A couple of years ago I bought one of these five-input phono stages on Canuckaudiomart. I thought I had destroyed the input board by plugging/unplugging interconnects without powering down—four of the five stopped working. I went back to my previous phono stage and felt annoyed. I looked into getting it repaired, but didn't see why I should pay so much when I was quite happy with what I had (which I had started using with an SUT, altering its sound considerably).
Recently I decided to bite the bullet and got it out again. Quite surprised to find all inputs working; being switched off for an extended period had fixed whatever problem I had caused previously. So I swapped it in and started to listen. Four tonearms/cartridges are connected, and my usual understanding of what each sounds like has been upended.
1. My favourite cartridge, a London Decca Reference, does not sound quite so dynamic and lively as it did before. I suspect my older phono stage was adding some colouration that exaggerated the Decca's lovable liveliness. With both it has 47kΩ/200pF loading.
2. The Benz Micro LP-S is much richer than before, and currently takes the pole position. Was at 470Ω, and now 400Ω is the closest I can set.
3. The Benz Micro Ruby 3 converted to mono sounds very much like the LP-S, maybe a bit warmer .
4. The Soundsmith Sussurro MkII ES sounds better than before, also set to 400 instead of 470Ω. It's awful close to the sound of the LP-S.
But while this phono stage is revealing more detail, with better control of bass, and overall less warmth (perhaps I should say the Nuvistors sound more like transistors than they do like tubes), one thing is clear that concerns me a little: the differences between the sound of the cartridges is less obvious. Three of four are certainly improved (and I shall listen for a month before making a final determination about the fourth, and I can always bring back the old phono stage for the Decca) but they all sound lovely. That might mean I am hearing the sound of the phono stage rather than the cartridges, but whatever it means, I am enjoying it enormously!
This isn't my first experience with Musical Fidelity. Forty years ago I had an A1, and I still use an X-Can V3 headphone amp. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't explore the sound of an MF preamp.
Recently I decided to bite the bullet and got it out again. Quite surprised to find all inputs working; being switched off for an extended period had fixed whatever problem I had caused previously. So I swapped it in and started to listen. Four tonearms/cartridges are connected, and my usual understanding of what each sounds like has been upended.
1. My favourite cartridge, a London Decca Reference, does not sound quite so dynamic and lively as it did before. I suspect my older phono stage was adding some colouration that exaggerated the Decca's lovable liveliness. With both it has 47kΩ/200pF loading.
2. The Benz Micro LP-S is much richer than before, and currently takes the pole position. Was at 470Ω, and now 400Ω is the closest I can set.
3. The Benz Micro Ruby 3 converted to mono sounds very much like the LP-S, maybe a bit warmer .
4. The Soundsmith Sussurro MkII ES sounds better than before, also set to 400 instead of 470Ω. It's awful close to the sound of the LP-S.
But while this phono stage is revealing more detail, with better control of bass, and overall less warmth (perhaps I should say the Nuvistors sound more like transistors than they do like tubes), one thing is clear that concerns me a little: the differences between the sound of the cartridges is less obvious. Three of four are certainly improved (and I shall listen for a month before making a final determination about the fourth, and I can always bring back the old phono stage for the Decca) but they all sound lovely. That might mean I am hearing the sound of the phono stage rather than the cartridges, but whatever it means, I am enjoying it enormously!
This isn't my first experience with Musical Fidelity. Forty years ago I had an A1, and I still use an X-Can V3 headphone amp. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't explore the sound of an MF preamp.
