Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
There were a ton of problems with my turntable.
The platter wasn't machined smoothly where it sits on the spindle, so I had to file off an imperfection to get it to rotate without stuttering. The spindle was not mounted level in the plinth. Therefore, even a perfect platter would sit tilted slightly but visibly noticeable in relation to the plinth.
The azimuth of the tonearm was off. This was a manufacturing defect in the tonearm where the headshell receptable mounts to the arm. The screw hole that affixes the headshell socket (not the headshell itself) was drilled slightly off-center, which causes the headshell/cartridge to sit tilted sideways in relation to the record.
The wow and flutter was noticeably audible on sustained notes, especially acoustic instruments in the midrange, such as piano or strings. This wasn't a manufacturing defect, but was in-line with the specs.
No matter what I did with the turntable, I couldn't tame a nasty sibilance problem, even when using an AT-440MLb with MicroLine stylus, and properly aligning the cart with the proper equipment, and setting tracking force using a digital scale. This was true for any tracking force within the cart manufacturer's specifications. I even tried adjusting the VTA by using various aftermarket mats of varying thicknesses and a USB microscope, but couldn't get it to stop hissing on esses like a scorned woman.
Also, the pivot is in the headshell, not the arm. This means, despite having a swappable headshell, you are limited to using TEAC's proprietary shell with the pivot. You can physically install a standard headshell, but you'll have alignment issues.
I will say that the built-in phono preamp was surprisingly good. I liked it way better than the Schiit Mani, U-Turn Pluto, and a little bit better than the MM phono pre in my vintage SAE P102 Preamplifier.
I ended up replacing the tonearm with the S-shaped one from the TN-400S, removing the spindle, milling the hole in the plinth flat and reinstalling the spindle.
Now, after these mods/repairs, I have a TT whose sound I like quite a bit for the price with the internal phono preamp (except for the audible wow/flutter).
Would I go back and do it all over again? No... Except, that beautiful gloss cherry finish with aluminum highlights does make a tempting piece of mid-fi furniture once you get the kinks worked out.