Art Audio Vinyl one vs Sutherland PhD

David12, to be fair to audiofeil, I believe he is taking issue with your assuming that the differences between the Vinyl Reference and the K & K must be small when you haven't even compared them. Without having heard either of them, I agree with audiofeil. Having performed many parts upgrades I can personally vouch for the major transformations that generally result, usually completely changing the sonic signature as well as the overall quality. The kind of shooting from the hip judgment you're passing off as fact clouds the issue. A simple rewording with liberal use of words like "might" would be better appreciated.

(breathe)

Just a couple of words. I have done a side by side of the K&K kit and the Art Audio V-ref. The K&K kit was built with S&B step-up transformers instead of the Lundahls and had a few "upgraded" parts. (cost was around 3K) This was before the last upgrade (big improvement by the way and only $45!). The comparison was done on an SME 20/ V combo with a lyra helicon SL. We also had a Lamm on hand as well. The sound from the V-ref and the sound from the kit are very close. Detailed, quiet, and dynamic if just the smallest bit lean in comparison to the Lamm. The Kit and the V-ref sound so alike I would be hard pressed to know if it was the v-ref or the K&K kit that was hooked up. Both are great. I haven't seen the parts in the V-ref but it's the sound that matters to me. Having listened to the Art Audio v-1 (not side by side with the others) it is warmer and was a little less detailed in my system but a better match to the lyra than to the Shelter that repaced it. Overall, the K&K kit was a big move up. With the latest parts upgrade for the K&K the slight lean sound has been addressed. It sounds wonderful with my Shelter 90x. Bottom line is the the Kit is a bargain. Kevin is great and easy to deal with. You will need to build the kit. (don't know if that matters to you)Both Art Audio stages are good, so is the Lamm, and so is the K&K. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Cheers,

Never having built a single piece of audio gear, I took a chance and bought the mc/mm kandk kit. I made two simple errors during the process of making it and Kevin was very gracious about helping me. In short, it sounds wonderful and I have not found a better value in high end audio.