Gold Note PH-1000 Best Phono Preamp?

Titles that read "Best" anything? categorically get skipped by me.  Why do people relentlessly try to assert a best? Such a tired topic.

I'm sure the Gold Note is wonderful but why does anything have to be asserted as "best"?  

"Best"

Nothing better to put in a thread title. The PH 1000 is an $11K unit. It better be performing at a level to make you declare "best".

Too many choices that can sound "the best".

I'd stick with the PH10 and their matching PSU. It's a no brainer and for its price a bargain IMHO. 

Waited for a needle-drop but nothing was played.

Sorry, I avoid You Tube.

"Titles that read "Best" anything? categorically get skipped by me. "

And I.  Since I have one one the way, I will watch the OPs.

Y'all hang in there,

Robert

I had the gold note pH 10 for a while and was underwhelmed. It had a wonderful sound but it wasn't a sound that I really connected with. It just didn't have the presence of an lfd or a Hagerman in terms of similar price points. Still, having not heard the pH 1000 which seems to sell for 10 times the price, I would hope it sounds fantastic! And as always, best is completely subjective.

I don't mind the use of the word "best", but if you want to catch the interest of forum members here, it's "best" to follow up that adjective with some reasons why. Tell me what makes the PH1000 so special, in other words.

Best in the world would be a very presumptuous claim.  "Best I've ever heard" would be a better claim, but it would require listing the other phonostage one has heard.  This reviewer did not even list the other phono stages that he has heard that the Gold Note beat out.  That makes it an almost totally useless review.  A good review would involve many different cartridges and some context, such as the other high end phono stages that were heard under similar or identical conditions.  As a supposed contender for being among the best, this $16k phono stage is a quarter of the price of some others; has he heard any of these (e.g., Audio Note M9 or M10, FM Acoustics, Zanden)?

I just read Fremer's review of the PH1000 in S'phile published in 2022.  He spends most of the space saying why the multiple alternative compensation curves are unnecessary. He offers evidence that RIAA was the standard, almost immediately after the introduction of stereo.  (But the conversion from mono to stereo recording was not simultaneous in all countries where records were made, and he fails to provide dates.) He does not really say much about SQ, which is what we really care about.  This suggests to me he was not overwhelmed by the SQ.

Fremer has provided plenty of evidence that RIAA was adopted universally quite a while ago.  But, I've heard some phono stages that offer different curves and there are some recordings, that are quite modern, where, in the particular system, an alternative curve sounded better.  I don't think the recording was actually done utilizing a different curve, so the "improved" result using a different curve is a matter of recording/mastering, system synergy, personal taste, and/or a combination of such factors.  It doesn't hurt to try something different when a recording doesn't sound great with the default RIAA equalization.

But that’s just a shot in the dark. Don’tcha think?

In his PH-1000 review Fremer did try at least one alternate curve and said it did sound better on the test LP.  Not saying he is wrong about the RIAA curve adoption,  but relying on older folks memories is dangerous.  Not to mention folks that may have beef repeating the corporate line.

 

Y'all take care, 

Robert

“beef” should have been “been”.

He spoke to specific engineers who were personally involved in setting up the most commonly used Neumann lathe. There was complete agreement among them. When I was a kid in the 50s, my parents had a H-K receiver that offered a choice of 2 or 3 equalization curves, plus RIAA. But that was all mono. Fremer does intimate that the conversation to stereo brought in the particular Neumann that was standardized to RIAA. It’s certainly logical that a mono LP might benefit from some esoteric equalization curve. Also, there’s no accounting for listener taste. If you get a charge out of playing with equalization, the PH1000 is certainly a way to be able to do it.

@lewm , I certainly don't even when I play old 78s. Even though I have the capability to use any EQ curve ever made I never leave RIAA. That capability is totally lost on me. It is not on the shopping list.

The FM Acoustic variable equalization offers infinite variety of choices.  Basically, one picks the turnover frequency on the curve and can choose any slope of that curve.  I know that I would simply set both dials at RIAA and not bother, but, those that like to fiddle would be in heaven with something like this (I would be in heaven just to be able to afford something from FM Acoustics).

Notice the OP never came back to his own thread. That should tell you all you need to know….

No post from him or video since the end of 2021.  Anybody know if he is OK?

Robert