Whest ps.30r

For all intent and purposes, the Whest Ref V is a statement component which James Henriott uses as a test bench to push the envelope and provide 'trickle down' technology to enable him to bring a truly reference, more affordable product to market. He doesn't sell that many Ref V's! That current 'real world' reference is the PS.30RDT SE which pretty much defines the state of the art in practical terms.

Gents. I have travelled the road from PS.20 to PS.30RDT (missed out the plain vanilla PS.30) and have now lived with the latest PS.30RDT 'Special Edition' for the past nonth or so. My requirement was for a very quiet mc phono stage to use with my Transfiguration Orpheus L (0.3mV output). The SE uses a new discrete bipolar module, ClarityCaps, a reworked power supply and updated RIAA filter capacitors. Having put some hours on the clock since purchase and settling on 65db gain and 220Ohms resistor setting for feeding my Karan Reference MkII preamp, I can honestly say that the designer, James Henriott, has kept all the previous atributes of the PS.30RDT and has produced a phono stage that also has that elusive valve-like organic structure but without the noise pitfalls. I use MIT Oracle MA interconnects and a screened 20A copper MusicWorks ReCoil mains cable customised with Furutech FI-50 IEC and UK mains plug.

Paperw8

I can't really help you with the claims made by the manufacturer of a 70% improvement! This may be just marketing speak!. What I do know, having lived with the RDT and RDT 'SE' models is that the 'SE' is a substantial improvement sonically. The issue of acessing the DIP switches is only really pertinant if you swap cartridges alot. I don't. Apart from experimenting with load and gain for my Orpheus L when I first got the 'SE' home, I no longer have to access them. I have found that if you slide the phono stage forward from the rack and undo the two Allen bolts (way better than having to remove the unit entirely to undo NINE Allen bolts on the lid!!) to reveal the DIP switches, with the aide of a small mirror, you can make any adjustment you like easily without having to upend the unit. Whest advise and I can concur, that fingerprints/smudges can be easily removed by applying a small amount of WD40 to a clean lint-free cloth and running the cloth along the grain.

Steve

Good theory and probably correct. James does state on his literature on the PS.30 RDT 'SE' that the sound is more 'valve-like'.

On the subject of doubling up resistor settigs to use in parallel. I recall reading this in The Stereo Times online review of the PS.30 RDT and discussed it with Whest. James thought it was a bad idea as he explained that it would simply add extra noise to the system. True or false, I don't know. I am not technically qualified to comment. In any event, I heeded James advice and only stick to the set resistor options.

I like your suggestion about using latex gloves!