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It is morning on the East Coast of the US, and another cold day… comon spring! I wanted to share my experiences living with the Parks Audio Puffin for approximately eight months, and I purchased mine well before the ASR review. I’ve extensively read a lot of reviews on here, as well as watched the ASR YouTube channel, and I’ve also read hundreds of discussions here. So when my beloved phono preamp was placed in the middle of the pack I went back to Mr Parks, and him and I had some pretty candid conversations. I also sent my Puffin back and had a digital coax output installed so I can run this into my Topping D90 DAC (thanks Amir) As some of you know the Puffin lacks some headroom, and I wanted to share my thoughts on that also. I’ve been spinning vinyl for quite a while, and I’ve been seriously spinning it since 2013, when I got back into it after a 20 year hiatus. I also understand that not much is going to beat the sound of a good DAC, with a good source, going into good clean amplifiers and our favorite speakers. But… I found I was disconnected from the music, and there was very little interaction. Gone were the days when I looked at the label of an LP or a 45, pulled out the lyric sheet, or the gatefold sheet and learned a lot about the bands I liked… without having to search the Internet.
Anyway I guess that’s for a different thread. The Puffin has clip indicators in the gain menu, and I was advised by Mr. Parks to set that gain at 37 dB or 38 dB for my 5 mV output cartridge, and keep an eye on the clip indicators. Another great feature of those indicators is they let you know if the clipping happened upstream or downstream. After doing this for awhile I rarely clip this phono preamp, even when I drop the needle in the wrong spot on the run in groove, or run over a piece of debris. Although I find the built-in DAC to be adequate, I wasn’t about to stop there. I run the coax output into my D90 DAC, and then of course XLR that into my preamp. The sound is the best I have ever had on my set up, I don’t have any measurements but I think you vinyl guys know what I’m talking about when I make this next statement… It was a night and day difference between this and my other preamps of which I have many. Just an amazing phono preamp, and I am looking for a way to share its duties between my two turntables. I thought for anyone on the fence, I can put some of the headroom issues to rest. Does it still have a lack of headroom? I guess it does, but I hear nor ill effects As long as the gain is set correctly. Sooo… isn’t this what vinyl is all about the tweaking? To me it is, and trying to make a 100 year old technology sound as good as it can is just fun.
Anyway I guess that’s for a different thread. The Puffin has clip indicators in the gain menu, and I was advised by Mr. Parks to set that gain at 37 dB or 38 dB for my 5 mV output cartridge, and keep an eye on the clip indicators. Another great feature of those indicators is they let you know if the clipping happened upstream or downstream. After doing this for awhile I rarely clip this phono preamp, even when I drop the needle in the wrong spot on the run in groove, or run over a piece of debris. Although I find the built-in DAC to be adequate, I wasn’t about to stop there. I run the coax output into my D90 DAC, and then of course XLR that into my preamp. The sound is the best I have ever had on my set up, I don’t have any measurements but I think you vinyl guys know what I’m talking about when I make this next statement… It was a night and day difference between this and my other preamps of which I have many. Just an amazing phono preamp, and I am looking for a way to share its duties between my two turntables. I thought for anyone on the fence, I can put some of the headroom issues to rest. Does it still have a lack of headroom? I guess it does, but I hear nor ill effects As long as the gain is set correctly. Sooo… isn’t this what vinyl is all about the tweaking? To me it is, and trying to make a 100 year old technology sound as good as it can is just fun.
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