ODS123
Super Member
https://sweetvinyl.com/collections/the-sugarcubes/products/sc-1-mini
Fantastic!
I LOVE analog, but not because I think it sounds better than digital, which I don’t. I love it because of the liner notes and the album art, AND because advancing to another song or flipping to the other side is sufficiently inconvenient that the format forces me to listen to every song. This leads to my enjoying songs I might dismiss on first listen and, just as importantly, discovering their connection within the themes of the album. In short, vinyl greatly deepens my enjoyment of music even though it doesn’t necessarily sound as good as digital. That said, the biggest impediment to my enjoying vinyl has always been the intrusive clicks and pops.
Enter the SweetVinyl SugarCube. The SC-1 Mini - using a high powered processor running lots of programming - removes nearly all the clicks and pops that can seriously impede one’s enjoyment of vinyl. It won’t reduce surface noise, but I’m okay with that - normal surface noise doesn’t bother me because it’s usually constant and low in level. ..But random pops and clicks, once they rise to a certain threshold, I simply can’t abide. When I listen to music, I listen intently… So I hear them, and they bug me.
The SC-1 Mini works it’s magic without hurting the music in any discernible way. Some will say that if I’m fine with the music being digitized, then why not just rip my vinyl to digital and use widely available software to get rid of the pops and clicks? The answer is simple: Doing that is way too time consuming for me, and I don’t want or need more digital music on my music server. I much prefer letting this device do it on the fly. And I can’t imagine buying used records and first having to rip them before enjoying them. And yes, I have excellent hearing and sensitivity to musical nuance. I don’t say this as a boast, but rather in anticipation of criticisms of my hearing.
The unit is smallish in size (8 x 8 x 2”) and beautifully built. It has all metal construction with very solid RCA jacks. If I didn’t know better, based on appearance and build quality, I might think it’s made by Bryston - a Canadian gear company known for making supremely well built gear. The front face has just three buttons and a small digital screen. One button is for bypassing the digital processing. This is perfect for when listening to those albums you know have no annoying clicks/pops. One is for engaging the click/pop removal processing, and the third is to monitor all the noise being removed - which is pretty cool. Click it and you'll only hear the clicks/pops that are being digitally removed.
It wouldn’t be a fair review if I didn’t share my (very few) gripes:
I wish the power supply was built-in instead of having a corded brick that needs to be hidden somewhere. I trust that there are good engineering (or cost saving) reasons for doing it this way; still, I find it kind of annoying all the same as it further clutters up my audio cabinet.
Secondly, the Web-browser or App interface that one must use to control the SC-1 remotely are overly complicated to get working. ..I’m pretty adept with computers yet I couldn’t get this working without help from SweetVinyl. I read on another forum that they may be working on a better solution, so perhaps this will be short lived. I should mention that when I emailed their tech support about my issue, they replied very quickly despite it being the weekend!
But these are very minor quibbles that others might not mind in the very least. The bottom line is that this thing is awesome because it allows me to listen to albums that never make it onto the playlist b/c of too many clicks and pops. Also, I have a renewed interest in picking through the discount bins for more affordable records. Now, i’ll be taking risks only on whether or not I’ll like the music, NOT on whether or not I’ll find it quiet enough to listen all the way through.
I am into this hobby because I love music. And this device allows me to hear more of it. If this means handing in my Analog purity credentials, I’m happy to do so. I’d buy it again, and would recommend it to friends, in a second
Fantastic!
I LOVE analog, but not because I think it sounds better than digital, which I don’t. I love it because of the liner notes and the album art, AND because advancing to another song or flipping to the other side is sufficiently inconvenient that the format forces me to listen to every song. This leads to my enjoying songs I might dismiss on first listen and, just as importantly, discovering their connection within the themes of the album. In short, vinyl greatly deepens my enjoyment of music even though it doesn’t necessarily sound as good as digital. That said, the biggest impediment to my enjoying vinyl has always been the intrusive clicks and pops.
Enter the SweetVinyl SugarCube. The SC-1 Mini - using a high powered processor running lots of programming - removes nearly all the clicks and pops that can seriously impede one’s enjoyment of vinyl. It won’t reduce surface noise, but I’m okay with that - normal surface noise doesn’t bother me because it’s usually constant and low in level. ..But random pops and clicks, once they rise to a certain threshold, I simply can’t abide. When I listen to music, I listen intently… So I hear them, and they bug me.
The SC-1 Mini works it’s magic without hurting the music in any discernible way. Some will say that if I’m fine with the music being digitized, then why not just rip my vinyl to digital and use widely available software to get rid of the pops and clicks? The answer is simple: Doing that is way too time consuming for me, and I don’t want or need more digital music on my music server. I much prefer letting this device do it on the fly. And I can’t imagine buying used records and first having to rip them before enjoying them. And yes, I have excellent hearing and sensitivity to musical nuance. I don’t say this as a boast, but rather in anticipation of criticisms of my hearing.
The unit is smallish in size (8 x 8 x 2”) and beautifully built. It has all metal construction with very solid RCA jacks. If I didn’t know better, based on appearance and build quality, I might think it’s made by Bryston - a Canadian gear company known for making supremely well built gear. The front face has just three buttons and a small digital screen. One button is for bypassing the digital processing. This is perfect for when listening to those albums you know have no annoying clicks/pops. One is for engaging the click/pop removal processing, and the third is to monitor all the noise being removed - which is pretty cool. Click it and you'll only hear the clicks/pops that are being digitally removed.
It wouldn’t be a fair review if I didn’t share my (very few) gripes:
I wish the power supply was built-in instead of having a corded brick that needs to be hidden somewhere. I trust that there are good engineering (or cost saving) reasons for doing it this way; still, I find it kind of annoying all the same as it further clutters up my audio cabinet.
Secondly, the Web-browser or App interface that one must use to control the SC-1 remotely are overly complicated to get working. ..I’m pretty adept with computers yet I couldn’t get this working without help from SweetVinyl. I read on another forum that they may be working on a better solution, so perhaps this will be short lived. I should mention that when I emailed their tech support about my issue, they replied very quickly despite it being the weekend!
But these are very minor quibbles that others might not mind in the very least. The bottom line is that this thing is awesome because it allows me to listen to albums that never make it onto the playlist b/c of too many clicks and pops. Also, I have a renewed interest in picking through the discount bins for more affordable records. Now, i’ll be taking risks only on whether or not I’ll like the music, NOT on whether or not I’ll find it quiet enough to listen all the way through.
I am into this hobby because I love music. And this device allows me to hear more of it. If this means handing in my Analog purity credentials, I’m happy to do so. I’d buy it again, and would recommend it to friends, in a second
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