Make Your Hi-Fi Sing: Tips and Tricks for Performance-Enhanced Listening (Turntable Tips Series) 

You Sir are absolutely hilarious! Your sarcasm mixed with sage advice is very tastefully delivered! Please keep them coming!

You absolutely get us, kind sir. Bravo! Found your channel a few weeks ago, enjoy the high quality content, and LOVE your stylized delivery. Thanks for contributing some of the best content on RU-vid today!

Reminds me of the evenings in the 1980s when Mrs W and I would sit on the floor of our acoustically disastrous living room and share a bottle of cheap wine while we listened to scratched, worn out LPs through a deeply suboptimal system (cheap deck, cheap amp and...Yamaha NS10s, yes!)... and everything sounded completely brilliant. It was all down to the experience which is still memorable 40 years on. How right you are DM (as usual). Great video, great channel, thank you!

The more I watch your channel, the more I enjoy it, great stuff, thank you.

The experience is even better if you buy tickets to your own vinyl performance program. Then you have to make sure it is worth the price of admission 😉

A heart-warming description of an evening at a live concert. But you forgot to mention one important thing. So you settle in your seat prior to the performance, amid the murmur of excitable conversation. Then, a burst of applause as the conductor appears. Then, quiet. Silent anticipation. Then, the music starts. Then, the COUGHING!

Funny …. I’ve been in professional audio recording studios my entire life. Only recently have I setup my living room with a hi-fi system. What you described is exactly why I did it. I think the audio source is irrelevant. It’s the time set aside to sit and listen, without distractions … to have an experience. I know my living-room is not acoustically accurate and nor have I tried to make it so. I don’t care. I’m not listening to judge sound, I’m listening to live the experience. Great video. Thanks.

I just wanted to say thank you for your channel and content. Excellent material and straight to the point and well presented and clear.

After consuming the meat of the topic all that remained was the skewer - and it was well used.

Wow, thanks for this David... I knew it was true deep in my heart. By every criterion you've set out and all of the standards you described I am *not* an audiophile. What a relief!

Brilliant once more, can’t decide though what is tongue in cheek and what is not as a lot of what you say can appertain to me! Very fine lines there.

This is one of your better videos. However, unless I've been time travelling again, I'd swear I watched it a week or two ago. If it was removed by mistake and re-uploaded, I'm glad that it was saved. Worth sharing, and I will do so.

Yes sir, this tip has triggered me to do just that and enjoy. Played the first classical record I bought in the 70ties on my recently restored Dual 704 with Shure V15 cartridge (from that same era) and spanking new stylus. Oh the memories that come back. And the pops and clicks are the patina you just mentioned. Thanks for this. As an early adopter of digital I still prefer a good recorded digital version but I digress. Greetings from The Netherlands!

You should talk about Garbage In and Garbage Out. How some famous recorded works weren't really high quality to begin with. And how people try to color the sound with their system to make it sound better. Sometimes, the appeal of being able to play music from a piece of spinning plastic's micro contours is the delight in itself. Like the magic of a music box, or hearing someone's voice across two cups and a long piece of string.

Very reasonable thoughts.I like your british humor!

Why do so many people think they should be pointlessly impolite with their comments? I don‘t use any analog playback sources in my system, but I can 100% relate to the majority of points made in this video. Bottom line, it doesn‘t matter if you spend 10.000 bucks on a turntable. If you‘re happy with a reasonable streaming system, and you actually listen to music and not your gear, you‘re in the right place. That‘s all there is to it, not more not less. Of course you can spend hundreds of hours on optimising every part of the audio chain, or the listening room, and yes it all makes sense and is an interesting journey by itself. But just accept that everyone needs to decide what they need to experience music and enjoy it, and some of the rants in the comments just turn into noise. Very enjoyable and interesting channel! I don‘t agree with all of the opinions but hey - I‘d just recommend to stop watching if it rubs you the wrong way.

British humor is the best.

I'm glad you mentioned the Proms. Many years ago the guy in my local HiFi shop said, "If you want to hear perfect HiFi, go to a concert". I think the current jargon is "It is what it is".

You are great Audio Masterclass!

I've been listening to vinyl since teenage years simply because, in those days (90´s and 2000´s) in Brazil, in the dawn of CD, excelent second hand record players were very cheap, and the records either. Before internet, it was the only way i could, with the resources i had, listen to a lot of music and have the albuns i loved. See my point: it was very expensive to buy a good CD player, and the CD itself was costly. My choyce was between a bad quality equipament to play CDs or a very good to play vinyl. So, i still have a lot of LPs from this era and enjoy them very well. This hi-fi equipament, today, can very well play digital too!

This is such a fascinating channel. Totally helpful and interesting! ❤

Is this gentleman the best of all the youtubers ?

In the meantime, i continue to enjoy my Bruckner fandom on CDs that finally could handle the dynamic range of that powerful music as vinyl really never could.

Good to hear about your concert-going life! - as well as your journey through hi-fi. I have a houseful of L.P.s, C.D.s, (and 78s) collected over the years, mainly classical music, but am very thankful that here in Manchester we have two full symphony orchestras performing regularly, the Halle & the B.B.C. Philharmonic, plus chamber music recitals. Thus I can experience the sound of the ultimate sound system; an actual orchestra performing in front of me! (When the first 3-D films were shown in the 1950s, one wag commented "You'll see, they'll end up inventing the theatre"). Part of the value of recorded music for me is to identify those works which I like so much that it's worth taking the trouble to travel out to a concert-hall.

I don't smoke often, but when I do I'm amazed how good my system and the music sound!

That was wonderful really enjoyed that

I loved every second of this feast of the most sophisticated verbal and non-verbal acts of irony and sarcasm.

Ok, you HOOKED me, fine fellow...............love the two video presentations I have seen thus far. Your in England, and I am here in New England and have subscribed. My late married partner was ALL THINGS British and introduced me to the Proms via video presentations years ago (there is a DVD in the collection). Having worked for a small pipe organ firm here in the states for 34 years now, it is always wonderful to see the concerts played on fine English organs, including the Father Willis at RAH. BIG fan of Scott Brothers Duo, and so many of these fine instruments are being brought to the fore by these two brothers on this very platform! Many thanks again. 😊

The biggest difference between pro sound and hifi. Pro sound isn't free from physics. 😊

The very definition of cheeky !

I love the straight forward no crap talk.. I've been telling people this for years. That old stuff SUCKS.. it worked for the time period but today you better get used to working in the box.. in ten years that stuff will not exist... why should it? I know this rich kid who built a Hidley control room. Put a J series SSL in it.. he has all of that old gear.. I remember him telling me "that unit there, it cost me 20 grand. It's used only on the kick drum. It gives it this snap sound in the high end." I thought "how stupid, you've got this 20ft console sitting in front of you with everything in it. He told me "every unit has this unique sound just for certain instruments." He had over two hundred thousand in outboard gear.. it was all old.. and his console had strips removed for testing and work being done to them.. ? What the Hell? 😮 You couldn't pour the money fast enough into this building. He lives in it.. dude never comes out of the studio. he's always telling us how he mixed the latest album for Jay lo or spears. Or snoop? I don't believe it! I just know Uber brings food to the place..

Wow just Great stuff

MJ's MOFI Thriller has a digital step DSD256 flat transfer of the tape then file sent to the cutting head so it's a bit of a slap in the face to be honest especially for £100, a lot of reviewers prefer the original from the 80's which "was" cut from the analogue tapes.

What I’ve never understood about audiophiles is that they want perfectly reproduced sound, as it was recorded, but they don’t buy the studio level equipment. They don’t listen on 2 inch tape. They don’t even listen on 1/4 inch tape for the most part. They don’t listen through ns10’s or hedds monitors. They don’t listen on mdr7506’s or beyer dt150 headphones. They baulk at the very mention of EQ’ing yet the original mix was eq’d beyond all recognition. They also don’t realise that most recording studios don’t use 10000 dollar interconnects or solid silver speaker wire rather the cheapest stuff they can get in bulk.

Love it thank you

Thanks for the jellyfish tip.

Great visualization of hifi)

Always enjoyable, highly informed comment. Sometimes reminds me of one of the oldest records I own (Flanders & Swann "At The Drop of a Hat") the track on "The Song Of Reproduction!!" about Hifi saying how mad the whole thing is, but is still Very Wonderful especially if as you say played on a high quality system reproducing repeats of great recordings of great music?

I am imagining myself planted on my sofa listening intently to the B-52's Wild Planet whilst quaffing zinfandel from a Riedel glass (pinky out, of course).

Today I "absorbed" and greatly enjoyed listening to Santana's Abraxas LP after a workout. This is an original pressing and it still sounds swell played on my vintage Dual Turntable. Last week I actually played Michael Jackson's Thriller LP after a long hiatus and I must say that producer Quincy Jones really hit it out of the park with that album. That session reminded me how good the album sounds especially after the long hiatus from listening to it. I personally would never spend the money on a Mofi or any other remastered label. For the extra coin I could buy more LP's instead.

This is a must watch!!!😅

Fantastic presentation. I have a different approach. Possess 105 LPs. Numbered them all. Then used a random number generator to list all the 105 numbers. So every day .. music time.. 9 pm on wards, I pick a number from that list and play the corresponding vinyl. Makes the session very interesting as I never know whats coming up that day and I think all records have an equal chance!! BTW my system is self built.. Main amplifier a tube cathode follower feeding the quintessential Lindsey Hood designed Class A 10W amplifier into Klipsch RM-82 II . Source is a vintage JVC QL-A2 with an elliptical stylus/cartridge LP Gear's CF3600LE

First class sarcasm/expert advice! Speaking of the Proms...

In the UK I knew a fellow who had travelled the country for Decca hosting phonograph concerts. The mix of new technology and excellent performances far from the major concert halls was marketing magic. The sound would have far surpassed the mantle radios at home.

Almost every Saturday and Sunday during October till April i switch on my stereo at around 5pm, choose my evenings selection of music based on mood, eat at 6pm, go down to my listening with the stereo tubes now warmed up. I take brake for evening snacks and drink, and continue listening until past midnight.

Your demeanor may be very British, but what you depicted sounds like the essence of a universal audiophile.

I love cassette tape. Lasts very very long. It’s tape decks that make it tricky for people as they don’t last long w/o repairs needed.

I know what you mean about reel to reel, when I was younger, couldn’t wait to get one, after 6-8 months I hardly used it, just too much work, maintenance & takes forever to record a whole reel. Finally took it down & put it in a closet and forgot about it

You are great

I love the Silince of the lamb's reference!

I think my parents had that Fournier Bach recording in the '60s when it was new. It certainly didn't cost anything like that much then.

Even though I love vinyl, it's crazy to say that a medium that's sonically limited and treated as such by engineers from its very creation, can be the ideal medium for high fidelity. Vinyl are a whim. Digital is for true quality / as close to the artist's vision as possible. Digital will also sound its best neutrally, anywhere you put it. While vinyl will only sound as good (and characteristic) as your whole audio chain. Again, vinyl is a whim, an experience unrelated to high fidelity media!

I enjoy my Quad FM4 which gives me high quality sound when listening to live music broadcasts on BBC radio 3

Ah the British art of queuing. Good timing for me as I would prefer to be in the Arena at the proms this year.

I am looking forward to your tips. I’ve never been a dedicated audiophile (audiophool?), but I have maintained a reasonably good sounding system since my high school days (1976-79). It now consists of: A nice Yamaha receiver with phono inputs My trusty old Acoustic Research ES-1 turntable (purchased in 1986) A secondary turntable…ProJect Debut 3….low cost and can play 78s, if I choose to do so. Sony double cassette deck…rarely used, but I have it for all of those great live concerts I taped off the radio. A Teac open reel deck to satisfy my recent addiction of open reel tapes, purchased used on EBay. All patched to a nice pair of Polk 10 speakers, purchased in 1988. All of this is patched into my computer through a Yamaha D/A converter. If I so choose, I can digitize anything that isn’t currently available on CD, drop it into iTunes, and then stream anywhere through my phone.

"Digital is boring" Well, since the 1990's music has being recorded in PCM, mixed in PCM, converted from digital to analouge, to press your vinyl. So why not listen to it in the way that it was recorded? A "remastered" album has been done digitally. Good quality old vinyl is a good way to go.

What I love about analog(ue) is NOT the "patina". I hate pops and ticks. My best pressed records have little to none of this.

Room accoutics is in waiting though lot of material ic available. Bss traps ,diffusers QRD??

Methinks this fella has had a lifetime in sales. He is very engaging and witty though...

No digital, but streaming - have I misunderstood something? How else but digital is streaming produced?

$1k record is like fine wine. Now most used classical lp’s are not beat up as The Clash.

I have 2 half speed mobile Fidelity master records that I cherish. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the moon and Alan Parsons I Robot. Only play them on special occasions when I can sit and get taken away by music with a couple of brews.

Great and interesting video, I do collect classical lps from specialist record shop in good quality second hand and charity shops . So you can get decent LPs . Regards mark

An entire video of "hiFinest" in their maximum peak

Today's episode seems to be entry level talk......that said what about someone older like me who's been collecting and listening to vinyl for decades and does not need to know where to find it....any tips for such - might you lend.....

You forget THE most important thing of reproducing the illusion as good as possible and dont cost a lot when you DIY. Room Acoustics is the No1 thing to improve. Thank you. I dont have expensive equipment, built the speakers myself, often i get tears in my eyes when i listen to a piano-Cello piece live performed (digital FLAC :) ) and also often scary realistic which makes me get goosebumps with some songs where all kinds of effects are implemented. So you can imagine i dont agree with you when u say digital is heartless, thats nonsense.

It seems as if I will never enjoy a 'concert' at home.I gave up listening to vinyl decades ago.

This entire video sarcasm... 😂

I bought 1 near mint record. It was so terrible, I throwed it away and never buy second hand again.

You should create a video showing how you mix two instruments in mono.. explain how you get them to work. What you pull out for frequencies, and how you use certain frequencies to bring these instruments out... nobody understands this

You forgot to break the spell and get up to flip the record😅 My American wife says you're "quite the little character".... And she's married to an audiophile Brit! I set aside the first a Hour or so of my day in Montana US for my concert experience* with a nice cuppa T. 🎵🎶🤫🎶🎵 *PS Streamed from Qobuz. Can't relax to "liquorice rice krispies" sorry. Bought a Fat Freddy's drop LP this month for my 1984 Heybrook TT2ii tho;-)

Just analog? 🤔 I don't understand why.

Since,"Why your audio is bad and why you can't do anything about it" why would anything matter???

❤😂

So, your place at 7:00 then? See ya then! I expect a great listening experience from you, and I'm assuming your hi end HI-Fi.....

If ya don't mean digital then there is no need watching this video.

I am confused. This video is the antithesis of most of your prior videos.

absolutely searing satire

I read that book that presented the theory that the Bach Cello suites were written by Bach's wife. It is a pretty weak argument, and the only "experts" who claim it to be valid also, coincidentally, happen to be outspoken raging feminist professors. It's about a million times more likely that Mrs Bach made hand copies.

Why HiFi is strictly analog?

I have a problem with anyone who thinks Nakamichi is the only cassette deck worth having. That’s insulting actually. I have two Revox decks, a B215 and B215S, as well as an NAD 6300. Neither of these are unworthy. Any of these will directly compete and beat any Nak deck made. You can hate on cassette decks all you want. Some decks weren’t hyped by reviewers or the press. What do they know. All tape media players are flawed to some extent, save the reel to reel half track decks. In a high resolving system, you can find flaws in your own components when you know what to listen for. While I respect your knowledge of audio, have you had a highly resolving system yourself? I refuse to kick streaming, but I think analog is in my DNA and we can all find something which pleases our own ears and keep our opinions to ourselves if we can’t be civil and factual. Nak decks are the only ones? Says you! Pooey, you don’t know cassette decks if that is your opinion!

What is wrong with digital.....

Sure, you can be an audiophile snob if you have $50,000 USD lying around.

This whole business is a strange, unknown world to me, and it puzzles me. David, if you actually get to read this, why do you exclude so many options? You exclude the entire realm of digital sources of music, even though (whether you like it or not) it is dominant today. You exclude cassettes (well, I do understand that, at least!), but why is reel-to-reel tape also out? Why do you make an extraordinary statement like "Reel-to-reel tape is either vintage pro audio or a different hobby entirely"? It really looks to me as if vinyl records are just about all that's left - and I am aware that vinyl has made something of a niche comeback, although I don't understand why. Why is it that vinyl is desirable in a way that digital sources, reel-to-reel tape, etc. are not? I've heard people say vinyl sounds better than anything else, but they never explain why, beyond some vague comparison along the lines of "vinyl is warm and human; digital, although very precise and accurate, is cold and inhuman". Countering that, I have also heard people say that reel-to-reel tape is the best-sounding, purest of all music media - and I think some of those who've said that have given technical reasons, specifications, backing that up. I didn't understand all that detail in the least, but it did at least seem to indicate that the claims had an objective basis. So, David (or anyone else who knows the answers), why do you exclude seemingly almost everything from your ideal way of listening to music other than vinyl? If someone could explain that to me, I would be interested to hear your thoughts. Thank you.

What rubbish. Digital is not hifi, ridiculous

Should have included CDs and then I would have finished watching the video