you know you’re the only other person I’ve bumped into with a pair! (apart from the previous owner of mine). I’m feeding mine with a pair of custom 20w ish mono blocks (built by Arthur Radford no less) and a prototype phono/pre by the late great TdP, the choice of preamp seems to have been the real deciding factor on getting the best out of the Ocellias, that and the use of audioquest oak rather than the duelund 12 that i was so fond of
Sam mentioned it’d be nice to be able to pair her 'phone to the hiffy for podcasts, playlists, and suchlike - apparently the crazed woman has embraced the C21st in a way myself and the Palaeolithic tech of the ANK DAC largely does not.
So, this:
As it says on the box - BluDento B2. There are avowedly cheaper options, and no-doubt, more technically-accomplished and pricier options, but at under £100 with the optional dongle (my lappy is also from the Stone Age and doesn’t support aptX &c.), this has amazed me by first working instantly and flawlessly, and then by sounding fucking excellent.
The last bit hit home hardest - I’ve owned earlier generations of BluTooth compatible stuff, and they were tried once and never again, as sound was MP3-tier… This thing is ridiculously clean and clear and articulate. Even with just a humble switchmode phone charger as PSU it is entirely silent in-and-of-itself.
Connectivity is good - it has an onboard DAC (which I’ve yet to try) which allows it to connect directly to an amp, and what’s more it’s an ESS ES9018K2M Sabre DAC, which I appreciate has long-since ceased to be flavour-of-the-month, but nonetheless remains a damn competent item. There are also Toslink and coaxial RCA S/PDIF outputs for an external DAC; the latter being what I’m using.
It comes bundled with a USB-A to USB-C power cable, basic RCA-RCA stereo i/c, 3.5mm stereo jackplug to dual RCA i/c, a basic fibre-optic digital cable, and a USB-A to USB-C converter plug. There’s also a pretty comprehensive and well-written user-guide. In English.
What you don’t get are any rubber feet, which given that most interconnects weigh more than this tiny box is an oversight, albeit a trivial one. There’s no supplied PSU, but any 5V USB-based PSU is fine, and of course there’s always the option to upgrade to a linear PSU. Not sure there’s much to be gained here, as it’s difficult to believe these codecs have much more resolution available beyond what I hear. Given the box has a thoroughly decent DAC inside whose functionality is barely touched, it’s a slight pity that that is not externally addressable via a hardwired port - it’d make a great little digital hub DAC, though of course size and cost would increase somewhat.
I’d guess this sort of thing is hilariously irrelevant to most of you who’ve embraced the last 25 years of technological advancements, but any fellow lumbering-sauropods might find this a useful tweak to system functionality 
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Thought about getting similar so daughter can play her music through the system,however,listening to her music upstairs,I’ve not bothered.
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got one of these for FOL #2, works well, happy to have phone through hifi
Very nice.
There’s a dedicated ‘State Of Your System’ thread for full-system writeups and updates, I’d be interested to see the full works if you fancy posting it at some point
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Apologies! New here - will find the correct place to post!
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You may find the thread titles a bit of a challenge until you get the run of this fetid corner of the www.
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Sorted for you
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Thanks!
Latest ebay purchase a pair of AKG LSM50’s - I had a pair 25 years ago they sounded excellent - I vividly remember an occasion with them sounding impressive after returning from a really loud Mary Black Concert in Oxford playing some tunes with them - Postage was just £2.38 therefore they arrived loose and rattling in the thinnest of boxes , no packing but fortunately survived. The rubber roll edges have hardened a lot but doesn’t seem to affect the sound too much. Total cost landed £26.82 - So pleased
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I’ve been looking at amps for the 2nd system, everything from pre/dac-powers to battleship integrated amps and could not find exactly what I wanted in the <£1k bracket. I wanted ideally something with some flexibility, so at least one of a DAC, Phonostage, Line Out and Processor In/Out loop and a fairly powerfull output stage but could not really find anything that did it all.
I was not really aware of the Lyngdorf amplifiers but came across the TDA2200 which looks like it meets my needs on everything apart from a Phono Input (which was the least required requirement).
It does not have a Line Out/Main in switch (like Bryston amps for example) to loop in a processor like the MiniDSP 2x4HD I have, but it does have a pretty unique additon of internal crossovers for the main speakers and line out, as well as the DSP room correction.
Well, I’ve struck a good deal (well under budget) on a used TDA2200 (upgraded to TDAi spec) from a dealer so looking forward to it!
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Finally got around to mounting this Souther tonearm recently. Its a fantastic sounding device but its a proper ball ache to set up and only works with pristine vinyl. Quirky bit of audio history.
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Look at my brand new 2nd hand Hana SL
I nearly ordered a new Technics headshell during the week, found 3 in the draw this evening which was a nice surprise. I’d planned on detaching the Nag from the one I had in use as a temporary measure.
The cart and the phono stage are working very well - quiet and detailed. Nice to hear the refined, smooth high frequency response of a decent MC.
For the money I paid (£350 with approx 30hrs use) it is beyond criticism.
Cheers @Ijrussell
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I still have mine! Very happy with it.
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I have the ML in my Voyd but still use an SL in my Genesis and have been using it for the last few weeks.
Still enjoying it, lovely cartridge.
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It reminds me of my Shelter 501mk2.
Very similar presentation.
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I bought a SH to use with the MM input but wasn’t impressed with it.
Then got an SL and used it with a SUT and was very impressed 
Still doesn’t beat the IQ3 though.
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I own both an SL and an IQ2 and there is very little, if anything, between them.