What was old is new again. The SME 30 is a classic which still sets a standard. Welcome back.
New Doshi 3.0 phono pre
- Thread starter Bruce B
- Start date
What was old is new again. The SME 30 is a classic which still sets a standard. Welcome back.
After 20 years of digital, please share your thoughts about what it's like to go back to analog.
I'm completely new to analog. Even though, I have no experience handling the tt, I have always enjoyed watching the black disc spinning and listening to the music being played through it. I have always preferred the analog sound but I didn't like the hassle. Digital is simple...plug and play. Over the years, digital has evolved much and is now very close to analog sound. Currently, I do ethernet streaming through the CH Precision C1 DAC and it's very good sounding, quite close to analog.
Recently, one of my friends bought the Air Force One (he also owns the Clearaudio Statement and the SME30/2) and he wanted to dispose of his seldom used SME. So, I thought why not take it over and I was glad I did. All this while, I knew I was missing the essence of music until I acquired the C1 DAC and now the excellent SME completes it.
Well, The AFO is certainly more expensive and Thf99 just bought his 30/2 from a guy who preferred the AFO. But I know a guy who heard the AFO a couple of times and decided to order the SME 30/12 instead. They are both great tables, and interestingly, both belt-drives.
Audioblazer, are you recommending the Doshi 3.0 phono pre?
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Bruce was kind enough to let me borrow his Doshi 3.0 phono stage to compare to my Allnic H3000 today. I've only been listening for a few hours, but I have some initial thoughts on the comparison.
First impressions are very good. It has more gain than my H3000, even though the specs say other wise. Nice and quiet. The Doshi sounds a bit more stark than the Allnic. I think this is probably due to the power supply design. The Allnic has a tube rectified PS and the Doshi's PS is solid state. The Doshi has a bit more control. I would say the Doshi does the bass and highs a touch better, but the Allnic does the mids a little better. They are not too far apart sound wise. They sound different enough that they will favor different cartridges though. I have not played around with tubes, or footers on the Doshi yet.
The two cartridges I am using now are the AT150ANV MM on my Reed 3Q, and a Dynavector 20XL on my Reed 3P. I will have to try out my very low output XGP Colibri on the Doshi and see how it does.
First impressions are very good. It has more gain than my H3000, even though the specs say other wise. Nice and quiet. The Doshi sounds a bit more stark than the Allnic. I think this is probably due to the power supply design. The Allnic has a tube rectified PS and the Doshi's PS is solid state. The Doshi has a bit more control. I would say the Doshi does the bass and highs a touch better, but the Allnic does the mids a little better. They are not too far apart sound wise. They sound different enough that they will favor different cartridges though. I have not played around with tubes, or footers on the Doshi yet.
The two cartridges I am using now are the AT150ANV MM on my Reed 3Q, and a Dynavector 20XL on my Reed 3P. I will have to try out my very low output XGP Colibri on the Doshi and see how it does.
I had/have both units here and while the Allnic acquitted itself well, the Doshi was a little better in every way. The Allnic just kinda softened everything (like everything was just slightly out of focus), was less dynamic and not up to the Doshi in the extremes. Also while I thought the Allnic excelled at recreating the sense of instruments in space, again the Doshi was a bit better. While right now you are hearing the Doshi's midrange as "stark," listen some more and see if you don't feel it's more neutral and the Allnic is colored by comparison. Finally the Doshi was quieter and ergo resolved more info off the LP. That was using the stock or Tele Ecc801s/Tesla Ecc83 tubes and either the Atlas, ZYX omega Gold or copper or Ikeda 9tt. The same held true also using the Mullard CV4024.
The Allnic could have the same gain and know mine was recently updated so the highest gain value is now 74dB. Of course gain with the Allnic depends upon loading. How much did you play with loading settings? In general, most cartridges like to be loaded at 100-180 ohms with the Doshi.
I also used an RCA 5U4g rectifier with the Allnic.
Yeah, we are pretty much hearing the same things. Vocals sound more appealing through the Allnic, but that could change with a richer sounding cartridge.
I played with the loading a little on the 20XL. I have it on 180 ohms now and it sounds pretty good.
Try 100 for the hell of it.
Oh yes, AC cords are incredibly important with phono sections. I've yet to hear one stock cord sound good. Right now am using the K-S Elation cord on both..
I will give 100 a try. I am using a Furutech power cord I put together myself. It has the FL-11 ends with Rhodium plating, and FP-314Ag Furutech cable. I am using the same cables for each phono stage to make it a fair comparison.
Sounds like SUT's in general on phono stages.
That's also been my experience. Others seem to also add an edge to the music.
Interesting timing. I'm auditioning an Allnic H3000V right now as I want to compare a tube phono to the Pass solid state (running all Pass electronics at the moment). I just received it yesterday so I haven't gotten too far yet but I've been wondering how it would compare to Nick's. I can't do a straight comparison because I have the full function Doshi Alaap (the phono stage is integrated).
Okay, the Doshi 3.0 is the quietest phono stage I have ever heard! I pulled out my XGP Colibri and put it on the Reed 3Q this morning. This cart has roughly .12 mv output. I had tried this cart with the Allnic H3000 and it there was too much noise, and the Colibri does not really like SUT's. I also tried the Colibri with a Pass XP-25 I had in for trial and it was too noisy as well, with weak dynamics, when using the Colibri.
This is very impressive. If you have a really low output cart, you need to try this stage!
This is very impressive. If you have a really low output cart, you need to try this stage!
I'm thinking of it. I heard it in my system for about 30 minutes a couple weeks back and right now I have an XOno on loan. While not as good as the XP-25 it's in the ballpark and is representing solid state. If I decide not to go with a tube phono, I will pursue the XP-25.
The H-3000V I'm using with an XV-1s cart isn't producing any noise at all. I can't hear a difference between the DAC and the phono input with my ear against the tweeter (volume up at normal listening level). Very quiet. Not as low as your cart though.
I hope everyone realizes that the Doshi phono stage is a hybrid unit which I think uses FETs on the input side to increase the gain so you can use it with low output MC cartridges. That explains why Nick is getting such low noise out of his phono section. Tubes alone could never pull that off.
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