2019 UK  Only vinyl edition.  Have no idea what it is about yet other than the title.  So far, poetry recited by Patti with the expected vibe.

1980 USA repress

2011 German / USA / Canadian globalish release.  Only had this on Laserdisc up until now.  Saw it as a keeper back then.

1980 USA repress

1975 Germany reissue

dang kurt i admire your passion, dedication and "vinyl shintoism"

i'm beginning to think that you're taking this seriously

2016 Global release pressed in Germany

1980 Regional Indie 1st press  The pride of Pittsburgh and a favorite here in Cleveburg, too.

1971 USA 1st  Still have the paper bag that came with it.
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My rig ... 1989 SL 1200 MK3 100 volt Japanese domestic model.  And the 8 TB music puter next to it that it plugs into.  Pardon the blurry cell phone pics.
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The second pic has the Wayne's periphery stabilizer ring in place.  It weighs in at about 2.5 lbs and adds a lot to the overall sound and dynamic range and also flattens out mild warps to boot.  The little thingy on the tonearm by the headshell is a Herbie's Audio dampering ring.  Helps to neutralize any tonearm resonances.  Light, inexpensive and removable / adjustable.  My pro-ject preamp is the one on top of the two pre's  The other one underneath it is my defunct ART that I started out with.

@SteelyD  That cloth covered block is what you want to get for your cleaning brush.  CLICKY  It is flat, easy to hold and cleans very easily with a lint sticky roller.  I have a 6" X 6"  plush microfiber cleaning cloth over the block held on with a rubber band.  I recommend that you get two.  One for a first clean and the other for what you have already cleaned.

iffen you get one I can send you a couple of those cloths.

 Steely_D wrote:
 
I'm not really trying to sell it to anyone. I'm in this for the long haul. I'm 5 years into Amarra so that's $20 a year and i use it 4 or 5 days a week. 

The audio thing is a money pit for sure, but in my system I've probably gotten more bang for my buck with Amarra than anything else. I feed my main system with usb out from the computer with Amarra and it sounds lovely. 

I think you can still demo Amarra. Try it when you have some files ready and you can play them through both VLC and Amarra. If you're listening to small computer speakers or something similar it's probably not worth it. 

 kurtster wrote:
 
Wav files play natively on a PC. AIFF files play natively on a Mac. Both are lossless. No discernible difference in playback quality. I have a few wav files but most file are AIFF because I play them on a Mac. 

I actually create cuts and label them because they're in the digital realm and once you get used to doing it it doesn't add much time. I listen to sides in order but I have cuts (tracks) so that I can see what's playing and so that I have the freedom to create a playlist if I'd like to.

I don't bother to convert to flac since doing some testing and coming to the (controversial) conclusion that flac files didn't sound as good. I concluded that while flac files should sound the same, the hardware has to decompress on the fly, so it could simply have been a hardware problem. And since I have a huge drive and the original AIFF files need to be stored somewhere, why not store them in full AIFF capacity on the same machine where they are being played back?

We all approach this in our own way. There's not just one way. 

I've tested various playback software including VLC and have settled into Amarra Luxe. There are some things I don't like about it but the sound quality is very good and it allows all files to be played back natively. All files except DSD that is. DoP is a coming attraction but until that shows Amarra converts to PCM on the fly rather than allowing the DAC on the other end to do it. 

 Steely_D wrote: 
Good to know.  VLC is primo for playback.  Do not know of Plex.  I use foobar first and then VLC for my PC.  Mostly when I play a side I just load it up into the program I rip with and play it back there.

50 k not enough ?  Small library, eh ?    I don't think so.

Well welcome back to the world of album sides.  It is a whole different experience.  Music will become contextual again as in listening to songs meant to be played together in succession.  It has changed my listening experience and habits completely.  Back to the way it started for me as a kid anyway.  Playlists fall by the wayside.  It is pretty cool listening to an album side while tooling around in your car and then the next album side from a completely different album.  Long drives take on a new musical perspective.

Also meta data kinda falls by the wayside with wav files.  You really need to rip into wav files and then convert to whatever other format you may want to use such as FLAC and keep the original wav file as a reference back up copy in case something goes wrong down the road with your listening file.  Remember that you rip in real time and it really sucks to have to redo something, unless you upgrade something ...   

Wav files will play on anything, well most anything.  FLAC in cars, not yet or not very widely.  When I went car shopping I took a USB thumb drive with 16 bit / 48 khz wav files and made sure that the car would play them.  I had to go up a level in a Honda to get more than mp3 playback.

And one last thing about the meta data.  One of the reasons I went to Discogs originally was to list my albums just so that I could easily look them up for what was on an album side rip.  Much easier than going and finding the album cover later or making a word document for that particular album or in my case, selling them and never having the physical part to refer to again.

 Steely_D wrote: 
There is one more potential issue with your Mac.  If it goes online, Apple has a way of sneaking into your music library and overwriting your music with their versions or what it thinks is its proper version of your version.  This was a big problem and a reason I stayed with PC to avoid having my music hijacked.  And another reason I-Tunes will never be allowed on any computer I own.

Perhaps you already know of this or how to deal with it.  I certainly do not.

 Steely_D wrote:
 
All you guys with your modern toys. :-)

Disregard everything I said about not needing the usb out from the phono amp. 

When I move up to the next generation I'll hang onto at least one of the older Mac's for ripping. 

 kurtster wrote:
 
Hey!!

PCs ruled and Macs appealed to artists, so they typically came with a better sound card than what you might find on a typical PC. They had to make up ground somewhere. But while I have several machines with analog inputs and built in A/D converters, they've essentially been phased out. They may still be present on the Mac Pro, but that's not a machine most people have. 

I've run from tape loop out into the analog in, from pre-out to analog in, using receivers with built in phono amp, and I've run directly from the phono amp. For the last several years I've used an external phono amp into a Peachtree Nova, then pre-out to analog in. I cycle 4 tables through the main system and the ripping system. I have both MC and MM cartridges, and I use both ML and Shibata styli. Most are AT but I have a Hana SL as well. My favorite cartridge (although I admit that all of my cartridges are considered budget when you look at what you can pay for a cartridge) is the AT33PTG/II. It has been my favorite for years. It tends to be the most forgiving of poorer quality mastering jobs and hard rock that can sometimes sound congested. That said I'll rip with whatever is in place for ripping. All the tables and all the cartridges render nice results. 

I suspect the phono amp with built in A/D conversion and usb out is a nice solution, but if on a budget and using an older Mac with analog input it's not required and in fact you can see pretty nice results. 

I used Bias Peak when I first started ripping and it was incredibly expensive. Nowadays Audacity for the Mac is free and it's essentially the same software as Peak. 

I'm sure you're ripped more than I have Kurt. I started earlier but haven't ripped a ton. I love the records and the tables so I listen that way most of the time. If something is rare and/or special and I need a digital copy, I rip it. Rip it good.......

 swell_sailor wrote: 
Hey, been thinking about you !  No one I know knows more about ripping than you and especially with Mac's.

Somewhere there has to be a phono preamp in the system, either an outboard one or one in a receiver that you can send into a computer.  Unless Mac's have that capability to convert phono signals, too.  I do know that there are some programs capable of that, but wouldn't know where to start, especially with Mac.  Me being PC, the USB ADC on this device is going to beat any factory onboard soundcard without even thinking twice.  And it will work with any computer, making it forward compatible.

It would be most interesting to feed the signal both ways into the Mac and find out which sounds best, USB or the analogue signal.  The USB out for this device maxes out at 16 bit 48 khz which I have found to be most acceptable over time and easy to work with when editing.  I know that you do 24 bit and it does sound pretty darn nice.  You also have experience with MC's as well and much knowledge regarding matching carts and preamps that far exceeds mine.

One of the benefits with Crutchfield is easy returns.  So if nothing else a low risk experiment.

Nice to see you !  Hope all has been well with you.  

Getting there...

 Steely_D wrote:
 

This device is not required on most Macs. I've been ripping for 20 years using various Macs and never never needed a usb interface. 

It might be interesting to use the built in Mac A to D converter with this phono amp and compare it to the usb interface. 

Depending upon your setup, you may not need this phono amp at all. 

I should add that the analog input required to do this without A/D conversion happening externally has been vanishing over the last few years on Apple computers, so it depends on the vintage of your machine as to whether or not the usb interface is required. 

 kurtster wrote: