Wow And Flutter

Long and short pieces on music you should listen to; audio gear; and pop culture.

Tag: Shure

Turntables – they’re for everyone!

March 11, 2019 /

Like anyone possessing superior musical taste, I saw High Fidelity upon its 2000 release and thought immediately –

“You get me.”

So much of the movie and Nick Hornby’s original book has wormed its way into my life since then.  I’ll try to spare you in this blog from endless quotations of this titanic cinematic achievement – that will get old real fast.  However: today I have to lead off this post with a quote from Barry, lecturing his customer on Echo and the Bunnymen: “The Killing Moon” EP – it’s almost impossible to find – especially on CD. Yet another cruel trick they played on all the dumbasses who got rid of their turntables.”

I am not one of those dumbasses.  I’ve been spinning vinyl since before college.  And while I will admit a flirtation with other formats (I reliably “saved” many of my LPs by dubbing them to cassette, then wearing those out in whatever car or Walkman I was driving), and YES I BOUGHT A LOT OF CDs, the light on my turntable never dimmed.

When I got to college, I was lucky enough to have, as my second roommate (and good friend) someone who knew folks (with employee discounts) at Acoustic Research in Canton, MA.  AR made a suspended turntable that they sold for 99 bucks.  WITH a cartridge.  The thing with suspended turntables is that they’re WAY better isolated from the vibrations that would otherwise pollute your cartridge with low-frequency sludge and random footdrops. (the very expensive but wonderful Linn Sondek is the purest distillation of the AR concept.)  I LOVED that cheapo AR – it was built like a tank and nothing short of picking the deck up and shaking it like a cocktail shaker could make that thing skip.

So when, a couple of years out of college, AR released a vastly improved (and much sexier) version of their turntable, I  fastidiously put away my spare change to buy it, with the best arm (Linn Basik Plus) and cartridge (the classic Shure V-15 VMR) I could afford.  I’ve had it ever since:

Yeah, we’ve been through a lot together.  I even tracked down an old radio shop in Chicago a couple of years ago that sold me enough new old stock replacement styli for my Shure to keep me pretty much set for life.  But getting a dream “deck” is not when my music consumption really spiked.  More on that in my next post on Thursday.

Headphones – put ’em on!

February 18, 2019 /

A great pair of headphones can

  • make a really long run shorter
  • make a crappy commute on the train less crappy
  • transform music you’ve only otherwise heard “through the air” so you hear detail you may have missed
  • save you from getting
    • kicked out of your apartment for playing those beats too loud
    • the sh*t kicked out of you by your neighbor for playing those beats too loud
    • divorced

We’re only going to talk about ‘turntable cans’, headphones you plug in (for the best quality.  Bluetooth is convenient, but it will never sound as good as a physical wire will) to your amp to listen at home (or work, if you’re lucky enough to have a fancy job where you can have an audio rig!)

There are two basic types of ‘phones: open and closed.  Open ‘phones are generally acknowledged as better as approximating the soundstage of stereo speakers, while giving you all the advantages of headphones, namely, you get an AMAZING soundstage for far less moolah than you could for comparable loudspeakers.  For example, a pair of Grado GS3000Es retails for about $1800; I’d challenge anyone to find a pair of speakers that sounds THAT good for the same price. 

The only problem with open phones are, well, that they’re open, and you really need a quiet space to listen.  Ambient noise WILL creep in, and your friends will hear everything you are hearing, too, so don’t plan on bringing these on the subway.

Closed ‘phones have seemed to lag behind, though the gap is closing.  They offer better sound isolation and generally more lively bass response, but have been knocked as sounding too claustrophobic.  There are some really great closed phones out there now, like the Shure SRH1540, which you can get for short money ($399 – not nothing, but way cheaper than the GS3000E!)

Like loudspeakers, EVERY headphone sounds different.  You’ve just got to find which one is right for you.  What’s most comfortable?  Do you like to block out the world?  Are you a bass fiend, or do you prefer more accuracy at the low end?  (I do my private listening with a pair of AKG 702s, which are super comfortable and incredibly accurate.) 

At the beginning of the most recent headphone boom, you’d have been hard pressed to find a place to compare headphones, even the fancy audio salons.  Now, even the Apple Store has a headphone wall so you can listen for yourself.  Which is essential!  Honestly, would you buy a car without driving it?  Listen to a bunch and buy what you like.

Lastly, if you’ve got a good audio rig, I’d strongly advise you to get yourself a headphone amp, ESPECIALLY if you have hard(er) to drive headphones like the AKGs.  For many years, I thought, hey!  My amp ALREADY HAS A HEADPHONE JACK, I’ll just use that.  But even great amps can have crappy headphone amps inside.  It wasn’t until I got my own headphone amp (the Schiit  (yes, that’s their name) Asgard 2) that I realized what I was missing.  Schiit makes great … stuff, and right here in the USA.  They have a model priced as low as 99 bucks, the Magni – you should check it out.

“Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is.”  – Miles Davis

 

Shoutouts and Credits

  • Coming Soon!

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