Also, if hours are wanted to be put onto a Phonostage, a reverse riaa, with an attenuator? Will allow a CDP as the source to be used with the Phonostage, this will preserve the Cart's life, but enable the Phon' to run for a long period of time with a vigilant eye on the Valves. It won't be long before the Valves will find their 'Burn In' using this method.
Battle of the phone pres for my system.
I have a Yamaha GT-750 with a Hana SH mk 1. I had it running into my Musical Fidelity A1 and listened through Dynaudio Evoke 20 speakers. I have tinnitus so I listen off-axis and liked the sound. I had ordered a Decware Zrock3 and hadn't considered when I ordered it how I was going to use it. When if finally came, I realized I could only use it with my transport and DAC )and it was worth every penny.)
A friend lent me their Manley Chinook so I could see how it would work with my analog front end and the Manley/Decware combo was pretty sweet. I can't afford a Manley and after removing the Zrock3 and going head to head with the A1 didn't make me feel that I wouldn't choose it anyway. After casting about, I was all set on getting a 834 clone and putting in some nice tubes. Then I read about the Softone Model 4 and saw systems like @lalitk and @macg19 . It sounds like what I would want if I put some Mullards in it (though hopefully cheaper ones). I ran across many others who could afford a more expensive phono pre using the Softtone.
As I was searching, the google AI wanted to help so bad that I asked it what it thought. It said the Softone would match better with my equipment and gave a bunch of reasons that were things I hadn't thought of, like gain matching and cumulative power running through the system. It seemed to think that 834 would be more problematic and too much syrup.
I told AI to make the 834 work or I would delete it from the internet, and it told me to put a 5751 (less gain because of the Hana's output coming in) in V1, then a Raytheon then a Mullard. Or something like that for gain and sound differences taking into account my tinnitus and to match my system. It seemed sound thinking, but again, stuff I hadn't considered. I didn't write it down, but it made me wonder. It congratulated me on my awesome thinking on putting together my amazing system. I closed the browser to make it forget this ever happened.
I figured I thought I would ask real people what they thought since I'd prefer empirical evidence over data surfing. The other point in favor of the Softone is that it's a real product and not an aliexpress special, though plenty of people are happy with their clones, all are one and one are all.
Thanks.
- ...
- 37 posts total
I ended up taking out the Sovteks and putting in the RCA tubes. They sound smoother for sure, but the lower gain means that I have to run the Zrock at full volume. I put the Manley back in and A/B’ed the setup. The Softone is more dynamically rhythmic and instruments seem more spread out across the soundstage. But it sounds more forward and thin. Drums sound more percussive. The Manley presents a more coherent central image, it has less rhythmic propulsion, but sounds fuller and not so forward. The forward presentation and percussive nature means that this the opposite of what I was hoping for. It’s not bad, just not helping me with my condition. I ordered a pair of Blackburn short plate Mullards from BrentJesse (or rather Jon Oas at Brentjesse.com) to see how that goes. If that doesn’t fly then I’ll try the Ear 834 clone since the outlay isn’t that huge. I’d rather see where that goes with my current Hana before I think about upgrading to the ML.
|
@letch I know the EAR 834 as an original Phonostage produced by the Company, which was heard with EAR Pre and Power Amplification during the mid 90's and into the 00's. It is possibly the Phon' that pushed me to look beyond SS Phon's. The 843 never totally captured me as a Phon'; it was too tonally rich for my preferences. In relation to 834 Clones, I have been demo'd a selection of Models and have experienced them used with both Valve and SS amps and have not thought about the Tonal Richness they are producing as being an attraction I can bear for long-term listening. More important than my sensitivity to rich tones is that there are numerous advocates of the 834 in the guises it can be acquired. No bias against Valve Audio circuitry here; I am using Valve equipment from the 90's until current times. |
- 37 posts total