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Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
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Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
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In Reply to: REVIEW: iFi-audio iPhono Phono Preamp posted by davehg on August 24, 2016 at 21:25:11:
Well that was odd - the rest of the review was cut off. Here goes:
I started with the Ortofon 2m Red that comes with the Pro-Ject Carbon Debut. Out of the box, the sound was - well... average. Not the equal nor the better of my more expensive Sony HAP1ZES player or the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista/Bolder Squeezebox combo. I really expected the vinyl system, even if budget, to be as good or better. Something was amiss.
I played with the VTF, adjusted the load capacitance, and while it helped bring the sound closer to what I was expecting, it wasn't where it should be. I still heard some top end haze, bass was just "ok", and depth and soundstage felt somewhat compressed. Not the vinyl sound I remembered, and I was surprised at the surface noise too - even after a good scrubbing on a vacuum cleaning machine.
Reading up, I suspected the 2m Red was the culprit - it's a starter phono cartridge that sells for $100 and while it gets good reviews, those who have gone up the Ortofon 2m range reported much better sound. The Blue 2M was $230 - seemed odd to spend almost half the table's cost (and the same as I paid for the used iFi) to upgrade the stylus, but I did it and was rewarded handsomely. Surface noise dropped considerably. Bass was significantly increased, much more impact, slam and heft. Everywhere else was noticeably improved - soundstage, rhythm, bounce, top end... the Red felt like it was smothering so much of what the Blue was revealing. I know you can go much higher in the Ortofon range than the Blue, but for me, that will await another table upgrade.
Here's the thing - the iFi was absolutely neutral throughout. It didn't impart any signature of its own, ok - maybe just a bit of midrange warmth. But I heard clearly the impact of loading the cartridge just right, and the differences I heard between the Red and the Blue were clear as day. I loved being able to dial in the capacitance easily, and once I had it right, what I heard sounded natural and relaxed.
With the Blue came Muddy Waters' Folk Singer album, what a treat! Great music and amazing sound. It was the equal of any high rez audio I had on hand.
I wished I had access to one of the other stages to compare, but for me, the iFi was key to extracting all the sound I could out of the budget table and cartridge. Clearly the iFi is more capable than the Pro-Ject - a great entry level table to be sure, and it was the strongest aspect of this vinyl setup.
I won't be surprised if I soon upgrade to a better table, likely a VPI Scout. But I'll be keeping the iFi, and in the interim, I may just experiment with a high output moving coil to see what that sounds like.
I listened to all of this this on my Woo Audio 6SE (tube upgrades), powering either the Audeze LCD3 or Sennheiser HD650, and some rather spendy cables (Cardas headphone cables, Acoustic Zen Ref II Silver interconnects, Cards Golden Ref AC cables, and Foundation Research AC filters - probably $3k in cables - these were holdovers from a much more exotic hifi system sold off after converting to headphone only - your mileage may vary based on your own cables and filters).
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- RE: REVIEW: iFi-audio iPhono Phono Preamp - davehg 12:28:58 08/25/16 (0)
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