wow spendy. It better be one of the best ever..... Has it's work cut out against the best tube stages.
Then again it's not tubes so it has that going for it.
I have yet to hear SS deliver what tubes can with a phono stage. There is no contest.
If additive distortion brings you pleasure, why don't you have a tubed preamp as well?
I have yet to hear SS deliver what tubes can with a phono stage. There is no contest.
No contest? Christian, this is a pretty definitive statement. Do you mean accuracy or subjective preference or both? Is this in an absolute sense or is it just in your experience with the phono stages that you have had in your own system? I would think that SS phono sections generally have lower noise and measure better but that tubed phono stages may sound better in some systems to some people. Christian, have you heard the Boulder phono stages? I think they are SS and very highly regarded.
as I had mentioned and understanding how tube electronics sound, I don't feel with any degree of confidence that a SS phono could ever deliver the musical satisfaction I get with my Allnic tube stage. As far as the XP25 vs Allnic comparison, it is no contest. TheXP25 music presentation sounds broken in comparison. That is doing a side by side comparo with the same table/arm/cart combo. Both units are in my system currently. When you had visited over the summer, the XP25 was not hooked up which was a shame as it would of been easy to do the comparison with you in the room.
Boulder requires balanced phono cable input. Makes it tough to demo when your cables are rca with a ground wire. Boulder is fully balanced...no rca inputs for phono or main pre. That is too inflexible for me.Thanks Christian. You sound fairly certain that you would prefer your tubed Allnic to all SS phono amps based on your comparison with the XP-25. I'm sorry I could not hear the comparison for myself. Of course, I was unable to ascertain what the Allnic was contributing to the sound of your system. And you have not heard the Boulder. Unfortunately, nor have I. I guess you will not try the XS Phono then.
I'm just not moved at that price point for SS phono. The vac ref, arc ref 10, Lamm and Ypsilon interest me more.Did somebody ask for memory settings between inputs? It's got them - http://www.analogplanet.com/content...w-xs-state-art-moving-coil-phono-preamplifier
Did somebody ask for memory settings between inputs? It's got them - http://www.analogplanet.com/content...w-xs-state-art-moving-coil-phono-preamplifier
I did and I got 3 inputs, but not for 45k to get them thou
If the performance difference between the XS Phono and the XP-25 is similar to that between the XS Pre and XP-30, it will be even harder to justify the value of the upgrade because the delta between the two phonos ($45K/$10.8K=4.2X) is greater than it is between the two preamps ($38K/16.5K=2.3X).
The XS Phono does offer more functionality than does the XP-25 in terms of three inputs with memory. I wonder if gain and loading can be set with the remote.
Didn't MaxFloyd prefer the XP-30 to the XS in his system? I guess it is all relative.
He decided not to buy the XS. That does not necessarily mean he preferred the XP-30. .
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