Cartridge ABX

[Balle Clorin]

JBL IEMs ordered

 

[USER]

JBL IEMs ordered

Let us know how you think they compare to the Grados (and your Revels for that matter).

 

[JP]

Lots of work! A second thank you.

Eh, I do it a lot for my own personal testing - once you're used to the workflow it's not too bad.

 

[JP]

35 total tests taken (here and elsewhere) and no indication of differentiation.

 

[USER]

Would you happen to have any recordings of end of side tracks that can be compared? (I'm assuming these are tracks closer to the outer groove of the record.) If the diamond shapes are different then that is the area where there would likely be a difference if the frequency responses for the cartridges are similar.

 

[Digital1955]

Once I did the abx demo and figured out how the interface was supposed to work, I went back to this
recording because I know it. I was able catch a difference in the timbre in the line "My heart is drenched in wine".
I was super fatigued by the end, but I think if I did it fresh I could get 100%. That said, I have no preference
for one vs. the other.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Here you go. Check out the "can you guess how this sounds?" section.

Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

When back from a bit of travel I plan to order a Grado Gold 3 for testing. Xtalk 35dB! The Grado's are a bit of an odd fish.... But the Grado body (outside of the flagship "woodies") has been in use unchanged for 40 years.... and in the past the flagships used this body, that means that if you...

audiosciencereview.com

I added a comparison to a flat cartridge to the measurements of the Sumiko Pearl as it is an extremely colored cartridge.

If you have access to a desktop EQ program such as Equalizer APO and the Peace GUI you can follow Sean Olive's lead and make the $15-$19 JBL Endurance Run 2 earphones near reference quality. There are EQ instructions in that twitter thread.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1721692088436478016

I think that it would be great for us all to be able to have a way to "hear the same thing." This is a very affordable way to do that, and more, you get an extremely good little set-up. The Sumiko Pearl is the worst cartridge I have ever heard (that is functioning), but then my stereo system is Harman neutral and not everyone has that. In the turntable world people forget that they are often listening more to their speakers and room than cartridges. So, for example, if you have old school B&W speakers that are notorious for their screaming highs, then the Pearl could sound good to you and you could think I'm crazy. But at least with reference headphones there is a better basis for understanding what the cartridges are actually doing even though what matters is the overall system. Plus it's a treat to hear a Shure V15 V-MR recording on them!

EDIT: Attached is the EQ filter for the Peace GUI. Try it out. It's $15 well spent.

Would i be possible to show the EQ curve or parameters so I could make the correction in Roon?

 

[USER]

Would i be possible to show the EQ curve or parameters so I could make the correction in Roon?

Here's Sean Olive's correction ("Auto-EQ with bass tweaking") taken from his twitter post.

 

[Digital1955]

I just gave this a try with my own files to compare active vs passive (sut) gain for my MC. I aligned the time in audacity. However, I am getting a 'click' probably 1/10 switches when I go between X and the opposite. Huge tell. I went back and quickly tried the NJ test here again and got 9/10 correct listening for the tell.

I just quickly looked around here and the web for discussion about that, didn't find anything. Technically maybe its not surprising that there is some jitter when its
switching the streams? - without looking at their code.

Is it just me?

 

[ban25]

I just gave this a try with my own files to compare active vs passive (sut) gain for my MC. I aligned the time in audacity. However, I am getting a 'click' probably 1/10 switches when I go between X and the opposite. Huge tell. I went back and quickly tried the NJ test here again and got 9/10 correct listening for the tell.

I just quickly looked around here and the web for discussion about that, didn't find anything. Technically maybe its not surprising that there is some jitter when its
switching the streams? - without looking at their code.

Is it just me?

I only managed 4/10 listening to Bill Evans on Sennheiser HD598s. I did hear a click a few times on switch from X and when I did that, I picked that track. But aside from that occasional artifact in the test, I can discern no difference between the two cartridges.

 

[Bob from Florida]

I tried a new cartridge today that struck me as being very similar to one I listened to a few weeks ago, so I did some comparisons, and indeed it did! I should've bought a lottery ticket instead.

Here are four ABXs of the two cartridges, each with a different genre of music. I did a quick pass of de-clicking anything that showed up in one of the two laybacks, but left everything that showed up in both. Regardless, I humbly ask that folks not focus on finding those kinds of tells. I'll reveal what's what in a few weeks.

Bill Evans
Norah Jones
Steely Dan
Smashing Pumpkins

Very hard to tell the difference.

ABX

Listening tests in the browser

abxtests.com