An erudite response

Oi Nige! You forgot the silver plating!

"Fair" isnt the word normally associated with Shure MM cartridges I must get my Koetsu re-tipped....

Quote from: CeathreamhnanOi Nige! You forgot the silver plating!

"Fair" isnt the word normally associated with Shure MM cartridges I must get my Koetsu re-tipped....

Yes silver plated. I cant judge them honestly as I dont have my soundcard to test it out with yet! Money, money, money...

Quote from: CeathreamhnanOi Nige! You forgot the silver plating!

"Fair" isnt the word normally associated with Shure MM cartridges I must get my Koetsu re-tipped....

For at  least 20 years most hifi mags have used the V15 as a ruler by which to measure other cartridges. Not saying its "the best", but its a good cubit to measure with. Pretty much flat from 20-20,000. A  lot of turntablists also use the SC35C as a yardstick, though its at the lower end of scratching cartridges.

I do find the whole idea of a $3000 cartridge that you cant retip yourself rather ludicrous.  Yeah, Ive spent time in high end listening rooms on Chicagos North Side vinyl district. Ive listened to them and ultra high end gear, and frankly, its not an improvement for most music, just a bragging right. Sometimes you can squeeze some nuance out of really nice 180g--but does that make it sound 30x better than a high end Shure? Nah. Yeah, and I know you can get a Sumiko for $300, but its still not worth it, imho. Perhaps if you sit around and listen to Shoshtakovitch and drink armagnac...

Want  high fidelity? Go out and see live music. Id rather my money went to players rather than some tedious hifi boutique.

Quote from: maximusotterFor at  least 20 years most hifi mags have used the V15 as a ruler by which to measure other cartridges.

No they havent.

Yes they have

Got the cart a couple weeks ago. F-ing brilliant! Incredible luxury packaging complete with screwdriver, brush, and overhang gauge all nestled in foam in a gorgeous aluminum case. :wub:

Overhang is VERY important if you get one of these. Dont screw it up, or youll get a real noisy result.

About as honest and perfect of a cartridge as Ive ever heard. Yeah, Ive heard more expensive, spent much time listening at the $300 level--but I prefer this cartridge. It gives you the info on the record. Turn the knobs if you want more bass or treble.

Totally non-fatiguing. Tracks perfectly. I like to run it at 2g with the brush down. The brush subtracts 0.5g, so thats 1.5g. You can run it at 0.75g for precious wax and barely touch the surface.

No sybilant troubles. High hats, snares, SSSSs and whatnot are totally natural to the end of the groove.

Hands down, my favorite cartridge Ive ever listened to, short of a V15. All for $60. A bit sick really.

Sennheiser HD201 headphones:

For $17, theyre jaw dropping. You really need to get up in the phones around 60-70 bucks before you start comparing them, as they blow the price point out of the water.

Lets do the cons first:
slightly muffled instrument timbre and presence compared to the big boys. But dangit, its a $17 phone.
Not very sensitive, theyll sound like sh*t with an iPod unless youre not into loud music.

Thats it. I could complain about style and build and looks, but theyre $17  phones, man. Build is fine, walk along....

Pros:
Most comfy closed cans Ive EVER worn. Super light. Fit big melons like mine.
Reasonably flat response: meaning too little bass for bass heads, and accusations of "boring" from some folks.
Incredible sound stage.
Very little noise pollution for others.
3m cord. I like long cords as use headphones at home. Critics may explore the amazing rubber band.

Seriously, for the average home computer/stereo listener, these are a great bet. The big dirty dark secret on these is that they sound like sh*t before theyre burned in. Female sybilants will make the hair on your testes stand straight out and puncture your jeans. Do yourself a favor: put the phones on a cantaloupe and blast the radio or anything at a moderate volume for 24 hours. Then magically, theyre cured.

They remind me a LOT of my vintage 70s Open Aires, except that they sound even better. Same flattish response that takes some getting used to. Youre not thrilled initially with some colored saucy sound, but when you settle in and realize that you can listen to $17 cans for hours, then thats when the space aliens pour the pork gravy all over your body and you dont even notice....

good review, ive always been a fan of wise purchases in the mid to cheap category when you know the hardware.

not to mention i am a musician of musical grade where "if you have to have music, play it loud and all the time". as you wont notice the ambiences or the "flavour" of instruments. it also brings up the niggles in your gear and encourages you to sort it out, unless your kinky for that sort of thing.

Ive been listening to Ryan Adams "Heartbreaker" and Gillian Welchs "Time the Revelator" this afternoon, both featuring the delicate acoustic work of David Rawlins. These cheapie cans stand up quite well, and you can hear some amazing harmonics with Daves hard or soft fretting. :shock:

Usually I prefer the Open Aire Sennheiser 400 series as theyre less prone to distortion, and have a bigger soundstage. These cheapies make up for that by completely covering the ear, just disappearing on your head, instead of clamping it like the 400s are want to do.

Smaller heads will get crappy bass response due to bad sealing.

Not bad for bassy soul. Listening to Erykah Badu right now, and while they might suck for heavy hip hop, theyre doing great making "Bump It" sound FAT. Thats with the puters on-board intel kit, so quite impressive. Listening to Stevie Wonder on real wax is almost dangerously nice.

with my current sonys (mdr-xd200) i am having to use padding because the damn band cuts into my head, as possess a small ish head the bands seem to slip through my hair and want to rip it out after about an hour. with my russian fur arrangement its as comfortable as hell. warm to

Ah, ya big goober, going for that Stalingrad ham radio look, eh?

Amazons got the 201s for 11 quid, btw. If nothing, theyre as comfy as a track suit.  Not as "hip" looking as the Sonys.

Still wierded out by them needing that 30-40 hour burn in, and going from ick to Ahhhhh.

must take the coils some burn in time. everything needs breaking in to operating conditions