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I am looking for a replacement turntable mat. I'm wondering if you have a preference for a felt or a cork mat, or maybe another type I haven't considered? I have a Denon DP-23f turntable.
Mark Boutcher, SHERWOOD PARK, AB

Mark, the ideal turntable design is the sort that doesn't need a mat at all, because then, with a clamp, you can get the best possible rigidity of the system, and therefore recover the most detail. Few turntables are designed that way, however, and a felt mat is the best compromise, damping any possible ringing of the platter, but maintaining good rigidity. Mats made from cork, rubber, and other resilient materials will have a devastating effect on resolution.
We should add that, notwithstanding what we've just said, some people do buy such mats and swear that they hear a huge improvement. There are two possible reasons for the perceived improvement. If the turntable, arm and cartridge are mediocre, losing detail can seem like a good thing, because artificial detail can be annoying. And a thick mat (some aftermarket mats are plenty thick) will raise the record, which has the same effect as lowering the tone arm, and thereby affecting the vertical tracking angle of the catridge. A tone arm that is too low will result in exaggerated lows and wooly highs. Wooly highs might seem like a bad thing, and it is, but if those highs were harsh and unmusical in the first place, rolling them off might seem to offer welcome relief.
We'd go with felt.

I am considering the purchase of an 11-year-old Linn Genki CD player, and I would ask what type of laser/mechanism it utilizes. The excellent review of the Linn Genki (in UHF Magazine No. 59) is not clear enough in this matter. In one place it reads, "the drawer is about three times as tall as that of the Ikemi. It belongs to the Philips CD-12 PRO transport, the same one used by a number of other manufacturers." In another "Linn's custom-built transport (used in the Ikemi and the CD-12) actually doubles the cost of the player." Could you make it clear, please.
Jan Jedlinski, WARSAW, Poland

Certainly, Jan. Simple CD transport mechanisms are quite affordable when they are manufactured in large quantities, but making a superior one in small quantities for an upscale player is very expensive. A number of companies that made well-respected CD drives have dropped them, and most manufacturers use Philips drives. Linn (which no longer makes any sort of disc player) did design and build its own transport, but it was so expensive it was used only in its top players: the CD-12, two of the three Unidisks, and the Ikemi. The Genki is much like the Ikemi, but it uses the much cheaper Philips transport.
We very much liked the Ikemi, and we thought that the Genki, at about half the price, was good value. But note that it was good value for the time. The Genki is old technology, and there would ultimately be much lower-cost players that could outperform it. It may be worthwhile only if its purchase price is very low.
Consider, also, that it may not be repairable. Philips is notorious for not stocking repair parts for its drives. In some countries the law would require them to do so, but because they sell OEM drives through an intermediary, they are insulated from such laws. We know of many people who have had expensive players fail and been unable to repair them. Our original DVD player, a Moon Stellar that cost $9000, failed in this way, and we actually had to throw it away. Yes, it had a Philips transport.

I purched an optical cable from your establishment and plugged it directly in the headphone jack of my iMac and to the Moon 100D. Sound is actually coming out of there!! As with the USB cable, however, the reading on the Moon DAC returned a signal of 44.1 kHz irrespective of the sample rate showing on the song.
So I tried something else, using Songbird as player instead of iTunes. I downloaded FLAC files from Linn...same result. The light on the Moon does not alter from the 44.1 sample rate when in fact what is playing is showing anywhere from 88.2 to 96 kHz. Bottom line is I am rather frustrated with that Moon DAC right at the moment. Any idea how to make this DAC work the way it is intended to work?
Michel Lechasseur, SPRINGBROOK, PEI

Michel, the Mac mini needs third-party software to offer a full range of sampling rates, and we will be writing about this topic in our next issue. However we outlined, in UHF No. 88, how to play at least some high definition files. On a Mac, open the Audio and Midi Configuration application, which is in the Utilities folder within the Application folder. You can select the audio output ("digital out" in your case), and then you can select 96 kHz and 24-bit resolution from the available menus.
Incidentally, if you play Red Book files with these settings, the music will be upsampled accordingly. You may or may not like that, but you can try it and listen for yourself.

Once again I need your advice, please. I believe around 2007 or so you ran an article about the Slim Devices Squeezebox. I then bought one. It has worked great for me.
I have two stereo systems together. YBA1/Totem Mani-2, and YBA2/Totem Rainmaker. Just ended up that way. The Squeezbox is connected to the YBA/Mani-2 system.
I am asking if it would be possible to install a Y connector at the digital output of the Squeezebox and have my Opus digital cable run to the DAC in the YBA/Mani-2 system, AND another (the Compass digital cable from you) digital cable from the Y connector to a second DAC of the YBA/Rainmaker system, thereby being able to play the Squeezebox through either system? I am not sure about causing a short or doing damage to any component, which of course I do not want to happen.
David Ebertt, DRAYTON, ON

You won't damage anything, David, but you're not likely to enjoy the result either. Even if the Squeezebox can supply enough signal for the two converters, such an arrangement will set up standing waves that will result in major jitter at best.
But does one of your DACs have provision for an optical TOSLINK cable? The Squeezebox has independent coaxial and optical transducers, and you should be able to use both at once.

I’ve been a faithful reader of UHF since issue No. 15. Congratulations for your work.
Like many people, I download music from the iTunes site to load on my iPod. Of course the sound quality can’t compare to that of my Linn system, but what about the quality of the downloaded music itself?
This is the reason I’m asking. Linn now makes products that allow you to listen to music that is on a computer hard drive, and I plan to uy one eventually. What is the best way to get maximum sound quality? Should I download music from iTubes, or spend a little more to buy a CD and load the music onto my hard drive?
Jean Dufresne, SHERBROOKE,QC

Those are not the only possible choices, Jean, since several sites now offer uncompressed downloadable music files. That’s true of Linn itself, of course, but also Analekta, Fidelio, and (if you’re clever enough to sidestep the lockout of customers outside the United States), HDTracks. They can even offer resolution beyond that of the CD. We have published several articles on the best ways to listen to this music, and we will be continuing our exploration.
But the physical CD remains an interesting source, and includes its own backup.