Vinyl ReviewsVinyl Reviews
Concept Phono Cartridge
- Written by Chris Heinonen
- Published on 08 August 2011
Recently in reviews, I've talked about the Loudness Wars that have infected many modern recordings and how music that I enjoy is rendered almost unlistenable by a bad recording. I imagine it might surprise many people to learn that most releases on vinyl require a different mastering technique than the digital release of the same album, and so many of the flaws of the digital master won't be present on the vinyl release. I tested the Clearaudio Concept Turntable with some modern albums recorded digitally and released on CD as well as Vinyl to prove my point.
Clearaudio Concept Turntable
- Written by Chris Heinonen
- Published on 08 August 2011
Recently in reviews, I've talked about the Loudness Wars that have infected many modern recordings and how music that I enjoy is rendered almost unlistenable by a bad recording. I imagine it might surprise many people to learn that most releases on vinyl require a different mastering technique than the digital release of the same album, and so many of the flaws of the digital master won't be present on the vinyl release. I tested the Clearaudio Concept Turntable with some modern albums recorded digitally and released on CD as well as Vinyl to prove my point.
Marantz TT-15S1 Turntable
- Written by Piero Gabucci
- Published on 09 June 2008
The Marantz TT-15S1 has me so excited about vinyl again that it has me scrambling to find old LPs. A friend recommended that I check out a used CD store, and, "Oh yeah," he says, "they sell vinyl too!" Tunes in Hoboken, New Jersey has become a favorite destination when I can find parking and have a bit of time to kill searching through their ever growing collection. I never stop to look at the CDs by the way, but go straight to the 12" x 12" disc-size.
Pass Labs XP-25 Phono Preamplifier
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 09 May 2011
Pass Labs is highly renown for their audio components, some of which are pure Class A. Besides preamplifiers and power amplifiers, they also produce phono preamplifiers (also called phono stages), having begun with the Aleph Ono in 1997. The XP-25 is their latest version, which was designed by Pass Labs engineer Wayne Colburn.
PS Audio GCPH (Gain Cell Phono Stage)
- Written by Rick Schmidt
- Published on 24 March 2008
Vinyl is back!!! If you get a new turntable, you will likely need a nice phono stage to connect the cartridge to your preamplifier. PS Audio has a good one. Read our review to see what we found. Note that this will work to make excellent music files for your portable music player.
Bryston BP-1.5 Phono Preamplifier
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 24 March 2011
With vinyl experiencing such an incredible comeback over the past few years, so have phono preamplifiers, a.k.a., phono stages. They are required because the output of a phono cartridge is so low - on the order of 0.3 mV to 5 mV - that the inputs of preamplifiers that don't have phono stages can't amplify the signal enough for the power amplifier down stream.
