Phonostage comparisons


I decided to look for a dedicated phonostage for my London Reference whch was sent out to John Wirght for an overhaul just before the end of Octoboer last year. If you will recall, he announced his retirment and at the time there was no heir apparent to take over the helm. I decided, even though my London had about 600 plays left in it,  to get her gussied up. As of now, a company has stepped up to continue the legend that is London Decca!

My AMR PH 77 has three inputs but alas, I can hear a fall-off in quality when any inputs are used other than the direct input. It has occurred to me that his could be because none of those inputs have been used for any significant amount of time, meaning they are certainly not run-in. I will put that on my agenda, run-in other inputs on the PH 77. 

I focused on the following phonostages for the London, the SW1X LPU III Balanced, PS Audio Stellar, iFi iPhono 3 BL, Teac PE 505 and the SPL Phonos.

The cost outlier in the group is the SW1x at approximately $10K. It was $12K but due to the strong dollar against the pound it has come down in cost. 

The London, in my system and to my ears sounds best loaded at or above 47k ohms and depending on the stage (how bright the stage naturally sounds) may or may not need to be capacitance loaded between 100 and 200pf. 

The SW1X, based on the tubes in the unit I had in my possession, yielded a gain of 46dB. I would suggest that 46dB is the low threshold gain for the London. This combination produced a big powerful sound with a bit of that tube magic. I could hear the tubes doing their thing. The overall sound was exciting, piano hammer strikes were hard and exacting on fast and furious jazz pieces, very impessive. This was a sound that one could easily live with for a very long time. Of the bunch, this came closest to the sound signature of my Grado Epoch 3 and the AMR PH 77. This is where I found an issue. It was a similar sound and so why would I spend $10K to come close to a sound I already possess? If I did not own the Epoch 3 I probably would have kept the SW1X. While I am no fan of SUT's, I can imagine the SW1X, the right SUT and MC could produce some absolutely beautiful music. 

Next up was the PS Audio Stellar. I really like the Stellar and I think you get a lot for your money with this stage. It is transparent, built like a tank, dynamic and the timing is good. This is the second time I have had the Stellar in my system. Listening to the Stellar with the London, I was a little perplexed. I could not put my finger on it exactly but it was simply not involving. It was the opposite of involving. I don't recall feeling this way back when I reviewed this unit at the request of PS Audio. I will mention, when I reveiwed this unit some years ago it was primarily with MC cartridges. The Stellar was a no go in my system with the London. 

I then queued up the Teac PE 505. This is an interesting and very configurable phonostage, not to mention very good looking. I really wanted to like this unit. I will admit it, I loved how it looked LOL. The timing was excellent and it was more engaging than the Stellar, but I could hear a dynamic constraint as if the sound wanted to blossom but was then pulled back. I attribute this dimunition of the sound field to the active negative feedback RIAA empoyed in this stage. My system is extremely resolving and for good or bad, I can hear EVERYTHING that is in the chain inclduing fuses!

TheiFi Phono 3 BL was up next. I have a great deal of experience with this unit and I will cut to the chase and just say it was excellent. It did everything well, in fact very well. Timing, dynamics, depth of field and bass. Of course it did not play as big as the SW1X, none of them did, nor should one expect them to do so. I was impressed by what that little box was able to pull off. It clearly outperformed the Stellar and the Teac. 

The contest came down to the SPL Phonos and the iPhono 3 BL. The two sound awfully similar to each other and I had to go back and forth quite a bit, I am talking hours at a time over a week long perod! I recalled that the iP3 had hundreds of hours on the clock while the Phonos was newly aquired. I then burned the SPL in for an additional 100 hours and went back to listening comparison testing. The iP3 is $1K and the SPL is $2.5K (it can be had for about $1.6k). Now I could hear the SPL pulling away. Again, the sound is very close and you would need to have a highly resoving system with a higher end cartridge. I could hear deeper into the music with the SPL and the music was slightly more refined.

My overall takeaway ranks the stages with the London Reference in my system as follows. 

1. SW1X LPU III Balanced

2. SPL Phonos

3. iFi iPhono 3 Black Label

4. Teac PE 505

5. PS Audio Stellar

None of these devices are losers. This is simply one mans findings in his system using a non scientific method and his very subjective ears and priorities. I hope you enjoyed the read!

This is not a job for me, this is fun. This is about the enjoyment of music! 

audiofun

mglik:

I love the Epoch 3, it just may be the finest cartridge I’ve ever experienced. The London and the Epoch sound more alike than not but the Epoch exceeds the London in depth of stage and soundstage width. The Epoch 3 just goes further than the London when it comes to revealing the nuances of the music. It just sounds real.

I am still wrestling with an issue where I hear excessive groove wall noise out of my left channel with the Epoch. This is driving me a little nuts and is the only thing keeping this from being the finest cartridge I have ever owned/heard. I am convinced I can find the culprit. I know it is not prior groove damage to my vinyl as I have played a number of brand new albums and I still experience the noise. Not all albums present this noise but when they do, it drives me NUTS!

I do load it at 47k ohms and I have found this to be best by far. Setting gain to 60dB with a 47k ohm load is musical bliss.

I am going to go through the whole setup process again with my SmarTractor and Analog Majik 2, hopfully I can get to the bottom of this left channel groove noise. I have exhausted anti-skate a possible culprit and I worked azimuth to death, but I will start over.

If none of this works, I may have to send it back to John and have him check it out.

Either way, I am going to get it worked out because the cartridge is simply magic otherwise.

Thank you for the write up. Agreed with your results on the Stellar. It has all the functions and looks that one would probably want. However, there is definitely something lacking in the involvement arena. I purchased one to replace a GCPH that was modified by the Parts Connexion. Figured the Stellar would trounce it in short order…….  Nope…..

@audiofun , you had best have a look at that stylus under magnification to make sure it is not pointed in the wrong direction. A stylus tilted anticlockwise as you face it would explain more noise in the left channel. Much stranger things have happened. Grado will repair that under warranty. 

Wturkey: You’re welcome :)

 

mijostyn: Thank you for that suggestion! I really do appreciate the information. I’ve only been into vinyl since 2014 and while I’ve read a ton, have some of  the best set up tools and have the advantage of being buddies with and living close to the proprietor of Artisan Fidelity, I KNOW there is always that which I do not know. :)

 Can you better define “groove wall noise”?

On your phono stage comparison write-up, it seems to me, if the units were reviewed in the chronological order as presented, that you may have suffered from reviewing the best sounding unit first. That experience may have colored your listening impressions of each of the 4 units that you subsequently evaluated. Although I do think the best (most expensive) SS phono stages compete with the best tube units, I have usually found that mid price SS units can suffer in much the same way that you describe, compared to very good tube or hybrid units. Don’t get me wrong, the very best SS units do excel, in my system to my ears.