Need a phono preamp

Jstas

Someone turned me on this deal today:



ART USB Phono Plus (USB Phono Pre with RIAA EQ)

http://www.amazon.com/ART-USB-Phono-Plus-RIAA/dp/B006LZDO4M/ref=sr_1_55?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1327630424&sr=1-55


The intent here is to not break the bank since I have many other costs occurring right now with the refinishing of my basement and construction of an in-wall based home theater.

However, I have a rather purty turntable in my library which is currently passing through a spare Onkyo pre-amp I have and in to a Peachtree Nova. Not the best solution for a phono pre-amp.

I'm looking at the pre-amp above because it it performs all the functions of a NAD PPI-3 pre-amp I was looking at, for half the price. Also has the EQ. I need something with a USB in/out because the intent is to rip my dad's old LP's for him.

He mentioned that he doesn't like to play them very often because they are old and some are quite valuable like his A series White Album. I have copious amounts of storage space so I was going to rip his albums to digital files for him so he can listen to them without wearing out the albums.

So that's the intent. Like I said, cash poor so price is a factor. USB functionality is a necessity. Not having it is a deal breaker.

So what I wanna know is has anybody used or heard about the one above if it's good, bad or indifferent? 'Cause the price is nice and I can get another $10 off with a code I have.

Tony M

I need a phono pre-amp real bad too. I've been procrastenating for years.

My budget can't justify a 300.00 one. I'm not into just records so I've been looking for around 100.00 for a used something. NAD or cambridge or something.

Soon, very soon.

I did buy a new 32" LG LK330 last night for 269.00 from new egg. I've wanted a bedroom upgrade for years. My wife said after we get a new heat and air system. I said sorry, I'm getting it since I missed out on a #1 rated Samsung on sale a year and a half ago for 279.00. This should arrive sat. I hope.

Next is a phono pre-amp...:-)

Then I can die. I will be completely want free..:-)

TNHNDYMAN

Jstas-

I just bought this exact pre on the bay--

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290657838433?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

For now its on the shelf waiting to be used. It will be my 1st attempt at trying to rip LP to the computer and to try as a external dac for some of my older cd players that have digital outs as well as trying as a dedicated phono pre to see if it's any better than some existing phono sections on my older vintage units. Quality wise it is my first and have nothing to compare it to. I too was heavily boxed in by budget but this looked like a swiss army knife style compromise that can be utilized in several areas I'd like to try in my system so for under $50 for me it was a way to get my feet wet. I hope it's decent. I'm too busy now to do any reviewing but would be happy to talk to you anytime when I do get it hooked up. I say for the $ go for it.
Travis

Jstas

Well, that's what I'm thinkin'. The non-EQ one gets great reviews from DJ's who would be piping it through that ever so high quality PA equipment but the few people I saw who used it at home bagged on it for not being very neutral. But with the EQ, at least it's adjustable. For ripping it doesn't matter 'cause I can tailor the bit stream with the rip[ping software and fix any dips or humps in the signal. But for listening, that's a different story.

I haven't been able to find it for less than $70 though.

But even at $70, it's not a bad gamble. If it's not my bag, I can unload to some DJ or something on eBay for $50.

I'll probably grab it next pay period.

TNHNDYMAN

I'll have to do some googling research on the eq. Mine has a rumble low pass filter and a gain control but no eq that I know of. Hope to set up w/ a tt this weekend and test it out. If you have time to throw a link up to the reviews you found, that would be apprecated. T

Jstas

Well, the phono pre above is on it's way. Thank you tax return!

I'll let everyone know how it fares.

TNHNDYMAN

Hope you like it. I've been enjoying mine for about 2 months now. It sounds decent to me. I still want something either tube based or will go w/ a Cambridge 640 or zphono usb down the road. For now it works great and allows me to swap turntables out pretty easily for testing purposes. I've got a pretty good inventory of low end stuff accumilated thru craig list and estate sale finds to try and stock a flea market booth this summer so it's nice to keep the pre connected to the rig and just swap tt's on the top shelf of my rack without having to pull everything out and fish cables.

Looking foward to your impressions on it. What kind of tt are you using?

Jstas

Micro Seiki DD-35

Jstas

Well, it came on Friday. I got it hooked up last night. Would have done it Friday but I didn't realize that it didn't come with a power supply. Good info there.

It'll run off of USB power from a USB 2.0 or newer standard port. That's really nice 'cause you don't necessarily need to be tied to an outlet to use it for ripping vinyl to digital formats.

So I went digging in my box of stuff that I've been told is a "hoarder stash". That was proven wrong last night 'cause I found a power supply from an old Panasonic fax machine that was 9V and 350 mA which is just fine for the 9V 150 mA requirement of this little preamp.

Sweet!

So I hooked it up and played some Mendelssohn through it.

Wow, it's clean! I have to spend more time with it at different listening levels to check dynamics but right now, I'm leaning to the impressed side of the fence. For about $80 this isn't bad deal. Tons of options on it too. I think it's a better buy than the NAD PPi3 I was looking at for over twice as much. I'll give a more thorough review later in the week when I get some time.

Stay tuned kiddos! There's more to come! Same bat time, same bat channel!

Jstas

Double post. The Innerwebs are acting goofy today.

Polkersince85

Jstas wrote: »

Micro Seiki DD-35

How's that table working out for you? I like the ones that I have.

Jstas

Polkersince85 wrote: »

How's that table working out for you? I like the ones that I have.

It's actually quite nice. Lotsa people told me it'd have rumble and other gear drive problems but the damn thing weighs half a ton. I haven't had any issues and it's very good at regulating speed. It makes no noise at all. Looks nice too.

The best part is, it doesn't need any crazy, esoteric cartridges or stylus or anything. Uses standard, commonly available parts. It's exactly what I was looking for and I'm glad George snagged it 'cause it's a damn sight better than the Technics I was going to snag from him. It works so well, I have no desire to upgrade it in any fashion. It's pretty close to perfect as is.

Polkersince85

Micro made tables from entry level all the way up to $20g. There are folks on the bay wanting big money for a tonearm like I have. They were more of a custom job shop than major player. They are sleepers, IMO.

Jstas

OK, for paying about $80 shipped to my front door and having to scrounge up an external power supply in my pile of junk, this is really not that bad. I haven't messed around with the USB port yet, just listening to music.

First, needs an external power supply to work without a USB 2.0 power source. I looked at the listing that I got this one from and that wasn't mentioned but in other listings it is mentioned. No biggie, just fair warning. Glad I had a spare power supply or I'd still be waiting to listen to this.

The rig it's in is compromised of:

- Micro Seiki DD-35 (a rather overlooked gem of a turntable IMO)
- Peachtree Nova
- Totem Rainmakers
- Custom built stands

The Nova is a nice unit but leaves something to be desired depending on the source. It's a very flat input which is nice if you have a source that has a well designed output stage. Some stuff doesn't sound very good coming out of this little Nova, especially the more inexpensive gear that seems to rely on tone controls to compensate for peaks and valleys. However, find a good source or one that has some gain controls on the output and this can be an absolutely stellar little integrated with some digital input options for the money.

Given that, the turntable is a direct drive geared unit. The platter is very stable and has your typical rubber pad. The arm is light as a feather and uses standard cartridges. The speed adjustments are good and bad. They are good because you can get this thing dialed in to a hair's width of tolerances. That's the bad thing too. Hit one of those knobs by accident pulling an album off the platter and it can be insanely frustrating getting those little lights back in place! But the output is very flat as well. There's good dynamic range and you don't get the impression that anything is missing from track info. Like what Polkersince85 said, this is a rather affordable boutique player. There isn't much to upgrade unless you are REALLY anal. It does show a good recording vs a bad recording too.

Right now, as I'm typing this, I have the second copy of John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders" playing. It's on two different albums. One is an RCA Greatest Hits album which is compressed. There is a definitive cut off of the high end. My mom's copy of "Poems, Prayers & Promises" from 1971 does not have that cut off. This turntable exposes that drastically.

So, I was looking for a phono pre that would at the very least not lose that. I was going get the NAD PPi3 but at $200+ didn't really fit the budget (yeah, I'm cheap but also dumping ****-loads of money into refinishing my basement). I stumbled on this looking at a review for ART's non-USB phono-pre. It's phono stage is identical and it's regarded as a bit of a giant killer. The addition of the USB circuitry introduces more noise possibilities since computers are notoriously poorly grounded. So I'll have to look in to that when I have much more time available.

As far as playing music though, it doesn't necessarily excel but it doesn't hurt anything either. It's at least as good as the phono input on the Onkyo P-301 pre-amp (again, another overlooked gem of a pre-amp) and that's not a bad thing 'cause that a pretty decent phono stage.

The REAL nice thing about this ART unit is if you zero out the gain, it's passive and just passes through. However, the gain control seems to be progressive and the higher you crank it up, the more drastic the peaks get. BUT! That's an important but too. The gain has a clipping light that is dynamic. If you see it flicker, back it off until it doesn't flicker anymore. That's necessary for each recording 'cause, like I said, the two copies of the John Denver song, one clips while the other doesn't. Thing is though, if you set it to just below the clipping point, it remains pretty balanced but the effect is akin to the "smiley face" settings on a graphic equalizer. But, if it's a good recording without the mid-range hump or other mixing artifacts like that John Denver RCA recording I have is, it's not pronounced at all and it doesn't present that it's over-driving anything. However, if you do run this on USB power, that is likely to not be the case. Of course this may be in part due to the beefier power supply than what is recommended that I have powering this.

As far as what it transfers, everything. It has a monitor output that you can hook headphones up to. I actually plugged it in to a BSR EQ I have and set it to the analyzer setting. The analyzer shows that the phono-pre is transferring everything. Every snap, crackle, pop and even the lead in noise, the pre is pushing a full spectrum range. I believe it too because the Jim Croce "Photographs & Memories" album I was playing befor finding the John Denver stuff above is clear as a bell and everything comes across. It does have a filter switch to switch the input from line level to phono level which is nice. But I have a feeling that switch will mess with things a bit. Then again, most phono-preamps will mess with things like that because of the adjustment to the signal strength and the input/output impedance transforming they do. I don't notice too much at all though.

So, to sum things up, this is going to be hard to beat for the money audio-wise. The jury is still out on the USB functionality which is why I got this particular model. But for the audio side, there is some coloring if you use the gain control. The filtering is fairly benign and does a good job of cleaning things up. I would certainly use an external 9V power supply with a higher amperage rating than the 150 mA suggested. It is a compromise compared to higher end stuff but for the price, you aren't losing a whole hell of alot. There are some features this has (like USB inputs/outputs, digital audio outputs, gain control, line filters, etc...) that other models I was shopping in this price range and a level or two above don't have.

So if you're looking for an inexpensive phono-preamp that can punch above it's weight class, put this one on your short list. You'd have to at least triple it's price to find anything that will compete with it feature-wise and if you have a decent turntable, this phono-pre will give stuff well above it's price range a run for it's money. It's not exactly pretty but for a DJ/PA geared piece of equipment this really isn't bad at all. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone.

Jstas

Oh, BTW, the stylus currently loaded in the arm is an Andante E stylus.

It's pretty spiffy.