Don Better Audio

PH: (216) 375-1393 FAX: (216) 751-5001 EMAIL: info@donbetteraudio.com
Located in Cleveland Heights - just East of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio.

All items shown on this page are currently in-house and available for you to audition!

Paganini Stack from dCS. CD/SACD Transport with built-in DSD upsampling from CD and PCM downsampling from SACD, Stereo Digital to Analogue converter, System Master Clock.

C-5xe universal stereo player from Ayre creates a completely new product category, the U2 player (universal stereo player). The first of its kind, this no video, no compromise design plays all existing optical disc formats including: CD, SACD, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video (soundtrack only), and MP-3. This unique disc player is the ultimate playback machine for the music lover. When the music is paramount, the C-5xe sets a new standard. The C-5xe is truly for those of us who value the enjoyment of music above all else.

REFERENCE CD7 Vacuum Tube CD Player from Audio Research is the first digital product from Audio Research to justify the "Reference" badge. Incorporating the strongest aspects of the CD3MKII - its rugged construction, the Philips Pro2 laser mechanism, the Crystal 24-bit DAC, its user-friendly menu of useful features and functions - the REF-CD7 breaks new ground with a gain stage taken directly from the REF3, incorporating the latest proprietary capacitor technology found only in Audio Research Reference components. Using four 6H30 triodes, the audio stage features high-voltage regulation using an additional three 6H30s, coupled to a massive power supply.

CDC from Nagra Audio is designed for those of you who want a convenient all-in-one solution offering uncompromising sound quality. The CDC includes analogue preamplifiers with motorized potentiometers for volume and balance controls. The CDC should be the centerpiece of your system, giving balanced and unbalanced outputs so you can connect it directly to any power amplifier. The CDC also features the legendary modulometer level indicator to precisely monitor the CD level. In addition, the CDC includes a high quality headphone amplifier for intimate listening.

The Apollo from Rega Research will analize the disc to be played and (rather like the engine management system on a modern car which optimises the engine settings to ambient temperature, engine temperature, fuel quality etc.) will adjust itself to the disc in order to give optimal trouble free reading and great sound quality. This process takes a few short seconds and the resultant musical improvements are well worth the wait.

2010 S CD Player from Exposure. The new 2010 S Series, built on traditional Exposure values, redefines the performance attainable from affordable components. Also see the matching 2010 S Amplifiers in our Amplifiers section.

Spiral Groove turntables rely in part on mass to control noise. Stainless steel and aluminum lend our ‘tables heft and solidity, an effective first-line defense against errant vibration. But mass alone cannot eliminate noise; though the metals we’ve chosen store and release energy in predictable ways, they need help in order to dissipate it effectively. We provide that assistance by sandwiching together the layers of our platform with a proven damping agent. Mechanical isolation contributes an additional measure of control. Motor, tonearm, and platter occupy discrete layers within the platform, a tactical separation that prevents noise generated by one mechanism from contaminating another. This strategic alliance — rigidity, compliance, and isolation — lays the groundwork for one of the quietest and most responsive turntables on the market today.

Garrard 301 Player System from Shindo Labs uses a damped integral mat. The Shindo platter is 20mm larger than the stock unit, and about 3lb heavier. The Shindo bearing is higher mass, has a larger diameter and is machined to much tighter tolerances than the stock unit. It also uses a special oil. The Shindo plinth system uses layers of laminated hardwood glued together and lacquered by 6th generation master carpenters. There are no voids left under the table and literally the plinth fits the Garrard like a glove. Not only beautiful to look at but offers the highest performance. A must for every Garrard 301. The Ortofon SPU is a classic design dating back to the mid 1950's, considered one of the finest cartridges in the world due to it's amazing musicality and direct sweet sound. Shindo takes the Ortofon SPU and does some proprietary modifications to the damper, coil, suspension and cantilever. This makes the classic SPU sound more refined, extended and resolute.

2500 Signature from Basis Audio. By incorporating the suspension under the turntable platform Basis has been able to reduce the size of the subchassis, gaining an advantageous "thickness-to-length ratio" for improved resonant behavior. We have named the suspension isolators "Resonance Annihilators" as they indeed perform the function of converting vibrational energy, on each side of the Annihilator, into heat energy. The close proximity of the tonearm to the adjacent isolator is a great advantage of the 2500 over any other turntable design: tonearm energy, created as the stylus traces the record groove, is effectively and immediately eliminated by this close isolator. The result is an immediate and direct sound, the hallmark of the suspended 2000 series turntables.

P2 Turntable from Rega. For over 30 years, Rega has been the first name on everyone's lips when it comes to turntables and the return of the P2 to the planar range completes the line up, making rega even more accessible to music lovers.

P3 Turntable from Rega. For over twenty years the P3 has been the favourite high performance turntable for the music loving public, having a beguiling blend of classically clean looks, high performance and amazing value for money. This latest version carries some new innovative changes in design, which make it without doubt the highest performance and musical P3 to date. Just some of the features include an ultra low mass micro-fibre plinth laminated with highly rigid phenolic resin laminate.

P5 Turntable from Rega. The P5 is a turntable born from the legacy of the P25. The P5 celebrates over 30 years of Rega precision crafting specialist hi-fi in Britain. And subsequently combines everything that Rega stands for, which is simply, giving you the best product in terms of quality and style at the best possible price! The P5 utilises idea's and engineering techniques used on our more expensive turntables; the aluminium surround, its complex CNC machined skeletal low mass micro-fibre plinth. Not to mention the new RB700 tonearm found on the P7. The Glass platter of the P5 is hand crafted from floated plate glass 12mm in thickness. This makes for a superb platter material which provides stability and assists in the isolation of record information against other sounds (i.e. /knocking or vibrations) and also provides excellent speed stability; thus providing increased sonic enjoyment.

P7 Turntable from Rega. The plinth is a complex CNC machined skeletal structure of medium lightweight fibre composite encased in highly ridged phenolic resin laminates - ultra lightweight, ultra rigid foundation for this high performance turntable. This results in the plinth being very strong and very light, which inturn improves the performance. The main bearing assembly is engineered to extremely tight tolerances. This results in virtually friction free rumble-less performance which, if lubricated correctly, will last your lifetime! The ceramic platter is something which we have desperately wanted to evolve from the P9 and use for other turntables, yet for a long time we have had difficulty in being able to produce such an expensive material for lower cost turntables. However, we believe this new incarnation of the ceramic platter bridges that gap! The P7 is finished in a highly attractive Aluminium metal extrusion surround. Which offers great rigidity and through clever machining produces an extremely low mass which gives a performance improvement.

Dais Turntable from Nottingham Analog Studio. While not the most expensive table made by Nottingham, it's the one they're most proud of. The Dais incorporates the newest thinking on materials and design with the best features of their popular 'Anna Log' player.

In addition to a robust oil pumping bearing design, it also incorporates a gravity spun iron platter. The platter is spun while casting to eliminate air pockets that cause inconsistency. The Dais includes the Wave Mechanic power supply for ultra-stable AC to the motor. Striking design and simplicity.

DV 507 Tone Arm from Dynavector. The new MKII version of the Dynavector DV 507 tonearm has made its long-awaited debut, building on the strengths of the original DV 507 which has enjoyed the highest reputation among audiophiles world-wide since its appearance in 1984.

As it is a bi-axis inertia controlled tonearm the DV 507, no matter the type of cartridge can trace the music signal grooves cut in the recording with extreme accuracy. The DV 507 also provides superb trackability on warped recordings. Resolution and musical detailing are quite remarkable.

Blackbird from Sumiko. Designed for exceedingly low noise levels, wide dynamic range and the highest possilbe fidelity in its price class, Blackbird is destined to become an analog classic. Each cartridge is assembled using time honored, labor intensive techniques, hand calibrated and critically auditioned to meet the most rigorous standards of consistancy. The main advantage of high output moving coil cartridges is the elimination of any additional gain stages, resulting in an overall reduction of the noise floor. With 2.5mV directly driving a standard 47k Ohm RIAA phono stage, the best possible signal to noise ratio is realized. Nothing but music emerges from your most treasured recordings.

501Mk2 from Shelter. Output Voltage: 0.5 mV at 1kHz 5cm/sec. • Channel Balance: Within 1dB at 1kHz • Stylus Tip: 0.3 x 0.7mil Conical Nude Diamond • Weight: 8.1g • DC Resistance: 12 ohms • Tracking Force Range: 1.4 to 2.0g • Recommended Load Impedance: within 20 ohms with step-up transformer, within 100 ohms with head amplifier, within 47k ohms with high gain EQ amplifier • Compliance: 9cu • Frequency Response: 20Hz to 20kHz +/-2dB • Anodized Aluminum Body with neodymium magnet

Titan Cartridge from Lyra. The Titan is the new flagship model from Lyra, and is a replacement for the discontinued Parnassus D.C.t. The Titan is also the most advanced cartridge that Lyra has ever made.

Karat 17D3 and Karat 17D2 from Dynavector are the first cartridges built using 'dispersion' theory. Micro-Ridge stylus and very short (1.7mm) solid diamond cantilever give a huge reduction in 'frequency dispersion', unmatched dynamics and a high frequency extension all the way up to 100kHz. The latest patented magnet circuit design increases the output to 0.3mV with crystal clear mid-range and treble even during the largest symphonic crescendos.

JSD 6 Cartridge from EMT. The JSD series was not only developed and optimized in the laboratory but mainly in practice, partly with the assistance of committed test listeners who used their own records and partly by using legendary old record players and also the most modern ones, as well as multitude tone arms during extensive listening and comparative tests. Great importance was given to maintaining the typical characteristics of EMT, stressing in particular the know how which is based on the large experience of our specialists. Special attention as also been given to the consistent use of non exotic materials.

EMT XSD15 and EMT XOD25 (mono) Cartridges from EMT. The moving coil cartridges will be delivered in an accurate and resistant light metal pressure cabinet. They are all equipped with an extensive loupe and a small screen which reflects the light of the EMT studio turntables. Out of that, a wide and bright image of the record surface appears in the loupe for an exact positioning of the stylus. The sidewise mounted holder allows an easy handling.

9000 Cartridge from Shelter. A new line of cartridge featuring a new design which allows the cartridge to reach new levels of dynamics and quietness for a smooth and effortless sonic presentation. The Shelter 9000 is a complete departure from the current line of Shelter cartridges. Newly designed body, high rigidity, improved front-yoke, larger diameter PC-OCC lead wires wound around the redesigned bobbin.

Specifications:
Output voltage: 0.6 mV
Channel balance: Greater Than 0.8dB @1kH
Stylus tip: 0.3 x 0.7 mil elliptical nude diamond
Weight: 11 grams
DC resistance: 10 ohms
Tracking force: 1.4 to 2.0 grams
Load impedance: w/step up transformer 10 to 30 ohms, w/head amplifier within 100 ohms, high gain EQ - amplifier within 47 ohms

DRT XV-1 Cartridge from Dynavector. The original XV-1 cartridge was designed to take the reproduction of analogue recording to new heights. The XV-1 achieved a standard of performance that was clearly in a league of its own. Dynavector have always remained indifferent to the endless digital formats that purport to be the next breakthrough in music reproduction, safe in the knowledge that the vast heritage of music recorded on vinyl can easily equal, if not clearly out perform these new formats. Dynavector are seriously committed to ensure the vinyl enthusiast is well catered for and the XV-1s is further proof of this on going commitment; yet another ground breaking product, uniquely Dynavector and flagship of the brilliant Dynavector cartridge range.

At a glance, the XV-1 was always different from all cartridges that have gone before. Its magnetic circuit comprises 8 small ALNICO magnets. The magnetic path is divided into two - In the magnetic gap, a specially designed magnetic flux equalizing piece is placed. On the front yokes, magnetic stabilizing coils are wound. By this special combination, the magnetic field becomes widely homogeneous and more linear than the conventional magnetic design that is common in existing MC cartridges. The XV-1 has been awarded 'Golden Ear Award 2001' in the Absolute Sound magazine for its highly advanced technology.

Jubilee Series JSD 5 Gyger S Cartridge from EMT. Audiophile MC systems developed on the occasion of the 66th Anniversary of EMT.

Half opened casing made from and milled out of a massive block of purest special aluminum. Gold plated system components. Normed ½ inc standard fastening for the use with every quality tone arm. The JSD uses a bare diamond stylus in Gyger S.

The JSD series was not only developed and optimized in the laboratory but mainly in practice, partly with the assistance of committed test listeners who used their own records and partly by using legendary old record players and also t e most modern ones, as well as multitude tone arms during extensive listening and comparative tests. Great importance was given to maintaining the typical characteristics of EMT, stressing in particular the know how which is based on the large experience of our specialists. Special attention as also been given to t e consistent use of non exotic materials.

Cosecant V2 USB Digital DAC from Wavelength.

"The Cosecant is one of the coolest ideas I have in a long time. This allows your computer to be converted into a media central unit. That's right you can use the computer to play CD's in the CD drive. Or move songs to the hard drive and create play lists. Or you can stream music off the internet, play movies the list goes on.

One of the reasons this works so well is because ounce the track is ripped (copied) to the hard drive error free it just sounds better than any transport available.

The Cosecant does not use a USB DAC chip. It instead uses a non up/oversampling multibit dac with out the use of analog or digital filtering. The idea that what is on the disk is exactly what is going out without any math involved between disk and output."
- J. Gordon Rankin, Wavelength Audio

The Brick USB Digital DAC from Wavelength. Very similar to the 'Cosecant' above, except that the output stage of the Brick is a single 12AU7A dual triode in reactor follower mode that has the great ability to deliver the goods.

The Crimson USB Digital DAC from Wavelength. The Crimson uses a more intellegent controller that has the capabilities of up too 24/96 operation. The Crimson has an upgradable DAC module that has the code to represent that module to it's fullest capacity. This code can be updated if in the future some changes are required. The DAC module also runs off of a battery for really low noise and the best possible operation. The battery is charged when the DAC is off or in Sleep/Standby mode.