Phono stage adventures

[CraigC]

After many years of waiting I finally got to grade my upgrading my vinyl front end recently. You’ll note I am pretty immune to upgraditus. I have had this front end since the early 90’s. I upgraded the cartridge about three years ago. The old front end consisted of a Planar 3 with a RB300 arm and a Shelter 501 mk11 low output mc cartridge.

　

The new front end is a Kuzma reference Turntable with a 4 point tone arm and a Lyra Kleos. Warwick was quite understated when he said I’ll hear a difference. Boy was there a difference.

Initially I thought the Shelter could stay. Warwick fitted it to the second headshell that comes with the 4 Point arm. As posted in another thread the shelters strong point is its female vocal reproduction, and although tonally it performed well compared to the Kleos it was compressively beaten in every aspect of audio reproduction. The Kleos just had more of everything. That withstanding the shelter is a great cartridge, just not in the league of a Kleos and certainly not at the price of a Kleos. Yes you do get more for the extra money. I knew i couldn't live with the shelter anymore.

　

It quickly became apparent that I would need phono stage that got out of way of all this extra information being sent down the interconnects.

 

This is where things have got interesting; actually frustrating describes the experience so far. In the past I haven't been particularly loyal to the local industry. Not that this has been intentional, it's just in chasing the best possible performance for my outlay doesn't usually allow the purchase new equipment. With the small interest here in Australia in 2 channel, you can grow old waiting for your objects d'sire to show up for sale. Not being a fan of selling things I only really want to buy once as you can see from how long I’ve had my current set up.

 

At my request Warwick bought a RCM Sensor Prelude with him when he came to set up the turntable. The unit has the Furutech upgrades. It’s a well-built unit that is sonically very capable. It offers great flexibility in loading and gain choices and has both balanced and single ended outputs. I used the balanced outputs into the Aesthetix Calypso. The Sensor was able to convey a lot of information. It’s quite transparent. It has a great dynamic range with music launching from a dark background. Tonally it’s well balanced. What I really liked about it was its ability to convey the gravelly texture of Louis Armstrong’s voice.

 

It bested the Whest 2.0 on all sonic fronts. Unfortunately my Calypso line stage didn't get on very well with the sensor. It performed well except on a couple of very dynamic tracks. The inputs of the Calypso were overloaded and distortion could be heard. Plugging the Sensor into other pre amps confirmed that the incompatibility was limited to just these two units. I have no intention of moving the Calypso so the Sensor couldn’t stay. Both Warwick and I were disappointed with the outcome but for different reasons. I knew it was going to cost me a lot more to get that level of performance from another phono.

 

My next idea was the Aesthetix Rhea which you would think would get along nicely with the Calypso apart from some sibling rivalry. Locally Aesthetix is represented by the same distributor who handles Audia Flight. I have always coveted the Audia Flight phono since I first laid eyes on it a couple of years ago it’s a lovely looking unit with great reviews.

I arranged a demo of both units a dealer was willing to bring both of them over for a listen.

 

We started with the Sensor to create a baseline. We listened to the albums; Louis Armstrong Plays King Oliver (Classic records), John Coltrane Blue Train (AP 45RPM), Oscar Peterson Night Train (ORG 45RPM), Daft Punk RAM, Dave Bruebeck Take 5 (Classic records)

 

The Rhea was fresh out of the box with minimal run time. It sounded pretty bad as is thick plastic bags had been placed over the speakers after punching holes in the bass drivers. To say I was disappointed was a massive understatement. As the session wore on the Rhea started to sound better. The sound stage was less choked and tonally it started to develop some texture, clearly it needed to be used for more time before any serious evaluation could occur so we packed it up. I had read that the Rhea can be noisy with valve hiss as it uses valves exclusively and is a high gain phono. I had also read that when fitted with low noise valves this was not an issue. This unit was straight out of the box with the factory shipped valves and was noisy. I was surprised and couldn’t live with it. Performing below its capability there wasn’t a favourable trade off that I could identify at this stage. The demonstration clearly had done this product any justice. I felt we had wasted an opportunity.

 

Next we plugged in the Audia Flight; we only had time for a short listen so the unit never really warmed up. After the Rhea it sounded gorgeous. The background was pitch black, the soundstage depth was vast and the transparency and detail stunning. The ability to separate each instrument was uncanny. I felt I could shifty my focus from one to another and that each was then illuminated by the soft glow of an incandescent light. It is an overstatement to describe it as warm. Someone mentioned that Audia Flight was slow sounding, this unit was not. Some further research uncovered that characteristic belonged to a previous model, not the FL Phono. That was all we had time for so once again I felt a wasted opportunity as I hadn’t heard another product at its best.

 

So after all this I’ve heard three phonos, one I like the sound of but is incompatible with my system, one I wanted to like but couldn’t and probably not through any fault of its own and another with great potential that was rushed.

Online the arch enemy of the Audia Flight in the opposing corner is the Esoteric E03. Cameron from Krispy Audio kindly arranged a loaner over a couple of weekends.

Family duties limit my listening time on the weekends to a 3 -4 hour session in between sports, gymnastics and taxi services. During the week after work is not great as I lose the room to TV and my own exercise and fatigue.

　

The E03 is an elegant unit that looked right at home in my rack below the Calypso. It’s solid a quite weighty. It was easy to use with fantastic build quality. Setting the loading was simple just turn the dial, the gain was fine without any adjustment I’m not sure how that works but it just did no fuss. It was immediately apparent the 6 moons review was pretty spot on. The detail was superlative, the intake of breath by the performers was palpable the drums sounded fantastic, you could really hear the tautness of the skins as well as the individual positions of the drums being struck within the kit. The soundstage was wide and enormously deep clearly conveying the position of performers even when they slightly moved. The background was totally silent, not inky black but rather more naturally just disappearing off into the great distance. Having it for two weekends meant I had the opportunity to play a number of different LPs. The Esoteric quite ruthlessly exposes poor recordings, a number of my favourite artists were let down by poor production. I did wonder if it were possible to have too much of a good thing. I was very impressed, so impressed I nearly bought the unit. Two things stopped me, the Esoteric sounded a little dry. I couldn’t ignore it, but needed to hear the Audia Flight properly to make a final decision. I haven’t written of the Rhea, but unless it’s capable of the miraculous comeback, it’s not in the same class as these two.

 

So now to my problem I can’t get hold of the Audia Flight over a couple of weekends to make a decision. This is pretty ridiculous considering there’s a 50% chance of a sale. So much for local support. I wish these products were available from PMG who certainly know how to demo a product and have given me great service.

[Guest JohnA]

Great write up mate

 

having owned both the audia flight and now the esoteric, i can honestly say they are very close indeed.

it will be very system dependent, the audia flight a little more warmth to the sound.

 

You will be happy with either one i would say.

I ended up selling the audia purely because i wanted to play with different carts, and changing the loading became a pain. Also had to do custom ones as you didnt get many options straight out of the box.

 

The esoteric having 1 x mc in put and one mc or mm gave me the best of both world, and with loading options at the front of the unit, for easy and quick loading changes was hard to ignore.

Great to also check the differences loading made to each cart on the fly.

 

I also considered the Rhea, but after hearing about the noise issues, i didnt even bother auditioning it.

 

Good luck with the hunt

[metal beat]

Congrats on the turntable and Kleos cartridge.

 

I totally agree with you re the Rhea phono stage. I listened to it twice and both times was noisy.

 

You line stage has 23db se / 29db gain balanced, which is a lot.  Something is wrong with the Calypso design if the RCM was overloading it. My cj preamp has 25 db gain and nothing can overload it including the RCM with full gain.

  What gain did you run the RCM on?

Did you lower the gain to close to the minimum or at a maximum of 60db gain?  Did it still overload at this lower gain?

 

The RCM sounded similar the the Pass Xono in my systen. The new XP-15 is better so perhaps add that to the list.

 

I have not heard the Audia Flight , but what gain did you run that on.

 

The Esoteric is a lovely neutral phono stage, however it does need a superior power cable. Once this has been achieved this phono stage takes off in performance.  

 

Cheers

[betty boop]

ah good to hear of your adventures. interesting isnt it how different phono stages work in a system

 

greedy as I am I still have a phono stage stashed under the bed. only because does some things very well and cant bring myself to sell it off.

 

ps while we hear nothing about this locally. the fosgate signature v2 tube phono has got to be worth checking out.

 

http://www.recordclean.com.au/Musical_Surroundings_Fosgate_Signature_Phono_Preamplifier_Stage.html

 

if I didnt have a phono stage in love with and another that like as well under the bed, I would be checking the fosgate out for sure

[Guest JohnA]

The Esoteric is a lovely neutral phono stage, however it does need a superior power cable. Once this has been achieved this phono stage takes off in performance.  

 

Cheers

 

i was going to add this, but thought best not to 

[metal beat]

i was going to add this, but thought best not to 

 

Frankly, if you use the Esoteric with the crappy power cable the distributor supplied the phono will be under performing big time IMO.

[andyr]

Very interesting comparison, Craig.

 

I heard an Audia Flight a few years ago at the home of a lapsed SNA member (Hayabusa) - and it was delightful.

 

Interesting that you found the E03 a bit dry - as John seems to confirm that ... although he puts up with the "dry" for ease of loading (an essential feature, IMO  ).

 

Can I suggest 2 alternatives you need to try, before paying all that money for an Audia Flight (with, according to John, its difficult loading experience):

• Duc's Golden Age Audio Reference phono stage.  (But I don't know about his capacity to loan you one for audition purposes; I also don't know how he organises loading ... all I do know is that it sounds marvellous!  )
• my own 'Muse' - which you had PM'd me to say you were keen to hear.  It's currently down with 'gamve' in Tassie but I expect to get it back next week (he said he was going to do a 2nd shootout this weekend).  If you can wait that long, I can bring it over when I get it back - PM me if you are interested (and BTW, it is well run in!  ).  I employ parallel input RCAs so you can simultaneously use both loaded 'R' plugs and 'C' plugs.  55.5dB gain is sufficient for a 0.28mV LOMC - and also works fine with my 4mV Grado RR1 (although you have to turn the volume control down a lot from the LOMC setting!  ).

 

Regards,

 

Andy

Edited August 23, 2013 by andyr

[CraigC]

The gain of the Calypso can be set to either 0 or -12 dB. I am using it at -12dB.The gain settings on the RCM I tried were the 0.5mV and the 0.9mV one was too high and the other too low. Changing the loading to a lower setting improved things a little.

Warwick really tried to get the RCM working in my setup.

I think the gain setting on the Audia Flight was 60dB

I just used the cable that came with it which was nothing special, but similar to those on the Sensor and the Audia Flight.

I was wondering about the Pass Labs too.

[proftournesol]

Craig, you know that you'll end up upgrading your line stage some time now that you've heard the RCM...... 

[CraigC]

I really liked the Sensor and as good as the Sensor is,the Esoteric is in another league. The E03 is very special it makes the Sensor sounds veiled with a shallow sound stage. If you've heard the sensor image how good the E03 is. None of these subtle differences were lost on my linestage so it's not going anywhere.

[petng]

I have owned Duc's phono stage and it was dead quiet for a tube phono stage.Very organic and warm sounding. You do need a step up transformer with it, so it gets quite complex with your line stage, phono stage and step up. 

 

If you are thinking of upgrading your line stage, then i would highly recommend the Octave Preamps with built in phono stage. Another alternative is the Octave phono module. I had one of these and it was quiet and absolutely fast and dynamic.The phono module can also serve as a preamp with 1 line input. I think the price is just a bit more than the Audia Flight and Aestheix.

[Guest JohnA]

Here is another you may want to audition

 

havent heard it myself, but have eyed it off a few times.

Maybe someone here has already auditioned it and can chime in.

 

 

http://hifidirect.com.au/client/sec_index.php?p=162

[petng]

I also owned the RCM prelude before. What I found was it had very high gain. If the cart was .2mv, I had to set the RCM to .5mv so it would not overload my preamp.

[petng]

John I think Turntable had one a while back. I remember because it came up for sale around the same you sold your Audia Flight.

[petng]

Or it could be around the time you bought the Audia Flight.

[Guest JohnA]

John I think Turntable had one a while back. I remember because it came up for sale around the same you sold your Audia Flight.

why doesnt that surprise me.

is there any phono stage that man hasnt auditioned 

[lovetube]

why doesnt that surprise me.

is there any phono stage that man hasnt auditioned 

 

yes there is

 

Duc

[metal beat]

Yes I did own the Audio valve Sunilda phono stage. Bought used on audiogon.  I bought it mainly for mm carts as my TW is mc only.

 

For me in my system I found it a little sterile and lacking tube magic in both mm and mc. My TW Acustik tube phono stage was comfortably better - more money thou.

Personally I don't' t miss it.

 

 

I am assuming Craig's budget is up to 5k or so?

Edited August 23, 2013 by turntable

[metal beat]

yes there is

 

Duc

 

Duc, I would love to hear your phono with a Ypsilon SUT

[Guest JohnA]

yes there is

 

Duc

 

maybe not for long 

 

Shane, get Jasper to send you down his one for an audition

[Guest JohnA]

Yes I did own the Audio valve Sunilda phono stage. Bought used on audiogon.  I bought it mainly for mm carts as my TW is mc only.

 

For me in my system I found it a little sterile and lacking tube magic in both mm and mc. My TW Acustik tube phono stage was comfortably better - more money thou.

Personally I don't' t miss it.

 

 

I am assuming Craig's budget is up to 5k or so?

thanks for that mate. Maybe Craig should audition your TW if he doesnt use MM carts

Thats if you still have it

[lovetube]

Duc, I would love to hear your phono with a Ypsilon SUT

 

Hi Shane.

either send your address or wait untill you down here for the show then take it with you. I have one here ready for you to test 'drive'

may be the top Lundahl SUT to complete the test .

Duc

[CraigC]

I heard some good things about the TW. You're correct about the budget.

[metal beat]

thanks for that mate. Maybe Craig should audition your TW if he doesnt use MM carts

Thats if you still have it

 

John, I still have it and its not for sale.     Victor jumped on a used TW phono and dumped his Boulder 1008. 

 

 I have one tube and one ss phono.  That is plenty :-) 

[metal beat]

Hi Shane.

either send your address or wait untill you down here for the show then take it with you. I have one here ready for you to test 'drive'

may be the top Lundahl SUT to complete the test .

Duc

 

You are tempting me Duc.     I am trying hard not to spend anymore $$ on gear.   Perhaps after after I have sold some. :-) 

 

Anyway, back to the OP

Edited August 23, 2013 by turntable