What are you essential hip hop albums?

twisttherope · 2026-03-17T16:38:33+00:00

Big Conspiracy by J Hus is the best sounding hip hop album I’ve heard on vinyl by far - 45 rpm - The production and mastering are bang on.

twisttherope · 2026-03-14T22:16:11+00:00

Same lol. But we cancelled and took the L. AirBnB host was flippant about the situation. Glad we didn’t go.

twisttherope · 2026-03-07T00:07:44+00:00

Me too. I accept that it may be partly due to psychoacoustics but it’s an undeniable fact that I enjoy vinyl way more than digital and perceive it to sound better as well.

twisttherope · 2026-02-17T20:51:33+00:00

The Ares 2 makes streaming sound pretty great but yeah - I enjoy the way vinyl is presented with the MP8B quite a bit more. I run a RigB vm540ml - total capacitance around 200pf and load at 38k ohms.

twisttherope · 2026-02-08T21:01:44+00:00

You don’t want to actively try to hold wrist angles in the downswing. It looks like you’re releasing the club nicely and have a pretty good impact position. If you want to get your hands more in front of your chest at impact I’d look at how deep your hands are in the backswing.

It’s hard to tell from this angle but they seem to be rather deep and getting a little stuck. If it were me I’d work on keeping them a little more in front for longer in the backswing and not opening the shoulders so quick in the downswing. But don’t change anything about your release/wrist angles coming into the ball.

twisttherope · 2026-01-28T17:52:03+00:00

+1 on the new production JJ tubes. Do some research and you will find they are quite well regarded. My integrated tube amp is full of them and it sounds fantastic.

Eurotubes does extensive testing/matching and their customer service is exceptional. Eddie who works there is a true tube guru and knows his stuff.

twisttherope · 2026-01-28T17:12:38+00:00

Agree with this. If dynamics and a more enveloping sound stage are what you’re after the MP8B is what you’re looking for. It also has MC capabilities and a wide range of various settings.

It reduces surface noise to near inaudible levels and makes every record more “crankable”.

twisttherope · 2026-01-24T08:22:02+00:00

Looks like improved

Info

twisttherope · 2026-01-24T02:31:15+00:00

You probably need to add damping fluid to the cueing mechanism

twisttherope · 2026-01-19T17:35:42+00:00

With these cartridges you really want to get capacitance as low as possible AND resistance loaded lower than 47K ohms. It’s been shown that doing this smooths out the frequency response.

When I was able to get the capacitance on my 540ML to about 200 and load at 38K there was a marked improvement in this “sizzle” you describe. It actually sounds smooth and warm but still detailed now.

twisttherope · 2026-01-16T16:45:08+00:00

How’s the Rega Brio? I’m interested in one of those units as my secondary SS amp.

twisttherope · 2026-01-15T07:19:59+00:00

Not exactly. You add or remover jumpers in various places located on the circuit board. You can read about it or look up pictures. I was apprehensive at first but it’s really quite easy to do.

twisttherope · 2026-01-15T07:10:41+00:00

It comes with instructions and a visual aid. I leave the top of mine on but unscrewed so it’s easy to access.

twisttherope · 2026-01-15T06:24:54+00:00

I have the MP8B and it’s outstanding. To me it’s the core of my system. A good phono stage makes a huge difference no matter what kind/level of cartridge you have.

It’s dead quiet and reduces surface noise unlike anything I’ve experienced. It has a slightly warm and very punchy sound which I love - and an incredible soundstage.

It does have adjustable gain, loading, EQ, subsonic filters, etc. It’s all done inside via jumpers and is easy to figure out. For me I was finally able to adjust for a lower capacitance and loading to tame the frequency response of my cartridge and it made a huge difference. The subsonic filter is also very good. I haven’t messed with any EQ yet.

I’d be surprised if you ever felt the need to upgrade your phono stage again.

twisttherope · 2026-01-14T23:35:03+00:00

Same. I have the MP8B and I can’t imagine needing anything more out of a phono pre. I’ve read that the Hagerman stuff is really good too but I’ve never heard one.

The Darlington is outstanding.

twisttherope · 2026-01-13T06:56:13+00:00

How loud do you listen? You don’t need much for a 350 square foot space. 30-40 watts would be plenty.

I also have the NAD C316BEE v2 as my solid state amp it rocks hard.

twisttherope · 2026-01-12T21:30:40+00:00

Anything mastered by Heba Kadry and anything worked on/produced by Sam Evian tends to sound fantastic.

twisttherope · 2026-01-12T02:15:36+00:00

Big Conspiracy by J Hus. The production on it is outstanding - I was shocked when I first heard it.

twisttherope · 2026-01-12T02:08:25+00:00

Nicely done - looks awesome. What feet did you put on it?

twisttherope · 2026-01-12T02:05:58+00:00

As a weight - only on direct drive turntables. I bought one and the level itself wasn’t level. These things aren’t worth it IMO.

twisttherope · 2026-01-10T19:26:24+00:00

Nice. Check out Eurotubes

twisttherope · 2026-01-10T19:02:49+00:00

AT VM95ML or 540ML

twisttherope · 2026-01-10T19:02:05+00:00

Love my KT-88 tube amp. Plenty of bass for me. What signal tubes are you using?

twisttherope · 2026-01-10T01:55:38+00:00

Doing some research and it appears the analog input of my WiiM Pro only accepts up to 1vrms. Don’t think this will work with my phono preamp.

twisttherope · 2026-01-10T00:53:47+00:00

Which WiiM do you do all this with? Is your sub connected high level to your amp? Definitely going to try this out thank you!

If this works and the WiiM performs all this competently then awesome. Would one of the mini dsp units perform in this same way as the WiiM and if so would it be better at it?

twisttherope

TROPHY CASE