I've owned the Atmasphere MP3,the PHD, and now the Steelhead.
All very good at what they do, and better than all of the built in phono stages on older preamps that I owned like the Premier two, Audible Illusions 3a,Sonic Frontiers slp1,and even the original Levisnon JC 2 that I felt was the only SS phono stage that was decent in a preamp.
I've listened to my friends Nagra phono stage and felt it was also quite appealing, but I never owned one or used it in my system.
There are lots of choices and designs, and IMOP any of the aforementioned phono stages in this thread would be a great asset to any vinyl set up.
But flexibilty if you contemplate swapping cartridges, can narrow the search,so features matter. |
The absolute best--insert whatever turns you on,the truth is it's only the absolute best to the fellow who says it is, in his system and with his ears.
In my system it may not be, and over the years I've had several well known phono stages from Atmasphere, CJ,Levinson,Audible Illusions,Sutherland PHD,to name a few,and most recently I'm happy with the Steelhead.
But which one was/is the best?
I can't say, never had them in the same system or at the same time to compare them,but I can say that each one was the best, at that time to my ears in my system.
I can change my opinion on how my phono stage sounds when I listen thru headphones,-the K702 are clean fast and a bit toppy, the Grados are a bit rounder, slower and more middy.
So if I only had the Grados I would say that my phono stage is warm, great in the mid range and the best ever, if I liked middy warm sound.
I think phono stages are no different than anything else.
If you are serious, try more than just one and definitely compare them in your system.
Only then will you know which phono stage is the best.
As I said, I couldn't say which of the phono stages I've owned was the best, but they were all very good. |
Some folks are easier to please than others.
I know when I started out, an LP12 into the phono stage of my NAD 3020,a driving a pair of Rogers LS3/5A was all I needed to please my ears.
Then I had the opportunity to listen to some other systems and discovered I wasn't getting the whole story.
I wasn't getting all the music out of the records that I had purchased.
Kind of like reading a novel part way through or buying one with the last couple of chapters missing.
As you start your way thru the novel you are quite happy, until you discover that something is missing as you reach the end.
As I am approaching the end of my novel,I want to enjoy all that I can.
What I find tedious is that I have to settle for the paperback version.
Enjoyable?
Yes,I've made some improvemnts to my vinyl listening in the last two years,still I am light years away from my friend's vinyl set up,but much closer than I had been.
Not all components which are neutral and accurate can be said to be tedious to listen to.The great audio debate about musicality vs resolution and high priced audio ripp offs always raises it's head.
It's actually the other way around.
When you get rid of colourations, wooly artifical warmth induced by distortions whether 1st 2nd 3rd or 12th,you realize that all that is left for the ear to enjoy is the music and just the music.
All it takes to come to this conclusion is to hear a system that is so effortlessly good that you don't hear the individual components, just the music, unencumbered by anything you can point a finger at.
The music is just "there".
Why settle for a drink of pond scum when you can sip from a pristine pure spring fed stream? |
It would be informative if Paypet could elaborate some more about his phono stage experiences. Specifically what other phono stages has he owned and in what areas does the Wytech supass the others he has used?
I have seen and heard the upper Wytech amps and pre at the SSI a few years ago, but it was with an SACD player, no vinyl.
The phono stages would no doubt be of the same fine quality, but I assume they are relatively rare in the marketplace and I don't know if Wytech is back in business,so perhaps there are only a few of them out there.
But is it really the best,there was/is/or ever shall be?
And as the old song goes_"Compared to what?". |
I've been listening to vinyl thru headphones,AKG K702/Burson 160 for a few days now.
The phono interconnects are Nordost Frey series 2 into the Steelhead from an SME set up,Clearaudio MC.
What I have found, is that the interconnects from the Steelhead to the Burson make or break the sound.You can easily hear how each IC changes the sound,softening it, blurring the details or taking away the hiss and scratches.
You can hear each of their colourations.Choose the one that suits you best.
Me?
I'm starting my search now,I don't like any of the one's I am using,truth be told, none are anything special.
I did like the Nordost but it's been moved out to do duty in my cd set up.The Nordost let thru more noise than the other cables did.To me that's a good thing.
Let me explain.
It's amazing to me, how a decent headphone system reveals so many differences I never knew were there when listening to speakers.The little distortions in the vinyl chain that a lot of amp/speaker speaker wire configurations mask and are not so noticeable sitting a number of feet away from the speakers which may not be set up correctly in an untreated room.
So a lot more variables to contend with when you start to audition/review phono stages.
Headphones make it so much easier,just make sure the ones you use aren't known for being of the forgiving kind.
That would put you back to square one.
Are we confused yet?
What is clear to me, is that the Steelhead isn't adding any tube noise or hum.No mechanical noise that I can hear.
What it does reveal is all that is wrong with one recording and all that is right about the next adding very little of it's own noise to the mix.At least I don't hear any extraneous noise coming from the Steelhead.
The Steelhead must be adding a sonic signature,all components do, but to me,it's not one that I can say adds or subtracts from the music.
It doesn't add bloom that's not there, it also doesn't sound thread bare.
But it will allow for those distinctions to be heard when they are on caught on the recordings.
My lps do not all sound the same.
Which is how I like it.
In other words, thru the phones, I hear the surface noise on the records that are the most worn.The noise I hear is the noise that is there from the lp.The better shape the lp is in, the less noise I hear in the background.
Granted it is a hybrid,but the there's no euphonic tube sound nor sterile solid state type of sound either, to go to extreme stereotype comparisons. I prefer to run my MC into the MM section and avoid the transformers.There's more than enough gain even using the 55 db setting.
I think anyone contemplating a phono stage,should audition it with a good headphone set up.
By that I mean not the built in headphone jacks found in some pre-amps etc.
The amount of detail,and unfortunately noise,that one can hear this way,to me indicates a phono stage that is not colouring the sound or trying to make every recording sound nice.
It's just telling it like it is.
If you don't hear any occassional scratches, then what else are you not hearing? |
Ralph is correct about his balanced pre and how balanced cables having little or no sonic effect.
At first I didn't think this was the case until I tried some different ones when I had an MP3.
The problem arises when you don't have a headphone amp that is balanced to run into from the Atmasphere.
Maybe that's something for Ralph to consider providing in the future. |
Ralph I am interested in what you have said, and I am sure others are also.
Please elaborate,I am no more important than anyone else on this site,so let us all benefit from your knowledge.
In my case, the Acoustat servo amps at one time did have a bulit in volume control, but they used cheap parts and it was deemed detrimental to the sound of that amp.
Removing it's volume control was one of the first mods made to that amp along with the signal sensing auto on capability.
Pre- amplifiers -we don't need any more amplifying- are mostly for switching from one component to the other, most components have enough gain so that the volume control is really a device that blocks the full power output of the gear not amplify it any more, except of course for a phono signal.
Not news to anyone, but what maybe news is that different volume controls used in the same circuit will produce different sonics.
There's no perfect volume control.
They all degrade the sound.
Some more than others. |
It's been some time,but I added a Lightspeed Attenuator and now run the Manley steelhead in fixed mode and just as a phono stage.
Much better, than running it in variable out into the amps.However doing so eliminates operating it in mono.
The phono stage really opens up and is cleaned up getting rid of the built in volume control.
It's a nice feature and I used it as a pre-amp also,but sonically the LSA is the way to go,even if I have to use a set of interconnects from the Manley to the LSA.
One other thing that I've found out about the Steelhead.
Run at 50 ohms for a Clearaudio Talisman v2,I get much better bass and sound than I did running the MC at the extreme other end the loading closest to Clearaudio specs.
I used to think that the often quoted 100 ohm was also better, but even lower really does the trick for me.
Truth told, Manley suggests you play around with the settings,nothing is written in stone.
Also, I did run the Clearaudio MC in the MM input,but prefer it in the MC loaded down to 50.
There's more full bodied sound this way, more to my liking, and no noise issues.
The Steelhead is a good phono/pre as is.
For me it's function is as a phono stage,and I think that's how it should be judged. |
