Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Joe Mac said:
I think there have been questions raised in the past about the quality of the components Cambridge Audio use inside their bits.

The current forum love in is with the Darlington Labs one at about that price

www.darlingtonlabs.com

MM-6: Discrete High-Voltage J-FET RIAA Phono Preamp - The Original — Darlington Labs

MM-6: Fully-Discrete, Zero Negative Feedback, High-Voltage J-FET (Junction Field Effect Transistor) Phono Preamplifier Why settle for underwhelming performance from the well-known names? Get * truly high class” sound with hand-built USA quality, from an engineering team with 50+ years experien
www.darlingtonlabs.com www.darlingtonlabs.com

@HiFi Guy did a review recently

Darlington Labs MM-6 Phono Preamplifier Review

Behind the phono cartridge, a system’s phono preamplifier has the second most difficult job in an analog lover’s system, and is often overlooked. The phono preamplifier’s job is twofold. First, it amplifies the tiny voltage put out by the phono cartridge to a voltage high enough for the...
www.needlesandgrooves.com www.needlesandgrooves.com
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Anyone have any experience with either of the jack upgrades, or is that just some unnecessary extra fluff? Cant seem to find info on it on their site.
 
DJSJ said:
Anyone have any experience with either of the jack upgrades, or is that just some unnescary extra fluff? Cant seem to find info on it on their site.
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I think @Matt M got one of them complimentary on his? But I’m not sure if anyone has heard both versions to give you a trade off. @HiFi Guy what do you reckon?
 
DJSJ said:
Anyone have any experience with either of the jack upgrades, or is that just some unnecessary extra fluff? Cant seem to find info on it on their site.
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Keith at Darlington told me, "I don’t claim the fancier ones make any difference in sound. If your patch cables work well with the stock units, that’s perfectly fine."
 
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Joe Mac said:
I think @Matt M got one of them complimentary on his? But I’m not sure if anyone has heard both versions to give you a trade off. @HiFi Guy what do you reckon?
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DJSJ said:
Anyone have any experience with either of the jack upgrades, or is that just some unnecessary extra fluff? Cant seem to find info on it on their site.
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Nevermind, should have looked closer, one of the options is sold out and the other is probably too pricey (for a jack upgrade) anyway.
 
VMPKJ said:
@kvetcha those Decware amps look nice. I like that the layout is wide not deep physically too. The mystery is a bit of overkill for me but there are some interesting pre's and amps in the line. Have you spent any time with them?
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I purchased a Zen Torii and a KingKo and ended up keeping the KingKo primarily because it was more spouse-friendly and it fit my space better, but the Dec was a very impressive piece of kit. It’s currently at my parents’ house and I’m debating sending it in to get it re-warrantied and upgraded to a Mk II, but I don’t know that I’ve spent enough hours with it to give a really full-on impression.
 
kvetcha said:
I purchased a Zen Torii and a KingKo and ended up keeping the KingKo primarily because it was more spouse-friendly and it fit my space better, but the Dec was a very impressive piece of kit. It’s currently at my parents’ house and I’m debating sending it in to get it re-warrantied and upgraded to a Mk II, but I don’t know that I’ve spent enough hours with it to give a really full-on impression.
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I may try one of those Decware amps as the power stage for a power amp set up.

My feedback from Upscale was that he thought I was looking at Head amp / pre only but that he would consider the Prima Luna's headphone jack to be a worthy upgrade at the EVO 300/400 level. Also said the Manley was the shops hands down favorite for cans and that they were a "whole other world". Now it's it my head LOL. Thanks @AnthonyI.

I may have to try one and if it's a big jump, sell a couple of things to fund it. I could use it with a cheap power stage for now & then go in for a power amp again later. The zen's are pretty affordable too.

I didn't go into this thinking tubes but once I started reading it seems the designs on better stages makes them easier to work with that in the instrument world I'm used to. Sounds like they last longer too.
 
VMPKJ said:
I may try one of those Decware amps as the power stage for a power amp set up.

My feedback from Upscale was that he thought I was looking at Head amp / pre only but that he would consider the Prima Luna's headphone jack to be a worthy upgrade at the EVO 300/400 level. Also said the Manley was the shops hands down favorite for cans and that they were a "whole other world". Now it's it my head LOL. Thanks @AnthonyI.

I may have to try one and if it's a big jump, sell a couple of things to fund it. I could use it with a cheap power stage for now & then go in for a power amp again later. The zen's are pretty affordable too.

I didn't go into this thinking tubes but once I started reading it seems the designs on better stages makes them easier to work with that in the instrument world I'm used to. Sounds like they last longer too.
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You’re not really driving them very hard in most of these applications.
 
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