Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2019 21:01:47 GMT
*First of all, a little disclaimer: I built my own phonostage so all views on phonostages must be read with that in mind. Under no circumstances are my opinions to be heralded as the new testament and I urge everyone to get an audition to anything you consider buying to make up your own mind. My opinion is just that, my opinion only.*
Today saw Shaman (Nigel) of AoS, visit my home. With him came a “The Truth” Preamp, Valab LCR Phonostage and an Audio Detail Nuvista Phonostage.
My system Is as described in the signature at the bottom of my posts. I’ve known Nigel for some time and he has been good enough to loan/lend/give me multiple items of kit. Unfortunately, I haven’t seemed to have anything spare that may have been of interest to him, so I could return the favour! We’ve been planning this meet-up for some time but again, motorbike crashes, new kitchens, new windows and basically anything else you can think of got in the way.
FFW to today and we started off with “The Truth” preamp (£1000+)
I didn’t have any clue what to expect from this preamp, and worse (for me) I had no idea how the Khozmo DCB1 would compare against it. It’s the first time the DCB1 has gone up against a £1000+ preamp that I hadn’t heard before.
I chose a fairly common song “Pink Floyd – Money”
I chose this track because its very easy for a system to get it wrong. Quite simply, this track, if listened to via a good system, will reveal layers of sound and lots of nuances. On a less capable system, the track can become somewhat congested and messy. We listened first via the DCB1 and it sounded as good as I usually hear it. Excellent channel separation, depth and width and scale was all there. The High frequencies are nicely extended, and the soundstage is nicely separated and presented. Tonally its spot-on IMO and the hefty bass line is weighty, powerful and taut. There is a real pace about the track and the way the bass bounces along whilst underpinning the track is head noddingly good. Gilmore sounds euphoric, natural and the vocals sound free to soar. It’s exactly why I have strived to keep pushing the performance of the DCB1. It’s as good as having nothing in the way of the signal.
Next: the moment of (the) Truth!
The second the first bass note rang out I knew there was too much of it. Emphasis or distortion, I don’t know but it boomed. It was too thick sounding too. The bass lost its detail and I was instantly transported to listening with the Slagle AVC I had. As the track went on, the soundstage was good but if felt like it was forcing the song out. The midrange was too full and then I realized the biggest issue, The HF was completely rolled off. There are two cymbal strikes at the end of the bass riff and they were receded way off into the back ground. Once I heard this, I had to stop the track. I decided to make a cuppa whilst I let it warm up further, after all, it had just done a car journey from the Welsh border!
Upon a replay of the track, the sound had become slightly less bloated and this improved the bass a little but the HF roll off was still as bad as before.
The Truth came out of the system and stayed out. It certainly wasn’t as “Truth-full” as I’d expected. The truth isn’t a bad preamp and the roll off could be down to something not being right in the unit. It’s got a very lively sound, almost like an active pre but it was up against the most transparent preamp I have ever heard, and it showed. Am I making excuses for the Truth? No, it’s got a lot of good points but after striving for transparency, it really didn’t fit in with that ethos and it wasn’t what I want to hear. The HF roll off put paid to any notion of long term listening.
We swapped back to the Khozmo DCB1 for the rest of the day. EDIT: Upon removing the Truth preamp, it was noted that something was rolling around the case. To me it sounded like something small but could be the reason the Truth was off its game. Maybe I can get another session with it once it's been checked.
Next Up: Audio Detail Nuvista phonostage. (£1200)
I had heard that this Phonostage was pretty decent. In fact, it had seen off a Puresound P10 and others according to Nigel.
I plugged it in and switched it on. Inky black background and no transformer noise. Excellent.
Unfortunately, that’s as far as the plaudits go. I can’t recall what track I used but straight off the bat I could hear a deliberate bass boost in the RIAA. I decided to play a track I know incredibly well.
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody.
I pick this track for one reason only. It’s a half speed remaster and the pressing is top quality. The track itself has a very delicate start which is underpinned by the low notes of the piano. This is what gives it the early bass notes. When I started the track with the Audio Detail, the first bass note sounded like Gene Simmons has plugged his bass in and decided to join in. As the track continued, the overbearing LF was swallowing up the detail and nuances and was removing any chance of conveying the drama that this track is SO capable of.
I decided to throw the Bigbottle phonostage back in and see if something was broken or setup wrong. Everything returned to normal. The Audio Detail was just not balanced in its performance. Yet again, this appears to be another phonostage that has a deliberate boost in the RIAA to sound exciting, but it isn’t what I want. I didn’t have any equipment to measure it, but I would stake a large chunk of change that I am correct. Especially having experienced the same with other units. Again, this may just be an issue somewhere along the chain, but I doubt it. Why? Because of what happened next.
We then when on to: Valab LCR Phonostage V2 (£600)
This is a Phonostage that I have been interested in for a long time. The Valab is to be respected IMO for it’s build quality alone. Acres of little components, all good quality, shoe-horned into two tidy little cases for the grand total of circa £600 delivered. THIS is what I want to see. Value for money. So how did it do?
This is the only piece of equipment to make it through all three of my test tracks without being cut off, unplugged and put back in the box.
Lets start with the good:
This phonostage comes with dip switches which gives a multitude of options for the cartridge and gain. We set it up to match the 68db of the Bigbottle and loaded the cartridge at 200R. I played a few tracks to see how it went and I can tell you, it’s as accurate in the RIAA as the Bigbottle. Superb start. The phonostage presents a very clean sound and handles dynamics well. Nuances are clear and present, and the soundstage is wide and high. It’s not got the same depth of soundstage as the Bigbottle. The only thing to say here is that on the track “Homeless – Paul Simon” the size of the room they recorded in didn’t feel the same size. It feels much bigger on the Bigbottle BUT all of the track is there, just a little less 3D. This was the same for every track we tried, The transparency required to reveal the tiny details give us the illusion of space and air but the Valab was valiant in it's efforts. Moving on to other tracks, this really was the only thing I could fault it with. The tone is slightly richer than neutral but not warm in any sense. It’s got excellent timbrel qualities and I have to say, I thought it was excellent. One other thing that stood out was that is was a little "pushy" or "forced" at times.
I then decided to play my killer test track “Albert King – The Very Thought of You”
Folk think I am crazy playing this track, but it’s his voice that gets me, and if your system/equipment can’t do it right, it doesn’t get me and the track itself NEVER fails.
I lowered the needle and Albert began to sing. Instantly I knew.
I prefer my own phonostage. There is something about the way valves do vocals and nothing else I have heard can quite do it the same. The Valab has the tone and the timbre but it didn’t have the “air” or the 3D ability to make him real or lifelike. I listened to the whole track and whilst I thought it did a really great job, I knew that it’s been better (my subject opinion of better) to my ears, in my house.
The Valab is a true HiFi bargain IMO. In the same vein as my phonostage, built for performance but priced so that most can buy it. I think that the V3 may be even better from reading what Valab are doing. I am impressed by this unit and if I’m 100% honest, I could quite happily listen to it for extended times.
The ONLY bad bits is that when I powered it up, there was transformer buzz. The mechanical type but it wasn’t audible from the listening position.
Overall, the Valab is a very good phonostage and one I’m still interested in investigating but in the V3 guise. I also think the Pushy quality was down to too much gain. I honestly believe that had we had more time, we could have refined that and removed that pushy nature. EDIT: I think it was a mistake to have the gain at 68db and possibly could have had an adverse effect. We didn't need that much gain and could easily have settled at 60db. What I heard has convinced me that there is definitely value in researching LCR phonostages. The Valab gets the Nod from me.
Big thank you to Nigel for bringing all of his pieces over and letting me have a listen. A really enjoyable day.
Today saw Shaman (Nigel) of AoS, visit my home. With him came a “The Truth” Preamp, Valab LCR Phonostage and an Audio Detail Nuvista Phonostage.
My system Is as described in the signature at the bottom of my posts. I’ve known Nigel for some time and he has been good enough to loan/lend/give me multiple items of kit. Unfortunately, I haven’t seemed to have anything spare that may have been of interest to him, so I could return the favour! We’ve been planning this meet-up for some time but again, motorbike crashes, new kitchens, new windows and basically anything else you can think of got in the way.
FFW to today and we started off with “The Truth” preamp (£1000+)
I didn’t have any clue what to expect from this preamp, and worse (for me) I had no idea how the Khozmo DCB1 would compare against it. It’s the first time the DCB1 has gone up against a £1000+ preamp that I hadn’t heard before.
I chose a fairly common song “Pink Floyd – Money”
I chose this track because its very easy for a system to get it wrong. Quite simply, this track, if listened to via a good system, will reveal layers of sound and lots of nuances. On a less capable system, the track can become somewhat congested and messy. We listened first via the DCB1 and it sounded as good as I usually hear it. Excellent channel separation, depth and width and scale was all there. The High frequencies are nicely extended, and the soundstage is nicely separated and presented. Tonally its spot-on IMO and the hefty bass line is weighty, powerful and taut. There is a real pace about the track and the way the bass bounces along whilst underpinning the track is head noddingly good. Gilmore sounds euphoric, natural and the vocals sound free to soar. It’s exactly why I have strived to keep pushing the performance of the DCB1. It’s as good as having nothing in the way of the signal.
Next: the moment of (the) Truth!
The second the first bass note rang out I knew there was too much of it. Emphasis or distortion, I don’t know but it boomed. It was too thick sounding too. The bass lost its detail and I was instantly transported to listening with the Slagle AVC I had. As the track went on, the soundstage was good but if felt like it was forcing the song out. The midrange was too full and then I realized the biggest issue, The HF was completely rolled off. There are two cymbal strikes at the end of the bass riff and they were receded way off into the back ground. Once I heard this, I had to stop the track. I decided to make a cuppa whilst I let it warm up further, after all, it had just done a car journey from the Welsh border!
Upon a replay of the track, the sound had become slightly less bloated and this improved the bass a little but the HF roll off was still as bad as before.
The Truth came out of the system and stayed out. It certainly wasn’t as “Truth-full” as I’d expected. The truth isn’t a bad preamp and the roll off could be down to something not being right in the unit. It’s got a very lively sound, almost like an active pre but it was up against the most transparent preamp I have ever heard, and it showed. Am I making excuses for the Truth? No, it’s got a lot of good points but after striving for transparency, it really didn’t fit in with that ethos and it wasn’t what I want to hear. The HF roll off put paid to any notion of long term listening.
We swapped back to the Khozmo DCB1 for the rest of the day. EDIT: Upon removing the Truth preamp, it was noted that something was rolling around the case. To me it sounded like something small but could be the reason the Truth was off its game. Maybe I can get another session with it once it's been checked.
Next Up: Audio Detail Nuvista phonostage. (£1200)
I had heard that this Phonostage was pretty decent. In fact, it had seen off a Puresound P10 and others according to Nigel.
I plugged it in and switched it on. Inky black background and no transformer noise. Excellent.
Unfortunately, that’s as far as the plaudits go. I can’t recall what track I used but straight off the bat I could hear a deliberate bass boost in the RIAA. I decided to play a track I know incredibly well.
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody.
I pick this track for one reason only. It’s a half speed remaster and the pressing is top quality. The track itself has a very delicate start which is underpinned by the low notes of the piano. This is what gives it the early bass notes. When I started the track with the Audio Detail, the first bass note sounded like Gene Simmons has plugged his bass in and decided to join in. As the track continued, the overbearing LF was swallowing up the detail and nuances and was removing any chance of conveying the drama that this track is SO capable of.
I decided to throw the Bigbottle phonostage back in and see if something was broken or setup wrong. Everything returned to normal. The Audio Detail was just not balanced in its performance. Yet again, this appears to be another phonostage that has a deliberate boost in the RIAA to sound exciting, but it isn’t what I want. I didn’t have any equipment to measure it, but I would stake a large chunk of change that I am correct. Especially having experienced the same with other units. Again, this may just be an issue somewhere along the chain, but I doubt it. Why? Because of what happened next.
We then when on to: Valab LCR Phonostage V2 (£600)
This is a Phonostage that I have been interested in for a long time. The Valab is to be respected IMO for it’s build quality alone. Acres of little components, all good quality, shoe-horned into two tidy little cases for the grand total of circa £600 delivered. THIS is what I want to see. Value for money. So how did it do?
This is the only piece of equipment to make it through all three of my test tracks without being cut off, unplugged and put back in the box.
Lets start with the good:
This phonostage comes with dip switches which gives a multitude of options for the cartridge and gain. We set it up to match the 68db of the Bigbottle and loaded the cartridge at 200R. I played a few tracks to see how it went and I can tell you, it’s as accurate in the RIAA as the Bigbottle. Superb start. The phonostage presents a very clean sound and handles dynamics well. Nuances are clear and present, and the soundstage is wide and high. It’s not got the same depth of soundstage as the Bigbottle. The only thing to say here is that on the track “Homeless – Paul Simon” the size of the room they recorded in didn’t feel the same size. It feels much bigger on the Bigbottle BUT all of the track is there, just a little less 3D. This was the same for every track we tried, The transparency required to reveal the tiny details give us the illusion of space and air but the Valab was valiant in it's efforts. Moving on to other tracks, this really was the only thing I could fault it with. The tone is slightly richer than neutral but not warm in any sense. It’s got excellent timbrel qualities and I have to say, I thought it was excellent. One other thing that stood out was that is was a little "pushy" or "forced" at times.
I then decided to play my killer test track “Albert King – The Very Thought of You”
Folk think I am crazy playing this track, but it’s his voice that gets me, and if your system/equipment can’t do it right, it doesn’t get me and the track itself NEVER fails.
I lowered the needle and Albert began to sing. Instantly I knew.
I prefer my own phonostage. There is something about the way valves do vocals and nothing else I have heard can quite do it the same. The Valab has the tone and the timbre but it didn’t have the “air” or the 3D ability to make him real or lifelike. I listened to the whole track and whilst I thought it did a really great job, I knew that it’s been better (my subject opinion of better) to my ears, in my house.
The Valab is a true HiFi bargain IMO. In the same vein as my phonostage, built for performance but priced so that most can buy it. I think that the V3 may be even better from reading what Valab are doing. I am impressed by this unit and if I’m 100% honest, I could quite happily listen to it for extended times.
The ONLY bad bits is that when I powered it up, there was transformer buzz. The mechanical type but it wasn’t audible from the listening position.
Overall, the Valab is a very good phonostage and one I’m still interested in investigating but in the V3 guise. I also think the Pushy quality was down to too much gain. I honestly believe that had we had more time, we could have refined that and removed that pushy nature. EDIT: I think it was a mistake to have the gain at 68db and possibly could have had an adverse effect. We didn't need that much gain and could easily have settled at 60db. What I heard has convinced me that there is definitely value in researching LCR phonostages. The Valab gets the Nod from me.
Big thank you to Nigel for bringing all of his pieces over and letting me have a listen. A really enjoyable day.
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