Finding your groove: getting into vinyl with Audio-Technica
I’d like to think that I could’ve been friends with the late Hideo Matsushita, founder of Japanese Hi-Fi powerhouse Audio-Technica. If I could, I’d travel back in time to 1960’s Tokyo, where a young Matsushita curated “vinyl listening sessions” at the Bridgestone Museum of Arts, exposing visitors to the sounds and possibilities of high end audio and the warmth of vinyl records. I imagine sitting with him in a mod coffee shop, listening to the stories of what he witnessed in those sessions, the conversations he had with visitors, and what ultimately motivated him to head back to his small apartment above a ramen restaurant and start an audio company of his own. In the histories I’ve read regarding AT’s humble beginnings, Matsushita’s motives seem clear. Produce high end audio at affordable prices, bringing audio excellence into spaces and to customers that simply didn’t have access to it before. His first two products, the AT-1 and AT-3 phono cartridges did exactly that, and...
Dec 6, 2023
Everything else I could live without: Monolith M1060 (×2), Philips SHP9500(×2), B&O H7, Denon AH-D2000, Fostex TH-X00 MH and second PH modded into a PS, 1 More-Triple Driver Over-Ear, Philips A5 PRO (most horrible comfort, okay sound), AIAIAI TMA-2 (horrible sound quality, bad comfort). Unknowns right now are two I have eventually coming in - Audeze Mobius and Modhouse Argon Mk3s (sent in my T40RP Mk3s, which I do like.) And I'm really interested in the FLC 8S IEMs. While IEMs aren't really my preference at all for music listening, they are unbeatable when you need portability AND isolation on the go - the FLC 8S are also highly tunable for sound signature as well.