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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$250.00
from eBay (above is Eu Summary:
Well, let's see. Beats every digital media I own, including my superb SACDs, Audio DVDs and everything else I got in the believe having bought the best sounding Audiophile digital media available. The good old black, dusty, plastic platter proved me wrong. Of course it needed a Linn Axis to tickle out the essence and full potential of the good old vinyl.
I'm an enthusiastic newcomer to analogue audio. This is my first turntable at all. I bought it more or less a year ago and made some minor upgrades to it. The Linn K5 cartridge that came with it was a piece of crap. Changed it to a K18 mkII, which was much better, but the Dynavector overshadows them with ease. I rounded up my initial upgrade challenge with the Audio Analogue pre and the vdH Cables. In terms of performance enhancement achieved by adding these, it equals the boost a biker on the tour the France would feel after taking everyone's doping ration at once...lucky me the sound quality boost is permanent and reliable unlike the boost these overpaid biotech athletes collapse of after every stage. Ok, so much for this little detour into the world of healthy sports... I use my Axis with the Akito + Dynavector 10x4 MkII + Audio Analogue Aria phono stage + van den Hul First Ultimate cables on my DENON AVR3805 + SAC monos + Tannoy S8 + all vdH conn. home theatre setup. I know that there are 100 times more expensive turntables out there, which sound even better for sure. But having experienced mines mind-blowing sound permanently sending shivers up and down mine spine, I'm getting a little concerned what would the experience be like with a 20.000€ Clearaudio phono setup with reference grade Mark Levinson or Burmester components for many 10.000s of €s. Considering the monstrous price gap between my units for a few 1000€ and the shiny ultra high-end setups costing sometimes over 100.000€, I have to admit I can't imagine what sound must be coming out of them after I was convinced that the listening experience given by the Axis is already only a hair's breadth away from absolute perfect. After all the shivers and emotional "woooha" reactions that have already overcome me thanks to my Axis...I probably would break out in tears in front of a 100.000€ audiophile reference system... I think I better go now and google for the next high-end show coming to town ;) Strengths:
The SOUND...dynamic and light like a feather at the same time, broad stage, detailed room -when Miles Davis blows his trumpet, I see in the truest sense of the word his head with the trumpet in front of his mouth approximately 2,5m in front of my sitting position the "sweet point" and could pinpoint him with my finger-. This may sound childish, but having these kinds of experiences after the lame DVD+CD era, well I might get a little enthusiastic from time to time :) Weaknesses:
The MANUFACTURING QUALITY... I know this is not a today's piece, but I owned some German made similar vintage components and they were mint like on the first day, even after 30years. On the contrary this UK made beautiful sounding turntable looks like it had been dropped from a roof more than once. The hinges suggest they were made by a tired 5 year old in a Chinese playhouse. The previous owner tried to fix the broken hinge with the help of some paper clips ant something that looks mostly like tarmac. But even they weren't broken, the lid after opening goes into free fall back onto the chassis, which does the laminate very good. Last but not least the 3 suspension feet are slowly but surely tearing out of the base plate. Despite all these I DO LOVE MY AXIS...and after all what does matter is the sound not the look...cheers Similar Products Used:
No turntables owned prior
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