Vinyl Revival: Who Needs It?

Vinyl Revival: Who Needs It?

I really don't understand this vinyl rvival business which seems to be strong in both the world of expensive hi-fi as well as making a come-back in the 7 inch single market. Records operate at a severe disadvantage to digital media. They are prone to dust, scratchs and other general wear and tear. The record decks are frequently like thoroughbred horses - difficult to predict. The set up needs constant attention and getting good isolation from people walking past was often very difficult. Trying to find specific tracks on records was tricky, with a danger of dropping the tone-arm down too hard. Records themslves had to be turned over half way through - a pain when listening to longer classical pieces. There seems to be more than a touch of romance involved in all this. Below I have looked at the review of the Avid Diva II turntable reviewed in the January Hi-FI News and then compared it with a review of the latest Arcam CD / SACD player along with an integrated amplifier.

Avid Diva II Turntable Review: Hi-Fi News Jan 2009

The Avid Diva II Turntable

The Diva II is an 'entry levl' model for around £1,000. On top of that you need to buy a tonearm and cartridge. The Hi-News review had a tone-arm and cartridge combination for £840. On top of that there is an isolation mat on offer for £190 which I would have thought essential. Keeping the dust off is essential and this will cost a further £70 or £350 for a full acrylic cover. With the necssary 'accessories' we are talking a minumum of £2,100. Not exactly 'entry level' to my mind.

When it came to assessing the sound of the Avid the reviewer pointed out that there was a weakness in the deep bass:

But to complain about the lack of very low bass would be churlish, given that the Diva II cost £1,000 and as such is designed to be partnered with modest amplification and speakers. (John Bamford Hi-Fi News Jan 2009 p 76)

Well hang on a second I don't expect a functioning front end of a hi-fi costing over £2,000 to be partnered with weak amplification and tiny little stand mounted speakers with no bass extension. The review doesn't mention the amplification in the review set up although the speakers were Revel Ultima Studio 2 Floorstanders.

Revel Ultima Studio 2 Floorstanding Speakers

Well I get deep bass out of my cheap Denon DVD player and the one before as well as the Teac VDRS 10 CD player feeding a pair of Monitor Audio Studio 12 Floorstanders. This seems to me a significant weakness in the Avid Diva so I don't know how the sound scored an 82% on the Hi-Fi News Pie-Chart. By comparison over the page there was a review of the latest Arcam CD/SACD and integrated amp which come in at £2,100 for both!

Arcam CD37 CD Player / Arcam A38 Integrated Amplifier

The Arcam CD37 - It is also an SACD Player

The CD37 is now the flagship CD player in the Arcam stable replacing the CD36. Not only is it significantly cheaper than the CD36 it has the important capability to play SACDs. Here I repeat the Steve Harris comments on the bass quality of the player which one can compare with the Avid Diva record deck:

With Easy Money from Rickie Lee Jones the CD37 produced a bass sound that was big and warm... (Hi-Fi News Jan 2009 p 80)

When it came to SACD replay the machine gaind very favourable comments:

...the player clearly showed the finer detail available from the SACD layer...The whole stage seemed much bigger and everything became a little more relaxed. (Ibid)

Listening to the player and the amplifier in combination elicited the comment that:

...the player really did have an exceptional ability to extract detail and space from CD recordings....(Ibid)

The SACD sounded even better although little was said about this sadly! This is because I'm a recent convert to SACD. It seems to me weighing up both reviews that the Arcam SACD /CD player easily beats the Avid deck plus one gets a free amplifier thrown in for the same money as the AVID if you want to look at it like that.

Arcam A38 Integrated Amplifier

Choice between pair of Arcams or the Avid: A No-Brainer!

Well guess how I would spend my £2,200 on the basis of these reviews? I should say here that the review didn't mention what speakers were being used.

: 07 Jan 2009 06:18 |  Tags: Arcam A38 Arcam Cd37 Avid Diva II Hi Fi Matters Hi Fi Turntables Vinyl Revival |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem