BEST TONEARM CABLE PURIST VENUSTUS GRAHAM IC 70

John, thanks for the additional info. Now I understand what you did.

For those who aren't aware, and to back up what John mentioned, using balanced interconnects (if your equipment allows) between (especially) cartridge > phono preamp > preamp, or CDP/DAC > preamp, almost always results in better sonics. (Phono cartridges, whether MC or MM are inherently balanced output devices anyway.)

I mention this because balanced ICs are often only discussed in the context of long runs between preamp and amp (to eliminate noise.) And often people forget (or don't even realize) that balanced circuits usually provide more signal strength as well.

Nsgarsh,as a very good friend of EBM,and having almost the exact set-up as him,except speakers,I'll have the good fortune to compare the Venustas Phono link to the IC-70.This in about two weeks,as he HAS ordered the Venustas.I'm intimately familiar with his set-up,as I helped in setting it up,and have heard it dozens of times.I cannot wait for this,final comparison,for me,before really knowing any meaningful result.Should the Venustas "trump" the IC-70,then I will obviously move in that direction.BTW--it was your influence and input that put me up to recommending my friend move to a Venustas,since he was very curious about it possibly improving his already superb phono performance.He has a very "high res" system,that is Kharma based.

As an aside,I just called Bob Graham to ask for his input on this cable choice matter.His answer was very firm,in that he felt STRONGLY "there is no way the IC-70 can be improved",and "any other choices will only diffuse the sound,or add a different flavor".Obviously I hope he's correct,as this will save me some dough,but I will finally have my answer,soon!Thanks for being so generous with advice,but I DO hope you are wrong,on this one!

Speedy, my suggestion? Get out your checkbook!

For some time though, I wished I'd had a chance to hear the Silver Breeze before the Venustas (accidentally) came my way, fully broken in and about 2/3 off retail. Which I mention only because that's the only way I would have bought them sight unheard without an audition. As for the SB, I'll take John's word for it since he's apparently spent a lot of time comparing.

PS: Well what the hell did you expect Bob to say?

Neil, I wanted to make one clarification concerning the Aesthetix Io phono stage. The ARC PH2 and BAT VK-P10 are balanced phono stages from input to output. I had always read the Io's INPUT is not balanced; the input signal is ultimately converted to balanced on the input stage and then balanced from then on.

I used a DMM to confirm the above. The Io has XLR and RCA connectors on the input. With the RCA ICs into the Io, the DMM confirmed that the signal-return line is indeed grounded. It is easy to see this with the L & R returns measuring zero resistance relative to each other. The two phases could have been lifted from ground with the use of a separate ground line but the Io does not support this.

I then plugged in the SB's XLRs into the Io and the measurement indicated each minus phase was grounded. An easy confirmation on the XLR's pins of the Io's chassis showed this was indeed not due to the SB cable. So yes, the Io grounds the cartridge's return signal for each channel rather than floating the cartridge above ground which would result in the cartridge acting as a "balanced" or complimentary device.

I'm not sure why the Io was designed this way, but in the final analysis, I'm currently not running my cartridge in a truly balanced manner. There is no benefit to use a tonearm cable terminated with XLR cables into the Io. But perhaps with a unit like the BAT VK-P10 which also has XLR and RCA inputs, but with the XLRs being truly balanced, maybe the SB would outperform or be closer to the RCA terminated Venustas ICs.....just a thought.

The proof is in the pudding as the Io far exceeds the musical performance of the very good PH2 and VK-P10 that I had before; there is much more going on than processing the cartridge as a balanced device but I have to believe it would be beneficial.

John

John, that's interesting. Mark Levinson, in their highly acclaimed 32 and 320s phono stages does something similar. If you go to their website and open the pdf owner's manual for the optional phonostage cards, it talks about how/why they achieve a "balanced" input circuit for the cartridge, even though the inputs are RCA.

My guess is it's a way of achieving lower noise phono amplification, even if you have, for instance, dedicated tonearm cables that terminate with RCAs only.