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
I would not be surprised if my transmitters cause interference with the audio system and vice versa, if I were to play my music as loud as I usually do, I know it would interfere with my transmitted signal :)  And it's illegal to transmit any music over amateur radio frequencies as they are not broadcast bands.   
I will send an inquiry off to Gold Note to ask about the idea of increasing the loading to 100K for MM and see if there is a simple solution to trying it without getting into the guts of the unit.

@slimpikins5 did you buy your PH10 new and get one of the updated lower noise units? I hear it's 12db lower in noise than the original.
@slimpikins5 I think Gold Note should just make a an new revision with an MM 100k ohm loading feuture, it has so many options already , why not just add this one.
They are more concerned about capacitance options for MM than an additional 100K load option (which is not widely popular).

There was an early bunch of PH-10, then the regular production (which i have, serial #58009) and then they blabling something about new version in the future.

The original current production PH-10 is DEAD QUIET phono stage and not noisy at all. With external PSU-10 it’s absolutely amazing.

Of cause anyone can screw up the PH-10 to locate 47k Ohm resistors to replace them with 100k Ohm Vishay Naked Foil.

But since i alreay have a better MM phono stages (already upgraded with Vishay Resistors) i am using the Gold-Note primary for LOMC cartridges and i love it! I’m happy to use the 47k Ohm MM input on Gold Note PH-10 for my Luxman Toroidal Silver SUT for extremely low impedance MC cartridges (under 3 ohm). My Fidelity-Research FR-7fz on Fidelity-Research FR64fx arm via Luxman SUT to Gold Note's MM input (47k) blew my mind.