I ordered an Orbit Theory from U-turn Audio last Wednesday (while I was still in Massachusetts) from one of my neighborhood record stores here in Portland, Oregon, and yesterday I drove to The Record Pub to pick it up. It is the first “high end” turntable I’ve ever purchased. Makes me feel like a grown-up. I took my time last night making a space for it and putting it together, figuring out how to calibrate the counterweight, and choosing which albums I would play first. I had no clue what kind of difference my ears could detect, despite the fact that I had read or watched a number of laudatory reviews singing this turntable’s praises. I kind of suspected that I would notice un uptick in audio quality, but I was really not prepared for the results. The results were fabulous, unexpectedly great.
Rather than immediately continuing the A to Z listening challenge right where I left off at the end of the letter M, I instead chose a recent acquisition to listen to first, an album with a clear, clean, mostly acoustic instrumentation and super strong vocals in the very front of the mix. I chose the new album by Joan As Police Woman, Real Life Evolution. It’s a jazzy, piano centric, vocally and lyrically rich pop album, and it sounded fantastic. I heard some super rich bass that I am not accustomed to, great detail everywhere else, overall a super warm sound, and no noise artifacts whatsoever. My belief in vinyl lately has been somewhat challenged by the spotty performance of my Pro-Ject VT turntable, and I have off and on been blaming the medium and not the delivery system. I think I know better now.
This morning I spun two more recent acquisitions for a variety of sonic experiences. I spun the new Death Cab for Cutie album, I Built You A Tower, and immediately after that I gave Volume 2 from Angine de Poitrine a spin. Both sounded terrific. Both were essentially free of noise. Both sounded full in every spot on the spectrum. Both records made me exceedingly happy that I had taken the plunge for this turntable. Soon I will return to the listening challenge vigorously and with great enthusiasm. But first, or maybe simultaneously, I want to hold on to the momentum I gained from last week’s Writing Camp and commit myself to one more read-through and edit of my most recent novel, before finding myself some (what do you call them?) Beta-Readers. Cheers.
michael jarmer 