Vinyl Audio

Equipment => Vinyl Ripping and Archiving => Topic started by: drtebi on October 12, 2015, 04:53:21 AM

Title: New Korg MR-2000S user joined VinylAudio...
Post by: drtebi on October 12, 2015, 04:53:21 AM
Hi there,

I should actually start by saying thank-you, because it's here at VinylAudio.net where I learned a lot about the Korg MR-2000S.

Let me try to make a long story short... I got a great deal on a Tascam DAT recorder last year, and listened to my old DAT tapes again, and made a couple nice mix tapes. I just loved the idea that I don't need to turn on a computer, click here and there, updates, restart, battery empty etc. With the DAT recorder it just meant power on, press play, and done.

But eventually I got a little tired of the rewinding and forwarding of tape, and started to check out the latest greatest studio recorders. I also researched many of the network streamers that are out today (from a few $ to a few thousand!). But in video reviews it often seemed that they had a long boot-up time, or slow menus, and other limitations. And hardly any of those record, so my choices became smaller. The Tascam DA-3000 seemed the best choice for recording, since SD/CF cards are cheap and mean unlimited storage, but I didn't like that the Tascam cannot read MP3s, which would be convenient at times (without having to convert to WAV). And as a pure "Player" I found the Korg also quicker and better to use. Plus, it comes with the free AudioGate software, so conversion from DSD to 24bit/192khz is easy.

Well, so I decided to get the Korg. On eBay is a Japanese dealer that sells these still new, and the newest model has a 128GB SSD Drive built in. At VinylAudio I learned about the possibility to upgrade to a bigger drive, which I may do at a later point. But for now 128GB will be fine.

It took barely 7 days and the Korg arrived; brand new, in a nice sleek black design. And the voltage is actually universal now, so I can use it in Europe, when I move back there in a couple of years, without a transformer (Another thing the Tascam can't do).

But let's cut to the chase: I did some test recordings of some Vinyl, and it's really as good as everyone says—it's extremely difficult to differentiate between the original and the DSD recording. I tried a few different amps/pre-amps (I have an older Musical Fidelity X-150, an even older Yamaha A-700, a Sansui AU-5500 [fully restored], and a Nakamichi CA-5). While I like the Sansui amp the most at line-level, I did find the Nakamichi phono Pre-amp clearer sounding. So I now do all my recordings with the Nakamichi (in the living room), and then move the Korg back to the Office where I have the Sansui.

The sound quality is amazing! Great open and clear sound. I like a lot of different music, but prefer stuff that's played by humans, especially with lots of drums and percussion (I am a drummer myself). It's amazing how much more especially percussion comes through on Vinyl; cymbals, congas etc. are just so real now, loving it.

At the moment I am still trying to work out my "system". I am set on the Nakamichi, but I am hunting for a better turntable. Mine runs a tiny bit slow... and with some cartridges and certain vinyl albums I get a lot of sibilance.

I would love to exchange some more tips and tricks for vinyl ripping. Oh, I forgot to mention, I found ClickRepair, and am quite happy with it. I tried a couple other programs, but ClickRepair, after tweaking the settings a bit, took away hardly anything from the music, except the clicks of course.

If anyone has some suggestions to the sibilance problems, that would be great. I can post some examples of that dilemma.

Well, it did become a longer post than intended, I hope it wasn't too boring!
Title: Re: New Korg MR-2000S user joined VinylAudio...
Post by: detroyt on March 18, 2016, 09:01:06 PM
Hi
I too have a Korg MR2000s but never used it because i have had no T/T but hope to have one soon, also I have a Audio Research PH5, can you plug T/T directly into Korg or would I need to go through AR PH5.
Title: Re: New Korg MR-2000S user joined VinylAudio...
Post by: drtebi on March 19, 2016, 07:21:26 AM
You will need a phono pre-amp. Most older amplifiers have that built-in already. Then connect your MR-2000S to your amplifier's tape input with "play-back" and "record", just like a tape deck.

Your Audio Research PH5 is a phono-stage... I am not very familiar with this unit. It might be possible to connect a turntable to the PH5 input, and the MR-2000S directly to its output. Then you could monitor your sound through the headphone jack on the Korg.


If that doesn't work, I would recommend to look into some vintage audio gear from the 80s and earl 90s, that's when the best stuff was made (e.g. when quality was still more important than profit). Great turntables were made then too. I prefer the direct drive turntables, the hassle with belt-driven decks makes no sense to me  ;)
Title: Re: New Korg MR-2000S user joined VinylAudio...
Post by: BSD2000 on March 25, 2016, 06:08:30 PM
Drtebi beat me to it.  ;)

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