Denon DL110 Phono Cartridge

[StevenSurprenant]

I bought one of these and I didn't like it, but once it broke in, it's amazing!

It has buckets of detail and for lack of a better word, musicality. It's everything the other reviewers said it was.

I guess the best thing about it is that with the Audio Technica AT120E I would sit there analyzing the sound, with the Denon, I just enjoy the music.

[Feanor]

I bought one of these and I didn't like it, but once it broke in, it's amazing!

It has buckets of detail and for lack of a better word, musicality. It's everything the other reviewers said it was.

I guess the best thing about it is that with the Audio Technica AT120E I would sit there analyzing the sound, with the Denon, I just enjoy the music.

Several years ago I bought a DL-110; I used with an old Technics SL-D2 direct drive turntable and a (cheap) TCC TC-750 phono preamp. The DL-110 sounded promising but soon after I abandoned my LP listening due to relatively few recordings and the fact that I was moving to computer files exclusively.

The TT, cartridge, and phono pre are presently languishing in the basement.

[StevenSurprenant]

I understand why people go with a server. I just rebuilt my phono preamp with great results and now with this Denon cartridge, I am ready to create some FLAC files of my records. I wanted the best sound I could afford before I went to this trouble.

Personally, the vinyl side of my system sounds a great deal better than the digital side. I did record some records before, using a different phono preamp and my AT120E at 24/196 and I couldn't tell the recordings apart from the original vinyl. Well anyway, it was very close. When I reduced the bit rate to 16/44.1 the sound went flat. It sounded just like the rest of my CD's. It was this way playing from the computer or from a disk in the CD player. So, I figure on getting a FLAC player or some other way to keep these files in tack. Perhaps a music server? I really prefer to use disks, but we'll see.

I did set up my computer as a server, but it was awkward to use since it's in a different room.

I am using a Denon 61F (vintage) turntable which sounds very good to my ears.

[Feanor]

Personally, the vinyl side of my system sounds a great deal better than the digital side. I did record some records before, using a different phono preamp and my AT120E at 24/196 and I couldn't tell the recordings apart from the original vinyl. Well anyway, it was very close. When I reduced the bit rate to 16/44.1 the sound went flat. It sounded just like the rest of my CD's. It was this way playing from the computer or from a disk in the CD player. So, I figure on getting a FLAC player or some other way to keep these files in tack. Perhaps a music server? I really prefer to use disks, but we'll see.

You aren't the first person to say that a good digital rip from LP sounds identical to the original. IMO, this is pretty much proof that the problems with digital aren't the medium itself but the production approach that recording engineers choose to use for CDs.

Again IMO, the majority of recordings are too bright, (at least true for classical music). I use a digital equalized, (another advantage of digital playback), to ease off highs starting about 4kHz and going down to about -6dB at around 10kHz. Even so many recordings are very sharp, especially in the top highs, e.g. string and brass instruments. But NOT ALL CDs sound harsh or too bright, only some.