Tagged: vinyl

Turntable earthing fixes most phono hum problems. Here's how grounding actually works, why it fails, and how to track down a noisy connection.

Felt, rubber, cork or acrylic — turntable mats and platter materials change the sound more than most upgrades. Here's what actually works.

Qobuz vs Tidal compared for vinyl collectors who want a digital half that matches their records, not just a bigger catalogue.

Adding a subwoofer to a valve amp system can tighten bass, cut distortion and let low-power tubes sing. Here's how to do it properly.

Priya Anand on why vinyl systems reward front-end spending over amp wattage, and how to split a hi-fi budget so the stylus does the heavy lifting.

Overhang and tracking force get all the attention, but azimuth and VTA are where a properly set-up turntable actually separates itself from a mediocre one.

Tracking force outside the maker's range doesn't just risk your records — it quietly wrecks the detail and channel balance you paid for. Here's how to get it right.

Cartridge, phono stage, isolation, platter mat — the order you upgrade a budget turntable in matters more than the total you spend.

A protractor and twenty minutes will do more for your vinyl sound than most cartridge upgrades. Here's how to actually get alignment right.

Most phono stages ship set to 47k ohms and most cartridges never get properly matched. Here's what loading actually does and how to hear it.

Where you put the turntable on the rack matters as much as the rack itself. Here's how boundary distance and shared surfaces feed feedback into the cartridge.

A turntable that isn't level throws off tracking force, anti-skate and bearing wear. Here's how to check and fix it properly, not with a marble.

Anti-skate isn't a "set and forget" dial. Here's how to actually get it close on a budget turntable without a test record.

Air-bearing linear-tracking tonearms promise zero tracking error. I've lived with them. Here's what they actually fix, and what they quietly break.

A vinyl obsessive explains why the turntable and the Atmos rig want different rooms, different furniture, and different evenings entirely.

A subwoofer and a turntable sharing a room can turn a great pressing into mud. Here's how to place both so bass and vinyl actually get along.

Overhang, zenith angle and azimuth decide more about vinyl sound quality than the cartridge you buy. Here's the engineering, explained by a digital guy.

Vinyl and a dedicated Atmos set-up can share a room, but rarely share a rack. Here's why, and what I'd actually do about it.

From air-bearing platters to outboard motor pods, what separates a reference turntable from a very good one, and why the gains get smaller as the price climbs.

A former record shop owner on the real spending order for a turntable system, and where extra dollars stop buying you anything.

Priya Anand spent years dismissing streamers as beside the point. Here's what changed her mind — and what a good digital source actually does for a valve-based system.

Phono stages range from $50 to $5,000. Dave Okafor cuts through the hype to show where the money genuinely matters — and where it really doesn't.

Building a vinyl system means making four spending decisions that compound on each other. Here's where the money actually moves the needle — and where it doesn't.

Resistive loading and capacitance aren't just set-and-forget specs. Marcus Vale explains how they reshape your cartridge's frequency response and why the numbers matter.

Overhang, azimuth, VTA, SRA — four alignment parameters that determine whether your cartridge sounds sublime or merely acceptable. Sofia Laurent explains what each one does and how to set it properly.

Phono stage gain and loading decide whether a cartridge sounds thin, dull or right. Marcus Vale explains the maths, the settings and the listening tests.

The Audio-Technica AT-MCD1 cartridge pairs a one-piece CVD diamond cantilever and stylus with a dual moving-coil generator, priced at US$11,000.

Ortofon unveiled its most advanced moving-coil cartridge ever at High End Vienna on June 4, 2026. Here's why the MC Vertex matters for serious vinyl listeners.

The RIAA confirmed US vinyl hit $1.04 billion in 2025 — its 19th straight year of growth. We look at what the milestone means for AU buyers.

ARIA's 2025 figures confirm seven consecutive years of growth for Australian recorded music, with vinyl revenue rising 4.1% to A$46.3 million.

UK vinyl revenue rose 19.9% to £174.7m in 2025, a 30-year high, per BPI data. Here is what it means for Australian record buyers and their systems.

Hellbender Vinyl has opened a Philadelphia pressing plant built on its Softwax acquisition. Here's why an indie East Coast site matters for vinyl supply.

Bruno Mars is the ambassador for Record Store Day 2026 on April 18, with The Collaborations vinyl and 350-plus titles. Here is what Australian buyers need.