Back over to the lenco with my arm on it, playing rush - moving pictures, and it hasnt quite got the bounce and flow of the oracle but everything is there on a plate
Enjoyment comes from a different angle
it makes no sense.
Im not about to swap my lencos for the oracle it doesnt have the sound that i want, but having spent some time with it i can appreciate what the oracle does do, and appreciate why people swear by them. They seem to have a decent following and dont come up for sale very often
As i mentioned before it is kind of like stepping back in time to listen to, its a different type of sound that i remember from my lp12 playing days but without the screechy sound that the one i used had.
The thing is, i personally have been using the same or similar decks since 2011 when i sold the yamaha and the denon dp2000 dd, and a luxman pd something after getting made redundant. At the time i got shut of everything apart from the jbe which i couldnt bear to part with and one very ratty lenco that started all this silliness off, so ive had a very consistent vinyl sound, and refined it to where i have it now. So i have got used to it and somewhat narrow minded about what is good and what is not.
The xerxes sounded crap with the rb300 and the ortofon cart, and the lack of vta adjustment made it worse. With the tabriz and the dynavector on it it pricked my ears up.
The oracle has done the same thing in a different way.
The thorens td124 also had a different blend of qualities to my lencos and i can understand why they have the following they do and the price to match
Its nice to have access to things that i wouldnt usually be able to hear, a perk of the job so to speak and i think its nice to be able to compare the vinyl sound i have to what i could have if i went in a different direction. Id never have had the opportunity to try a 124 or oracle at home, i could have listened to either at steves, but in a system i dont know its not possible to draw meaningful conclusions other than the broad strokes
It has been very interesting to me to hear something different in the xerxes and the oracle. The xerxes is a project that is interesting and will be useful to me to further develop the arm