ART DJPRE II vs Realistic 42-2101 for needledrops

[Ambien Gnome]

I already own the old Realistic 42-2101 pre-amp, I used it for digitizing years ago. I was pleased, but of course I had nothing to compare it to.

So I'm thinking about getting an Orbit for fun, just the basic.

Should I grab the ART DJPRE II pre-amp as well?
Will it destroy the old Realistic?
And what's with the 'gain' and 'roll off filter'? Are those necessary?

Thanks all!

 

[Hail Vinyl!]

To me, the ART DJPRE II has the very best price / quality relationship. Better quality options? Sure. Cheaper options? Sure. But not both.

 

[kcblair]

ART Pre is a very good pre-amp. Been using mine for years.

 

[savatage1973]

ART DJII is probably the best "bang for the buck" out there--I have one and it is constantly "on loan" to friends getting back into vinyl just to realize that that their new gear doesn't support phono. My heavily modded Jolida JD9 will NEVER leave my possession.

 

[gip111]

Another supporter of the Art DJ II. Has gain control, just don't get too happy with the gain or you'll start compressing/overloading.
I like mine a lot, had it for about 2 years.

 

[jmchrislip]

I've read nothing but good things about the ART DJII preamp. Also the TCC TC-750 gets high marks.

 

[Sanc]

For the price you can't beat it. However for digitizing it only goes to CD quality, 16bit 44.1khz. That is a bottleneck for high quality LPs.

 

[gadget73]

There are actually some that say this particular Realistic preamp is very good. google that model number and you'll find the threads on various forums. No opinion either way myself, I own neither piece of kit.

Just to take a shot in the dark though, I half suspect you're not going to find amazing improvements by switching to anything else. Though, there were some tests done a year or so back with the ArtDJ that shows improvement in sound quality by running it off a battery vs the standard power supply. Just a thought.