@lewm
At one time I was using that Sonic Frontiers with a Hera II linestage that had gobs of gain (over 20dB, much more gain than the 15dB specd for the Hera I), and it didn’t help pull the dynamics back. Plus very high gain tube amps (over 36dB) and 96 dB / Watt speakers - I wasn’t wanting for gain in the overall system. It could get really really loud, and had a lovely midrange and treble, it was just sad and lifeless with no bass impact. The Koetsu Platinums came to life with any of the other phono stages I listed. I also used the SF in a high end Stax headphone setup (009, T2) with SOTA Nova, and same conclusions with same set of cartridges.
I agree with you, I wouldn’t ever try a SUT with either the Sonic Frontiers or the PH-7. Just the wrong configuration for that.
At one time I was using that Sonic Frontiers with a Hera II linestage that had gobs of gain (over 20dB, much more gain than the 15dB specd for the Hera I), and it didn’t help pull the dynamics back. Plus very high gain tube amps (over 36dB) and 96 dB / Watt speakers - I wasn’t wanting for gain in the overall system. It could get really really loud, and had a lovely midrange and treble, it was just sad and lifeless with no bass impact. The Koetsu Platinums came to life with any of the other phono stages I listed. I also used the SF in a high end Stax headphone setup (009, T2) with SOTA Nova, and same conclusions with same set of cartridges.
I agree with you, I wouldn’t ever try a SUT with either the Sonic Frontiers or the PH-7. Just the wrong configuration for that.