Needledrop - Waveform asymmetry

[WDeranged]

I've not done any needledrops in a good while so I dusted off the equipment. I was surprised to see that my waveforms are asymmetrical. The bottom of the wave doesn't have as much energy as the top. The only thing that changed is a new stylus.

I've checked for DC offset and there is none. The file sounds absolutely fine and I've been listening to this stylus for a few months with no obvious issues.

Anyone have a clue what's going on? I suppose it has to be the stylus but I'd like to have a second opinion on it.

 

[Balle Clorin]

It is quite normal channel imbalance . Cartridges Are rarely in perfect balance, changing stylus can alter it too. I have seen the same when changing stylus. It might improve with an adjustment of Azimuth . Every preamp/RIAA should have a balance control..//

 

[rDin]

Very likely the azimuth is off, or possibly anti-skate pulling the cartridge more strongly to one side. Or both. Can you adjust, or is it a plug-n-play type setup?

 

[WDeranged]

Very likely the azimuth is off, or possibly anti-skate pulling the cartridge more strongly to one side. Or both. Can you adjust, or is it a plug-n-play type setup?

It's a Planar 1 with no adjustable anti-skate. The only change in the whole setup is a new stylus. I suppose it's possible that the anti-skate magnet has moved but I doubt it. I have a spare stylus so I'll have to do another rip and compare.

 

[Balle Clorin]

The anti-skate effect in L R balance is marginal. Azimuth may have s slight influence , but the real fault is in the coil/magnet alignment, and that can vary with different stylI.

 

[WDeranged]

The anti-skate effect in L R balance is marginal. Azimuth may have s slight influence , but the real fault is in the coil/magnet alignment, and that can vary with different stylI.

This is my suspicion. The cartridge is the same but the stylus is different. That's literally the only change to my system. To be fair I've been listening to this stylus for five months and it sounds superb. I'll dig out my spares in an hour or so and see how they compare.

 

[WDeranged]

I've made some progress. It's not the stylus (I tried two others) or the turntable setup. After lowering the gain to minimum on my iFi Zen the waveform looks much more balanced. Not perfect but much closer to my original needledrop. I also checked another guys needledrop to see if there was anything anomalous about my original one. It was almost identical in shape.

The concern now is that at minimum gain the waveform still isn't quite perfect. Wonder if my preamp is dying.

 

[WDeranged]

Here's a crude animation to make it easier to see the asymmetry. My old needledrop (made on the same pre-amp) resembles the 80's CD in symmetry, though it lacks some of the dynamic range. The new high gain needledrop is clearly very out of whack. Even the low gain one looks a bit trim on the bottom.

The only thing I can do is try another iFi Zen and see how it compares.

 

[WDeranged]

Mystery solved. It was the iFi Zen Phono. The new one arrived today and the waveforms look perfect.