Minn Mark,
Waltz for Debby - OK, it's dead quiet this AM, so I thought, why not? This is a Riverside/Fantasy reissue and I've never heard any other pressing, so I've nothing to compare it to.
I started by listening via my Sennheiser HD598s plugged into the AVA Insight + EC. Now there are certainly better headphones out there. Perhaps it's the open air design, but I've come to understand that the bass at times is a little thin. No surprise, again they just seemed to lack a little weight. The Insight + EC tone controls, which I've toyed with enough to know they're smooth and on my system, provide a nice, but subtle, boost, really didn't do much for the headphones, but I'll chalk it up to the headphones.
The Insight + did a great job, so great that I pulled the headphones off a couple of times thinking my wife had gotten up early and snuck up behind me. Nope, it's the audience. I'm picking up some of what's being said here and there. An "oh yeah," that unfortunately didn't seem directed at the musicians. Where were these guys set up? Next to the bar? No, actually sounds like someone picking up glasses and clinking them as they go on a tray.
One thing about this pressing, it's pretty darned quiet and the Insight + really, um, brings out the silence! Normally I'd expect to hear some noise mixed in with the audience, but I don't. When track one applause fades out, I hear, well, not much of anything.
Then I played side one again, through the Denon and Klipsches. OK, now the audience recedes and is no longer overbearing. Still obviously there, but the headphones were making them rather annoying.
I found myself tracking Scott Lafaro's bass, noting that as he'd go up and down the scale, the Insight + tracked it quite nicely, meaning the response seemed even all the way down. Little clicks at times that made me think I was hearing nails on strings & perhaps I was. String gets hit hard and the rapid spread out & snap back vibrations, well they're certainly there. Sorry, I'm sure there's a better way to describe how differently a string sounds when it's really stressed.
I have to say Paul Motian's brushwork on Detour Ahead is nice, smooth, subtle. Better than I've heard it before? Hard to say. I can only say that this AM it does sound quite nice.
On the technical side of things, I've been able to confirm that the Insight + has helped reduce and isolate a 60Hz hum I've fought off and on for some time. In the past if I were to crank things up (with turntable at idle), I could hear it. Apparently the Sansui was a contributor, but clearly the Insight's not (I would have been pretty surprised if it was).
Yesterday I was able to dress cables a bit, so took a few minutes to chart the noise floor. I can still chart the 60Hz & harmonics, with 60Hz peaking at -86dB and the rest stair-stepping down, but still above of the noise floor. I should say that I'm charting using Audacity and I'm not at all convinced that the numbers are all that accurate. Still it does help me with basic diagnostics.
In any event, I know the the line to the 'table is leaking, & that directing it away from the signal leads in the 'table does help. A little surprised that now it's clearly only minimally related to the motor. It only drops a few dB when the motor's idle, but sinks below the noise floor when I disconnect the line from the wall
While I can't hear it at all at this point, I don't like seeing it because I have to assume it's causing some problems, but I can crank everything up and all I hear is the gentle hiss of the floor. Just something I seem to always be obsessing on, so when time permits I'll obsess a little more.
Jim