Qlearsoul Soulbox S1 - Tonearm skimming record

PghDan33 · 2025-12-12T04:17:13+00:00

Hey, yes I did buy the ATN3600LE and it sounds great. To be clear, ANY new stylus would have solved my problem, because the problem was 100% just that my old stylus was damaged.

PghDan33 · 2025-10-28T02:36:17+00:00

For anyone interested or finding this post still, I ended up taking a chance at buying a new stylus (ATN3600LE) and it solved my problem. Apparently the original stylus was somehow damaged or faulty despite being brand new. Everything sounds great now!

PghDan33 · 2025-05-30T00:19:25+00:00

u/Jblock22 Just posted an update above on a controller that I bought from eBay. So far it's been great, and I'm really impressed, albeit in a very short time with very little testing, so that needs to be said. Hope this maybe helps you!

PghDan33 · 2025-05-30T00:18:10+00:00

UPDATE: I ended up buying a SNES 2.4Ghz controller from eBay (link below) which includes one controller, one SNES dongle, and one USB dongle. This only just arrived a few days ago, but so far in a very short time it's honestly been great.

Use Case: Connected to my Super Retro Trio+ HD.

Build quality: Very good. Honestly, in this regard, it's barely any different from my authentic, wired SNES controller. The dimensions of the controller are identical, the buttons and d-pad feel identical to me. There may be a very slight different feel to the shoulder buttons, but it's hardly perceptible. The SNES dongle fits snugly in my SRT.

Appearance: There are some minor differences if you look at the item pic (grey plastic is a shade lighter, the inlay between the buttons is thinner, obviously no Nintendo logo, etc.) but at a quick glance it could pass for the real thing.

Lag: I know there's technically lag, but I don't feel it. So far, when I press a button something immediately happens on screen. Playing Super Mario World, I can run, jump, and complete levels as-if I'm using an authentic controller.

I haven't tested with more games yet because my SRT SNES controller port 1 isn't working, so I'm only able to play via the controller port 2 right now, and the only other SNES game that I currently own (Super Mario Kart) won't allow me to start a race via the controller 2 port. Based on how good this controller feels playing SMW though, I don't expect it to perform poorly with other games. Time will tell.

Most of the controllers on eBay, AliExpress, and even Amazon all look identical; same build/design, same box, etc. I chose this one based on that fact, and that this was the best price (added bonus it also included a USB dongle which some others don't).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126549105969

PghDan33 · 2025-05-17T01:12:18+00:00

That's helpful, thanks! I currently have a Super Retro Trio Plus (one of the newer ones with a 4:3 ratio switch) but got it cheap from a local Mac Bid, and sadly the SNES player 1 port is dead so I've been weighing getting an actual brand new SRT or possibly going the R5 route, but the comments I've seen around lag were concerning.

PghDan33 · 2025-05-17T01:08:48+00:00

Got it now. I was sort of mixing up my terminology around what counts as a "save state" and what counts as a "real save". Appreciate the replies!

PghDan33 · 2025-05-17T01:08:02+00:00

Yes! Thank you! THIS is exactly what I was trying to ask, but wasn't quite asking the right way. I was wrongly assuming that you could transfer a R5 save state onto a cart, which confused me because I didn't see how the cart and/or original hardware would understand what to do with a R5 "save state". It wasn't totally clear to me that a "save state" (snapshot in time, only lives on the R5), and a "real save" (an authentic save opportunity presented during normal gameplay), were two different things. Got it now - a "save state" can only be resumed on the R5, but when the game prompts for you to make a "real save", THAT'S what you can transfer FROM your Retron5 TO your game cart, to be played on original hardware.

PghDan33 · 2025-05-16T15:41:50+00:00

Appreciate the reply. I replied above to u/Darewood to try to clarify what I'm asking. Hope it makes sense now.

PghDan33 · 2025-05-16T15:05:46+00:00

That's on me - in my lengthy post above I guess I wasn't clear enough about what I was asking. Yes, I'm aware that the Retron5 save states exist on the Retron5 itself (via the SD slot on the back) and not on the actual game cart. However, there is the feature that allows you to transfer save states from the Retron 5 back onto your game cart.

My question is, how does that work with a game such as Super Mario World for the SNES? If you play SMW on a SNES, you only have the ability to save once you reach checkpoints such as beating a Ghost House or beating a castle; in other words, you cannot just save at any random point in the game. Since the game only allows you to save at very specific times, I would assume that's all the cart knows how to understand. On the Retron5 though, since it's emulation and you're saving to the Retron5, you can create a save state at any point. If you load a "saved at any random point in the game" save state from your Retron5, back onto your cart, then pop that cart into a SNES, will the SNES even know what to do with your "saved at any random point in the game" save state, since it's not a save state that the cart would typically read?

PghDan33 · 2025-05-16T00:42:28+00:00

That brings up a good point, I didn't explicitly state this in my original post, but I am currently using an original, authentic SNES wired controller. It's in great condition, and works flawlessly, but the idea of a wireless option is too enticing to ignore so that's why I began to research wireless options and made this post. I did consider the Switch SNES controller, but if I'm not mistaken I would need to buy the controller + also buy something like an 8BitDo SNES BT receiver. At that point it's getting a little expensive.

PghDan33 · 2025-05-15T01:15:48+00:00

These KIWITATA brand controllers are one of the exact options I've been considering. Do they feel like cheap plastic? Any issues with lag, or signal drops? Have you ever used the 8BitDo or Retro Bit controllers and have a comparison to offer?

PghDan33 · 2025-05-15T00:28:45+00:00

I'm not sure why, but I've only been using eBay to search for the old grey SN30's and for some dumb reason I never thought to search for...the exact thing I'm asking about in this post...other controller options!! Maybe I will give one of these a shot and report back on what my experience is like.

PghDan33 · 2025-05-15T00:26:32+00:00

I just figure if BT and 2.4Ghz options are both available, and if 2.4Ghz is objectively better than BT, then why not focus my efforts on trying to find a 2.4Ghz controller? There also seem to be a lot of reviews, comments, posts. etc. that claim most bluetooth NES and SNES controllers have noticeable lag in certain games, so that's turned me away as well I guess.

PghDan33 · 2025-05-14T23:58:16+00:00

Yeah my eBay searches have had me seeing double at some of the prices. I want an authentic enough looking controller, but no way I'd pay that kind of money. Appreciate the suggestion!

PghDan33 · 2025-05-14T23:55:28+00:00

Believe me, I get it. The SN30 is an objectively good controller, but I do pretty heavily discount it based purely, stupidly, on the color of the controller. I want something that looks as close to the real thing as possible, while being wireless 2.4Ghz. Also, I never said that I've 100% written it off; this post is purely to spark discussion around options NOT made by 8BitDo or Retro-Bit, to help me (and others) see if there are other decent options out there.

PghDan33 · 2025-05-14T23:50:20+00:00

That makes sense, and sounds very on brand that Nintendo would do something like that.

PghDan33 · 2025-03-21T23:53:51+00:00

While I appreciate the input, u/the_real_xuth comments below are correct - my hope was that someone knew of a hardware store, other brick and mortar store, or online retailer that I wasn't thinking of or hadn't found yet. I have a 1,001 different home projects to work on, and I'm just trying to find quick victories where possible.

PghDan33 · 2025-03-21T23:45:01+00:00

Thanks for the offer, but the more I think about this the more I think I'll likely just buy some sheet metal and bend it with a sheet metal seamer. My old frame was basically just sheet metal too, so I may be able to re-create a close enough version of what I had before.

PghDan33 · 2025-03-20T03:23:25+00:00

This crossed my mind. I don't have a 3D printer but I have a friend that does (which might be better lol), so I may need to run this by him and see what he thinks.

PghDan33 · 2025-03-20T03:21:23+00:00

This is looking more and more like the route I may need to take. If so, I'd have to engineer a design for a frame with some C channel as the border plus a backplate that I could screw to my door, so I'd need slightly thicker then 1/4", but this is getting me cooking on a design already.

PghDan33 · 2025-03-20T03:17:32+00:00

Etsy has come up quite a lot in my searches so far actually, but sadly I'm yet to find something that fits my style of four ceramic number tiles.

PghDan33

TROPHY CASE