It does look like a kondo inspired faceplate doesn't it. The innards look like a diy project. This doesn't say anything about the sound, though.
To SUT or not to SUT?
- Thread starter iaxel
- Start date
I find Slawa's work to be quite neat and clean. He acknowledges Kondo especially as being an inspiration which I find to be nothing but reassuring. He's telling us that his role models and mentors are among the greats which also include Anatoly Markovic Likhitsky and others. He also has posted an article by Peter Qvortrup on the SW1X website. Being a disciple means that you have a duty to attempt to bring the state of the art forward. It will only be in the listening that you can determine whether these are mere imitations or original creations. I have no doubt whatsoever that they are the latter and that they represent an important move forward in the state of the art. We can arrange for an audition in existing systems or send a unit out for testing in your system.
SW1X Audio Design Philosophy - SW1X Audio Design
The SW1X Audio Design™ philosophy is based on 3 complementary principles: 1. Elegance of Circuit Design, 2. Quality of Materials & Components and 3.
sw1xad.co.uk
I find Slawa's work to be quite neat and clean. He acknowledges Kondo especially as being an inspiration which I find to be nothing but reassuring. He's telling us that his role models and mentors are among the greats which also include Anatoly Markovic Likhitsky and others. He also has posted an article by Peter Qvortrup on the SW1X website. Being a disciple means that you have a duty to attempt to bring the state of the art forward. It will only be in the listening that you can determine whether these are mere imitations or original creations. I have no doubt whatsoever that they are the latter and that they represent an important move forward in the state of the art. We can arrange for an audition in existing systems or send a unit out for testing in your system.
SW1X Audio Design Philosophy - SW1X Audio Design
The SW1X Audio Design™ philosophy is based on 3 complementary principles: 1. Elegance of Circuit Design, 2. Quality of Materials & Components and 3.
Good for you. But I suspect you don't have the full picture
I've had good experiences with Abbas in Ukraine who so far as I understand it provides basic designs with Slawa 'fine tunes' by ear experimenting with wiring, capacitors and resistors - the raw components. This is a reasonable thing to do but depends enormously on the ear of the person doing it
However the DAC III I was sent to demo in 2018 was pretty dreadful (though I tried to be as polite as I could about it). I was told if I didn't like the sound, to snip out a coupe of capacitors (I'm not joking here) and things would 'snap into place'. Franky I never heard such nonsense in all my life.
I personally wouldn't have his kit in the house. It irritates me no end when I read people shilling for this stuff.
Last edited:
I’m not shilling at all. I am promoting it because I know what the equipment can do. I am unable to sell equipment that I don’t believe in. I‘m sorry you had a bad experience in 2018. Four or nearly four years ago. Your claim that Slawa is some how an amateur who only plays with capacitors is ludicrous. Yes, Slawa did in fact pay Abbas for some circuit designs early on but the claim that that’s all there is is highly inaccurate. The product line has had nothing to do with him for years and has undergone many significant upgrades in design since. The breadth of the product line and the rave reviews it is garnering both from important reviewers such as Matej Isak and Michael Fremer and end users who express nothing but unbridled enthusiasm speaks for itself.
I also have a friend who bought one of Slava's USB-SPDIF boxes. It stopped working, and Slawa refused to even consider taking a look at it never mind committing to getting it going again - personally I'm not even sure he has the expertise to conduct such a repair but what do I know?
You'll find there are quite a few such stories dotted around the UK (including at least one report of an unsafe mains fuse). Is this why the sales focus has shifted overseas?
You'll find there are quite a few such stories dotted around the UK (including at least one report of an unsafe mains fuse). Is this why the sales focus has shifted overseas?
Bob Sattin had a product with these same SUTs. The side by side orientation in Bob's devices makes more sense to me. And there's no need to cram cork scraps into the chassis. Bob, however, moved up to Cinemag SUTs at some point.
If you mean to say that the SW1X SUTs use the same transformers as those used in Bob’s devices then I would need to point out that that is not so. Each SW1X SUT is custom wound for the customer’s particular cartridge and has nothing to do with the brand indicated in the photo. Also, I would not characterize the cork employed as ”scraps” nor somehow dismiss their efficacy. Slawa has created a very valid vibration absorbing structure that is a sandwich of layers of cork between two layers of bakelite. Everything that Slawa does in each product is in the service of SQ and is thoroughly vetted. If it’s there it’s there for a very well considered reason.Bob Sattin had a product with these same SUTs. The side by side orientation in Bob's devices makes more sense to me. And there's no need to cram cork scraps into the chassis. Bob, however, moved up to Cinemag SUTs at some point.
That would be useful to know.
More generally @Joe Cohen - Slawa styles himself 'Chief Audio Engineer' - what are his audio or electrical engineering qualifications? I read in an interview from about 5 years ago that he got into the hifi business through DIY. That's a well-trodden path but if he's doing his own designs now rather than populating pre-made circuit boards, it would be useful to know a wee bit more about where this guru-level expertise comes from.
Sowter or Carnhill in the UK would be likely culprits. Both will customize, for e.g. silver windings. "Custom wound for the cartridge" is really just the typical H, M, L that you see from other SUT mfgs, also. Lundahl, Cinemag will do it also, for example.
This just looks strikingly similar:
with todays prices in audio, this is bound to happen......the worms are crawling out of the woodwork all over the place 
Quite an external SUT fan these days hence was reading this thread. And SUTs make low priced carts sound extremely good with higher resolution. Low priced audio technica AT 33 and Ikeda's lowest priced cart all sounded great with SUTs. Did not make me want more. Even a koetsu sounded lively with SUTs. Consolidated audio, sculpture, phasemation, and even some locally produced low priced SUTs well matched add a lot of magic.
Last edited:
Old FR carts fr 1/fr7, Zyx low 0.24 and ortofon vienna, venice , vero
are made for suts,all from 1 ohm to 5 ohm.
sounds perfect for my ears so much more like real music not hifi. Heard with cotter, haufe and silvercore suts
are made for suts,all from 1 ohm to 5 ohm.
sounds perfect for my ears so much more like real music not hifi. Heard with cotter, haufe and silvercore suts
Me too. Mind you being external to the phono is just 'a thing' with plusses ( room for big cores and lots of shielding making casework larger, ability to play with location for lowest noise ) and minuses ( another cable junction ). Speaking of junctions, I have heard wonderful things from systems with removable head shells, removable tonearm cables and external SUT. So I have put to bed any tendency to obsess about minimizing connection points; unless I can and still use what gear I want...
I have found by experimentation that to get the best from an MC cartridge/SUT combination it is not just a matter of matching the cartridge's impedance to the SUT's but matching the gain of the SUT/cartridge combination. The gain produced by the SUT/cartridge can be too great for the MM RIAA stage that follows it. The 'dynamic envelope' (DE) produced by the SUT/cartridge can - if to great -overload the MM input . Also it compromises dynamics and reduces the level of the pre amp volume control. A SUT is not a one size fits all and needs to be carefully matched to the MC cartridge in use imho.
To add to that, I found out that the tubes alone provided the initial 51 dB gain (MM) on my ARC Ref 2SE p/s - the additional gain of 23 dB was provided by JFETS. By adding a 26 dB gain (1:20) from the SUT, I was able to optimize the output of my p/s by limiting the output to strictly tubes and may be a reason for a better sounding combo. I've also noticed that the lower gain setting (MM) produces less heat. I'm using low impedance carts (< ~ 6 ohms) in the range of 0.25 m - 0.4 mV outputs.
I came across this post in the Audiogon Forum a while back which got me thinking about gain matching with SUT's. The guy who wrote it has the same ARC Ref 2SE amp as you. Probably a coincidence but did you write that article by any chance? https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/on-step-ups-and-the-importance-of-managing-gain?https://forum.audiogon.com/discussi...+Step+Ups+and+the+Importance+of+Managing+Gain
So are you using the single ended inputs or balanced of your 2SE? I am using a VDH Frog MC with 0.65 mv output which usually likes to see around 470 ohms which is the x10 tap of my Music First SUT. This amplifies the signal to 6.5 mv and my phono stage's input sensitivity is 2 mv. I tried using the x5 tap which gives me 517 ohms on the 20K setting. The lower gain allows me to use my preamp's volume control at around 11 o'clock and the sound benefits too.
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |