I want, and as long as a recording contains that word, then it groups them together and like with JR, the individual tracks only appear once I click on the cover image. Instead of historical eras, I created one for guitar, piano, symphony, sonata, trio, quartet, quintet, concerto, etc. If the key word does not appear in the title, then I can edit the name and add it. I also created a separate bookmark for my Qobuz files and my downloaded files. Otherwise, if I want to view my entire library, I'd have to scroll through nearly 5,000 albums! Roon allows sorting by all sorts of criteria, including recording resolution! So, once one gets familiar with its possibilities, it's quite an impressive program. With JR I often found myself gravitating toward the same historical era fairly often, so having them sorted by my two favorite solo instruments and musical forms instead, I tend  to explore  more of the recordings I have. Another plus is since it's Linux based, there are no drivers, which caused me no end of headaches with my HP laptop.

If I haven't addressed any particular question you have about Roon, don't hesitate to ask.

[Valentino]

Did you get a shorter cable like I did for my 580s? The originals were just too long.

The original ones were fine I think for lounge listening, and about twice as long as necessary for my desktop setup, where a spiral type cable works better. I ended up buying the standard type and length (for 600, 650 etc, they use the same plugs as the 580) from Sennheiser anyway. They were € 15 delivered and also sturdier than the ones from 1994.

[Irons]

I made myself a mono cartridge!

It's actually a stereo Audio-Technica VM510CB, I just latched the channels together. Audio-Technica sells a premade one called VM610MONO.
(Spinning here is Tchaikovsky PC1 with Richter, Czech Philh. and Ancerl, recorded 1954, reissue from 1966.)

Has this resulted in less audible surface noise?

[Irons]

Cambridge Audio AX R85 PD
No. I haven't rigged up the antenna yet.
 

Nice clean lines. Phono stage included, so Jeffrey you have no excuse not to........

[Harry]

In Roon's library you cannot alphabetically arrange your CD's. Roon does that for you, and picks the first word that appears on the artwork of the CD, so to give an example, The Organ works of Buxtehude, you may find it on The, or Organ, or works, or collected, or Buxtehude, one never knows. That's the only irritating annoyance that bugs me, for  it takes me a long time before I find the recording, and that irks me no end. The rest works as a charm.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

In Roon's library you cannot alphabetically arrange your CD's. Roon does that for you, and picks the first word that appears on the artwork of the CD, so to give an example, The Organ works of Buxtehude, you may find it on The, or Organ, or works, or collected, or Buxtehude, one never knows. That's the only irritating annoyance that bugs me, for  it takes me a long time before I find the recording, and that irks me no end. The rest works as a charm.

Can you type in and sort by composer?  Or just type in Buxtehude or the performer's name, etc., and filter those ways?

PD

[Harry]

Can you type in and sort by composer?  Or just type in Buxtehude or the performer's name, etc., and filter those ways?

PD

Nope!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Nope!

That would drive me nuts!  So, you have no options other than remembering the exact title of an album or trying various iterations?

PD

[Harry]

That would drive me nuts!  So, you have no options other than remembering the exact title of an album or trying various iterations?

PD

Correct!

[Valentino]

Has this resulted in less audible surface noise?

Yes. I estimate pops and ticks are 12 dB down or so compared to running it unstrapped. Mind you I do not have a mono switch, and this cart is for my mono vinyl only. AT also have the more expensive VM610MONO which is strapped internally. That seems to be the only difference.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yes. I estimate pops and ticks are 12 dB down or so compared to running it unstrapped. Mind you I do not have a mono switch, and this cart is for my mono vinyl only. AT also have the more expensive VM610MONO which is strapped internally. That seems to be the only difference.

Do you swap headshells or use a dedicated turntable?

PD

[Valentino]

I swap headshells. I've got four cartridges on headshells now. This one for mono vinyl, and An Audio-Technica AT-VM95SP for (mono) shellac/78s, a RigB'd VM540ML "daily stereo and pictured an AT33PTG/II moving coil type for my very best LPs.

[Bachtoven]

@Harry, do you use Qobuz with Roon? If so, I'm sure you aware that Roon automatically places new Qobuz titles in the Qobuz Favorites folder. Lately, I've noticed that it takes a very long time, sometimes 30 minutes or more, for the that folder to open on my desktop computer. I have a lot of files, but it shouldn't take so long to open. Do you have that issue? I've tried 4 different browsers, and all are equally slow.

[Harry]

@Harry, do you use Qobuz with Roon? If so, I'm sure you aware that Roon automatically places new Qobuz titles in the Qobuz Favorites folder. Lately, I've noticed that it takes a very long time, sometimes 30 minutes or more, for the that folder to open on my desktop computer. I have a lot of files, but it shouldn't take so long to open. Do you have that issue? I've tried 4 different browsers, and all are equally slow.

No I have not, just tried it out but there are no issues as yet.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I swap headshells. I've got four cartridges on headshells now. This one for mono vinyl, and An Audio-Technica AT-VM95SP for (mono) shellac/78s, a RigB'd VM540ML "daily stereo and pictured an AT33PTG/II moving coil type for my very best LPs.

Do you listen to (when you do swap) a number of albums which could use that shell since, I expect, it takes some time to swap between them (re adjustments)?  Does your 78 player play only 78's or is it more versatile?

PD

[Bachtoven]

No I have not, just tried it out but there are no issues as yet.

I wonder if being in the US slows things down. I have a very hi-speed internet connection (936 mbps at the moment), so that isn't the problem.

[Ian]

I need help 
I currently have a NAD C 315 CBEE integrated amp, a NAD T 535 CD/SACD player and a pair of Focal 618 W choral V speakers.
The player no longer reads the SACD layer on disks which have it and I'm getting a bit of distortion at high frequencies on some tracks. I've ruled out the speakers as on headphones I'm not hearing the same distortion. So I guess I should change the amp too.

I should mention that I'm no audiophile, but I'd like a good system. Not something that's just good enough or adequate. I have no idea where to start. For example for classical music, is there a type of amp that is better? Tube? Class A? A/B?

I'm not sure what my possibilities of listening at a brick & mortar shop are but I have been watching a few YouTube channels (Pearl Acoustics, A British Audiophile, Steve Gutenberg and others) and am currently thinking about the Sugden A21 or Music Fidelity or McIntosh MA 252. For the source there doesn't seem to be many SACD choices about. The Marantz 30N and McIntosh MCD85 have caught my attention.
In the meantime I have been playing around with speaker placement and it is amazing what differences and improvements can be achieved.

I'd be interested in hearing any experience and or recommendations you may have.

[DavidW]

Not Marantz they are a shell of their former self.  I don't know your budget but I've heard good things about Outlaw Audio for the $1k range for an integrated amp.  I myself didn't go the integrated amp route (but separates).