MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Room to arrange and discuss bake-offs
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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Bigman80 wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:48 pm
Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:31 pm You have proved it is no conspiracy Bigman by the thread you have created at AoS. Were you trained in deception and manipulation, because you do it very well. You have established a false position, all I can hope that it gets shot down by reality, but you cleverly got it in there first.

Anyway I have had enough of this, if you are reality mate then I should give up. Let us let other opinions be applied, and I need to sleep to recover from the day and journey. I certainly will not do 9 hours driving in one day again, especially when the last 10 miles of the M1 is a solid traffic jam.
Doc, I respect the fact that you drive so far to participate and you have very good equipment but you don't need me to tell you that. I thought your Phono 2 +PSU+ PSU was fantastic and I would buy one if I were I the market.

The truth is I am just writing what I think and I understand that others don't agree but that's why we all own different stuff. Your Phono1 was at a disadvantage with the track used which I have already acknowledged. I genuinely write what I heard and it's ok to disagree.
You really are a manipulator, now we get the "butter wouldn't melt in the mouth", to see what I mean just compare these sentiments with those being expressed at AoS.

It is silly to copy posts between Audio talk and here, those interested should read both - the shit at AoS should just be ignored per usual.

Anyway off to bed, hopefully I wont wake up still steaming :angry-fire:

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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by zebbo »

Bigman80 wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 8:03 pm
There were a couple of other stages, but as they are not commercially available to buy i haven't included them.
Enough said. :lol:
Audio Grail "Sable" Garrard 401 with Cumbrian Green Slate plinth / Audiomods 6 / Benz Micro Gullwing SLR, Phono 2, NVA INT400sa. (Oh and a Copland CDA823 CD Player, for when I fancy a bit of the devil's spawn!) :lol:

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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by Bigman80 »

zebbo wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:04 pm
Bigman80 wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 8:03 pm
There were a couple of other stages, but as they are not commercially available to buy i haven't included them.
Enough said. :lol:
What do you mean by that? Should a write up be done about a DIY phonostage that has no name, no price and no details? I'm happy to do so! It was excellent.

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Lindsayt
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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by Lindsayt »

I agree with Nick and MCRU's summaries on Audio Talk.

The £780 NVA 2 with the 2 x power supplies was the sweet spot for price / performance.

I personally prefered the 4 x power supplies, but can fully understand Nick's preference for the 2 x.

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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by Bigman80 »

Have I been moderated again! Sweet Christmas! That joke was funny.

C'mon guys.

I respect the verdict and to be fair, I can see where they are coming from. The Phono 2 was very good. As I said, if I was looking that's what I'd buy.

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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by savvypaul »

Bigman80 wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:22 pm The Phono 2 was very good. As I said, if I was looking that's what I'd buy.
Good to hear that you'll be routinely recommending the Phono 2 from now on.
I am in the hi-fi trade
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Company Name: NVA Hi-Fi
https://nvahifi.co.uk/

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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by Bigman80 »

savvypaul wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:28 pm
Bigman80 wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:22 pm The Phono 2 was very good. As I said, if I was looking that's what I'd buy.
Good to hear that you'll be routinely recommending the Phono 2 from now on.
I will be. I really did like it. Genuinely. I'd quite like one myself.

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Lindsayt
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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by Lindsayt »

Bigman80 wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:22 pm Have I been moderated again! Sweet Christmas! That joke was funny.

C'mon guys.

I respect the verdict and to be fair, I can see where they are coming from. The Phono 2 was very good. As I said, if I was looking that's what I'd buy.
So how do you square that away with you saying that you prefered the sound of the Firebottle Vivant for £400 more and the JFET for £1300 more?

Or are you now reconsidering your verdict and would now like to place the NVA 2 as equal first on sound quality, near as dammit, differences aren't worth arguing over? And considering the respective prices, that therefore makes the NVA 2 the overall winner of this bake-off in your opinion?

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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by Bigman80 »

Lindsayt wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:44 pm
Bigman80 wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:22 pm Have I been moderated again! Sweet Christmas! That joke was funny.

C'mon guys.

I respect the verdict and to be fair, I can see where they are coming from. The Phono 2 was very good. As I said, if I was looking that's what I'd buy.
So how do you square that away with you saying that you prefered the sound of the Firebottle Vivant for £400 more and the JFET for £1300 more?

Or are you now reconsidering your verdict and would now like to place the NVA 2 as equal first on sound quality, near as dammit, differences aren't worth arguing over? And considering the respective prices, that therefore makes the NVA 2 the overall winner of this bake-off in your opinion?
No, what I am saying is the Phono 2 was the best bang for buck IMO and I stated that in my original summary. That hasn't changed. I felt the KIN had an air and space that the Phono2 didn't have but I felt the best stage of the day other than MFA was the JFET. Did any of you actually read what I said? Feels a bit like you've all jumped down my throat without reading it. Maybe ranking them was an error. Anyway, doesn't change the fact my favourite was the JFET.

And it's not worth arguing about as you say, the masses when asked usually provide the right opinion so my summary alone is only part of the story. You, the doc, Nick and MCRU all chose the NVA over the FB stuff and that's out there now. And it was done in a neutral venue, with impartial listeners (Nick and Dave) that's what im respecting. Part of being impartial is seeing the other sides opinion and I can. Doesn't mean I don't think what I have written.

It was a good day, I enjoyed it, everyone was very knowledgeable and I got to hear £30k+ worth of gear!

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Re: MC Phono Stage Bake-off

Unread post by Bigman80 »

hillsanddalesrover wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:19 pm Bigman80, I would find it interesting to hear your comments on the other phono stages you heard, particularly the prototype NVA one that Lyndsayt mentioned.

I might be in the market for a 2K phono stage at some time in the not too distant future.
The NVA 3 didn't work in the room as well as the NVA 2, I don't know why but the bass seemed to boom a little, there was a lot of interference from other gadgets too. Something I'm sure will be fixed. Overall I much preferred the NVA2 with extra PSUs

I'd recommend a listen to the Longdog JFET. I thought this was sublime and really was rather faultless. It was a step above the others IMO. I wrote "perfect" in my notes when I heard it.

https://mcru.co.uk/product/the-mains-ca ... plifier-2/

I'll also add that Dominic at North West Analogue (?) Brought his DIY phonostage. That was excellent too. If he will make one, it's worth a listen.
Last edited by Bigman80 on Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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