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Whest Phono Stages

Having owned several phono stages starting with a more entry level Clear Audio unit (which I actually think is still very nice) and moving up the rungs of the ladder to other offerings; I started to research something which would perform in all of the aspects of what I want. I entered into a long exchange with a friend of mine who has had or used far more phono preamps than I have and he told me that in his opinion the Whest Titan Pro delivered more to his ears than anything else he’s heard. He did not own this unit, it was far outside of his reach cost-wise ($12K); however a friend of his owned it and allowed him to use it for a period of time. He has used tube and solid stage preamps, so he has experience with multiple formats of presentation.

This opinion started my extensive reading from users of the various Whest phono stages and what I was finding is that most Whest users not only stay with Whest, they usually upgrade into newer and more expensive Whest products. Since there are no audio dealers that I am able to go to in order to audition a Whest as they are sold in the US directly from Whest in London, I decided to simply find a used one and find out how it performs for me in my system. I was open to any of the mid level Whest phono stages as all of them are on the expensive side and I didn’t wish to spend the money required to buy something like the Titan Pro, so I kept an eye on what was showing up on the used market. I also spent a fair amount of time exchanging e mails with James Henriot on the differences between the products and what I would get in performance as I was to move up the line. My take away is that all Whest phono stages share elements of the top of the line products like the Titan Pro or the Reference V dual independent mono stages. The more the cost, the more the refinement and specialty elements such as suspension chassis to isolate the internal electronics from vibrations or more discreet hand matched components. It’s all about how much you are willing to pay to get to a new level to dig out the information cut into the vinyl.

Several months ago I found a very lightly used, almost new Whest Three Signature which is a main phono stage chassis with an external dual mono power supply and I bought it. I was shocked at how heavy the power supply is! This small chassis with the toroid transformer must weigh 5 pounds. The construction of both chassis units is really quite outstanding with a beautiful front panel and dual specially made XLR cables which run from the power supply to the main preamp.

The performance of this mid range phono stage ($4K new) is simply amazing. The details it digs out with tremendous dynamic output; it just puts to shame the other preamps I have used over the past two years. I can see why people who use Whest phono stages rave about them.

So now what do I do? Am I to stay with this Whest Three Signature from here forward and be very content? Or what is next? OK, next...... I just ordered a brand new NOS build Whest 2019 version PS.30 RDT SE using the front end components from the new PS.40 RDT series, Clarity caps, zero floating voltage, full chassis suspension, new heavier toroid dual high voltage/current transformers, full discrete bipolar PS.40 matched input section... .etc, etc. James said this 2019 version is a very different animal than all previous PS.30 RDT SE’s. I will have an opportunity shortly to test this against my fully broken in Whest Three.... can’t wait! With the Three  as good as it is, I am very hopeful that I’ll be in for a super treat. I just hope that I am not going to end up spending to get a Titan Pro by year end.....
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ferrari275
71 posts
 
three_easy_payments

How would you Whest owners describe the Whest "house sound"


About 4-5 years ago, I had briefly borrowed a Whest phono stage top of the line model, although the model name I cannot recall offhand.  I found the signature to be detailed, clean, clear, bright and neutral - ish overall.  Definitely not a natural read: organic sound signature to my ears, would likely had taken careful system matching to live with.  I don't know if this is the "house" sound, or just my personal experience with this piece.  Perhaps they have evolved since then.   
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@ferrari275  I appreciate you weighing in with your experience.  That is how I imagine the sound after reading the reviews.  Perhaps evoking an immediate "wow" from the clean, clear, bright presentation but then as your brain settles in you may realize it's not completely organic and leans towards hifi-ish.  While I can see a lot of systems benefiting perhaps from that pairing I don't think mine would.  The more I dig into my quest for a next phono pre the more I think I want to stick with quiet tubes akin to a Luxman EQ-500 or VAC Renaissance phono which provide nice neutral, organic flow, and ease. 
slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5 OP
191 posts
 
My perspective is that clean, well designed solid stage devices are pure and uncolored, especially when the devices are hand selected and hand matched as in the case with the Whest preamps.

Tubes, which I have lived with for decades in various Amateur radio and military transmitters and receivers are fine, but they have huge variables and matching them is key. They are colored in terms of how they perform and to me that is a distortion product. Plus they change in performance with use; internal component breakdown and loss of vacuum over time; in other words they have a limited life span. Its a very old technology which was replaced by solid state for a reason and SS has only gotten better over time and tubes are ’dated’ in my opinion with limited supplies.

Having owned a number of fine phono preamps over the past, the Whest was by far the best of what I have experienced. I like the total black background, no noise, no distortion, pure signal from my A90 Ortofon over to the rest of my system with deep down detail, huge dynamic range and the best bass response I have yet encountered.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
For the past several weeks I've been checking out James' Instagram posts which I think provide some glimpse into the Whest sound - granted as well as can be expected through a phone or iPad.  Even through a cheap playback device I'm using I can tell the sound is clean and crystal clear so I understand why people are enamoured with these units.  I'm just not sure it's the sound for me or would really compliment my system and my room.  
lewm
12,429 posts
 
Slim, You wrote, "Tubes, which I have lived with for decades in various Amateur radio and military transmitters and receivers are fine, but they have huge variables and matching them is key. They are colored in terms of how they perform and to me that is a distortion product. Plus they change in performance with use; internal component breakdown and loss of vacuum over time; in other words they have a limited life span. Its a very old technology which was replaced by solid state for a reason and SS has only gotten better over time and tubes are ’dated’ in my opinion with limited supplies."
I guess you prefer SS, which is fine, but your paragraph is fraught with problems for me.  (1) If your exposure to "tubes" is via amateur radio and military transmitters and receivers, then you are not qualified to comment on modern audio components that use tubes as active devices.  The military did away with tubes probably as long ago as the late 1950s, and their interest was never in accurate reproduction of music.  (2) I agree that tube amplifiers that use output coupling transformers can be "colored", but there is good science to suggest that the colorations are due to the output transformer limitations, not inherently to "tubes".  To my ears, modern well designed tube preamplifiers and phono stages or hybrid tube/transistor circuits are often superior to solid state in conveying the nuances of what live music sounds like to me, but that is only my opinion.  It is shared by many. (3) Tubes do age but they do not "lose vacuum over time", unless they are physically severely abused, like with a baseball bat.  The aging of a tube can be quantified in terms of its transconductance at any point in time. Matching is not so difficult to do and also not so important for ultimate fidelity, in my experience.  I don't mind changing preamplifier tubes every 4-5 years or more. (4) Tubes were indeed replaced by solid state "for a reason", but the reason was not because designers were searching for greater fidelity to the source. Lower cost of SS, the drive for ever higher power amplifiers to drive ever less efficient speakers (again, this had to do with amplifiers, not phono stages or preamplifiers), and a race for ever better specifications in regard to THD had most to do with it, in my opinion.  I respect your preferences, but if you want to claim SS is categorically superior, I would take exception to that.
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