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New Gold Note PH 10

I had posted a question a while ago about hearing from anyone with experience comparing the Gold Note PH 10 vs. the Bryston BP2 or Clear Audio Smart V2 phono preamps.  I never heard anything back about this subject, so I decided to just simply purchase a new PH 10 and compare it against my Clear Audio preamp.  

First impressions:  As much as I love my Clear Audio Smart V2 and in particular its sound stage and imaging qualities, I have to say that the PH 10 was considerably better at detail and picking out the instruments, especially the low and mid range ones.   The Clear Audio seemed to be a little better at the upper end imaging and the sound stage.  But keep in mind this was with the PH 10 new right out of the box.

I was told the PH 10 needs at least 50 hours of run in time to open up, so I used it for two nights and left it on for several days.  After allowing it to settle in and enjoying a lot of music, I still thought the Clear Audio had a leg up on it in the sound stage/imaging department.   So I decided to listen to a well known record to me with excellent recording and a lot of dynamic range on the PH 10, then switch the wires over to the Clear Audio (which I had not heard in several days by this time), and replay the record.   YIKES!!!  it was like a blanket was draped over my speakers.  I had become so gradually accustomed to the new PH 10 that I had not noticed the slight changes going on with the break in.  When the Clear Audio was swapped back into the system (it took me about a minute to do this), it was night and day the differences.

The PH 10 was by far a much more detailed, pronounced signature with a superior sound stage and the imaging was hands down better.  I am using it with the Audio Technica AT20ss vintage MM cartridge which has an extraordinary frequency range of 5-50K hz, so I was able to take advantage of the Enhanced RIAA curve the PH 10 has.  It is pretty outstanding.   Make sure you break things in!   I love this phono preamp.
128x128slimpikins5
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
 I am using it with the Audio Technica AT20ss vintage MM cartridge which has an extraordinary frequency range of 5-50K hz, so I was able to take advantage of the Enhanced RIAA curve the PH 10 has.

Very nice cartridge! However, i use my PH-10 with MC cartridges.
For MM cartridges i love the JLTi phono stage, some MM must be loaded at 100k Ohm instead of 47k. The Gold Note loading for MM is fixed to 47k which is also ok for some cartridges, but not for all cartridges. 

I've bought the external PSU for my Gold Note and it was a nice updrage. 

I think Gold Note is superb phono stage for LOMC cartridges, but not superb for MM cartridges due a lack of optional loading for MM. 



slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5 OP
191 posts
 
Actually you can cycle through any of the impedance loading options for use with the MM cartridges.  I found that 47K ohms works best for most with my AT20ss, however on some recordings the 22K ohm setting is warmer.   The main thing with MM carts is the capacitance loading.  I have used multiple settings with the Clear Audio and found that the 250pf input was best by far (but that takes in to account the capacitance of my cables from the cartridge to the phono preamp).   Audio Technica suggests input capacitance settings of 100 to 150 pf for the AT20ss, but when I tried the lower values, it was muddy sounding.  250 pf was the number.   The PH 10 is factory default at 220 pf and that is so close to the 250 pf I was using and happy with that I decided to just buy it and not worry.   Since I didn't have an option to try the Clear Audio at anything between 150 or 250 pf, I don't know what 220 pf would have sounded like in the CA.   The bottom line is; the PH 10 is wonderful at 220 pf and either 22K or 47k ohm input.  It really is outstanding and I'll put my AT20ss up against any MC for high dynamic range music; I suspect the AT20ss will come up on top.   
slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5 OP
191 posts
 
Oh yes, one other interesting item to keep in mind with the PH 10, which is really important. I have read and heard that some people have had issues with noise in the PH 10. Mine had what I would consider a lot of mid range/upper range 60 hz. noise and I was not happy. Since I have an excellent earth ground system (I am not talking about the ground in the house for the electrical service entrance), it’s a deep in ground copper ground system around the perimeter of the house and it ties back into a lot of high power RF radio transmitters; I decided to run a ground strap from the earth ground over to the PH 10. I suspected I had a ground loop issue going on and after installing a soldered spade connector to the back of the ground terminal on the PH 10, all noise disappeared, I mean gone. I suspect the amplifiers in the PH 10 are very sensitive and can pick up noise easily if not grounded. That’s just a tip for anyone who is having noise issues. The CA did not have this issue.

I would deem this as a typical ground loop problem and the ground I put on was at a different state from the electrical ground.
slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5 OP
191 posts
 
Chakster, what was the main observation you have by using the PSU 10 power supply?  I have read some say it's a great improvement and others say that it's not worth paying for.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@slimpikins5  hey, i paid really great price for both PH-10 and PSU-10 buying them from official Italian dealer who does not charge VAT when exporting the items outside of EU, that was serious discount for a brand new units with warranty. I think i had amazing deal on Gold Note stuff, so i can not complain. Also i think it's well worth the investment. I don't trust my power outlets and when it comes to power supplies i just need a proper PSU. Actually i was so impressed by the quality of PH-10 so i made my next purchase - the PSU. 

I have ZERO noise with PH-10 with any LOMC cartridges, except for the Ortofon MC-2000 with 0.050 mV output (extremely low output, the lowest ever). The unit is dead quiet, especially with PSU-10. 

Yes, i know that i can replace the resistors, i did that with 2 other phono stages, Vishay Naked Foil resistors are the best ever. 

I just don't want to do that with PH-10, because i use it for LOMC and it's damn good for LOMC and fully adjustable. 

My JLTi phono stage is customized, so i can plug-in any load resistor from the backside (RCA plugs) in parallel to very high internal resistors in my phono stage. I have not find yet any MM that sounds better with higher loading such as 22k Ohm, but unloading the cartridge to 100k Ohm is superior for Victor, Grace, Stanton cartridges from my collection (as i've posted long time ago: 47-100k Ohm is recommended even by the manufacturer for those models of Victor and Grace in the original manual).  

 
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