![]() My uncorrected file is a straight 24/96 vinyl rip from my Fern & Roby TT to my Gold Note PH-10 phono preamp to the analog input of my PS Audio Nuwave phono converter which converts analog signal to digital with 24/96 to my Mac Mini on which I run Vinyl Studio to rip the album sides, split tracks, get demographic info and ultimately save as a digital FLAC file. I sent a copy of this album to so he could do a before and after with the Sugarcube. A lot of the clicks and pops remain, however. I found this album in the used record bin for $3 and has been cleaned with enzyme cleaner and rinsed, which usually does a great job. So here's a before and after copy of the first 3 minutes of "Stella by Starlight" from my pretty beat up copy of Miles Davis' My Funny Valentine album. I now have the best of both worlds and for me, the music future looks bright! If noise bothers you, look into the SugarCube.Īs for the recording capability, I love this and when it's fully functional I will use to rip all those albums that aren't yet available, or never will be available digitally and enjoy the crap out of the on my DAP when I travel. And on albums with far less damage? Pretty much pristine. Has the SC-2 made them immensely more pleasure to listen to while still delivering all the goodness of the original recordings? Hell yes. Has it made The Beatles or Cannonball albums brand new? Nope. I challenge anyone with an open mind to say differently once they've heard it. I will concur with others here that say there is almost imperceptible audio differences when listening to the processed versus bypassed sound. I was encouraged by the few sparse “first listen” reviews that appeared but knew I could very well be disappointed. And when the Indigogo campaign launched I jumped in. So the SugarCube solution really piqued my interest when I heard about it a year ago. Maybe that's one of the reasons I embraced digital even when it really sucked. I have many other albums that show their age and my testing wasn't limited to these two examples. I also have a copy of Cannonball Adderley's In The Land of Hi-Fi which is more than well worn but I haven't replaced because similar copies in better condition go for more than I'm willing to spend. I think there is a mark from someone putting a drink on it back in the day and the album has ton's of noise, but still sounds pretty good down deep. But the album was played to death and not taken care of at all. For example I've kept my oldest sister's 1964 release of Meet The Beatles mostly because it reminds me of her. You never forget your first love, right?Īs with many of you, I have records that range from pristine to absolute ****e. ![]() I've embraced each new format while never leaving vinyl or analog. I'm also not new to the audio game having cut my teeth back in the 70's. If it's well recorded and mastered, I don't care what format it's in. I received my beta unit two days ago and have been putting it through its paces ever since. I can't play flac files on my work computer but am looking forward to hearing the OPs Doors files this evening.įirst off, thanks to DigMyGroove for what is really a very fair assessment of the SC-2. The AKM chip is their current top of the range, which was also a plus. Production version layout complete utilizing AKM 5397 high resolution ADC and ESS Saber DAC.Ĭritical analog signals routed to utilize shortest possible signal path and careful grounding strategy to ensure quiet operation. Obviously implementation is everything but I think they have crammed some pretty good components in there for the ADC/DAC processes. ![]() I don't have my unit yet as was not in the Beta pool but hopefully will get one this side of Christmas. The ability to bypass the unit (save for some extraneous cabling) when wanting pure LP replay was also appealing. The main draw for me was the easy method of digitising my LPs (with track splitting and meta data - which I understand is yet to be finalised for production, but I have faith) with the click and pop removal a huge bonus, especially as all accounts at the time praised the transparency of the results. Living in the UK, I didn't have a chance to hear these in shows but listened to the samples and videos on Analog Planet and read up as much as I could. I came in a bit late to the Crowd Funding campaign so locked in a slightly higher price $1750 or $1799 for the SC-2. Thanks to the OP for starting things rolling here.
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