Recent content by matthewpianist

The DMP-A6gen2 is excellent. I use mine quite heavily, across Qobuz and Presto Music as well as with internal storage I added. It's very stable, the app is nice to use and the sound quality is superb - using the built-in DAC of course, seeing as my amp is completely analogue. Personally, I...

I (quite briefly) had a Technics SL-1210 MkV, which I wish I had kept, and I'd love to have one again, though my AT-LP5X is very good. Other than that, I've been back and forth with a few 'nostalgia' items over the years, and it has never quite worked out. One of the systems that worked out best...

Perhaps strangely, for someone who has been so obsessed with hi-fi for most of my life, it's the last thing I would choose as home decor, but perhaps that's because I've become tired of big boxes taking up lots of space and dominating a room.

I've got a few lying around. My Sony CDP770 and CDP990 are both unpredictable, as is the Technics SL-PG590A (which has actually had a new belt and laser). I have a Philips CD104 which has the CDM1 transport, and it works perfectly other than the drawer sometimes needs a push to go that last...

In my teaching days I had a pair of KEF Coda 8s in the classroom. One of them got knocked onto the floor and promptly fell apart into a number of pieces. I wouldn't expect anything to survive the fall, but that proved to be a particularly cheaply built thing. I once knocked a Mordaunt-Short...

I've never been. What level of kit is normally displayed there?

I've found too many filter and 'correction' options to be a distraction, and they just end up getting on my nerves. Room/acoustic treatment can make a big difference, but for most of us it isn't realistic, and we're lucky to be able to set a system up in at least a half decent space with a good...

Not to be pedantic (!) but that's not a Brio-R, it's the Brio (no -R) that replaced it. Doesn't change your question or the responses though. Rega amps don't have standby, just hard power buttons.

Mordaunt-Short MS10i speakers from the 90s. £30, in as-new condition, and they're as good if not better than pretty much any reasonably affordable speaker available new today. In fact, I've pulled them out of storage this week, and they have surprised me yet again.

In all likelihood it will result in hi-fi so transparent that a huge number of recordings will become very difficult to listen to because of the imperfections in them. It is simply impossible to truly recreate the original performance, only the recording that captured it. It does however have...

Barclay James Harvest - Once Again. It was recorded there.

The Marantz is the more confidence-inspiring of the two in use - I've used both. The Arcam has a nice, solid casing, but in operation it feel sluggish and fussy compared to the Marantz.

Look at the new Dali Kupids. They even come with the wall mounts, and there's a range of colours.

The current Marantz CD60 is nothing special, and not worth the extra over the CD6007, unless you want the hefty looking box. The DCD-1700NE is a nicer object and offers SACD playback, but again, my experience with the previous model doesn't suggest it's worth the outlay. I only dealt with...

Okay, with a £10k budget I would get yourself to a dealer who knows LP12s and Naim kit well, and who also carries equivalent brands. Cymbiosis, Moorgate and Vickers Hi-Fi spring to mind as people who know what they are talking about and will help to ensure you use your budget for maximum benefit...