Professor: Have you ever owned/heard a manley chinook? I'm trying to sell my McIntosh C22 reissue, which I use for phono duties, as I rarely listen to vinyl and can't justify that much capital sitting idle. I'm planning to replace with a chinook or the Herron. Can you compare the two?
First impression: Herron VTPH-2A phono preamp
I got my VTPH-2A this morning and it's up and running. After about five hours of spinning vinyl, I'm pretty sure I've wet myself, MULTIPLE TIMES! I've primarily played vinyl that I've had for decades, music that I thought I was intimately familiar with. I was wrong. There's nuance I never knew existed. Everything about the VTPH-2A is "right". The bass is tight, vocals superb, instruments have places, etc. All that I've listened to sounds new and fresh and the most masterfully recorded vinyl sounds live. What I've read about on this forum concerning the VTPH-2A (pretty much all stellar) is true. I've had five different phono preamps and nothing can compete with this, NOTHING. It's a bad ass and definitely a keeper.
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dweller, I have not heard the Chinook, although it's my understanding that it is quite good as well. My last two preamps were both solid state, the Parasound JC 3+ and Simaudio Moon Neo 310LP. The JC 3+ was new and returned after a few week audition. It was okay, but I couldn't live with it's noise. I went through the whole dog and pony act of isolation, changing cables, grounding, etc. to no avail. Parasound believed the unit had too much gain for my system and was willing to trim back the gain if I wanted to send it back to them. Great offer, but it was disturbing to think a new item would need factory alteration right out of the box. The 310LP is a gem in it's own right, just not complete enough. I digress. My advice would be to audition, if possible, whatever it is you are strongly considering. I was afraid with the VTPH-2A that I wouldn't be objective, that the power of suggestion in reviews would influence my thinking. All I can do is concur with what I've read, it is the most musically dynamic component in my system. The AT-ART9 cartridge I use sings with accuracy. The beryllium tweeters in my Focal speakers offer clarity to highs like never before. I can finally understand the definition of tight bass and vocals that are live. If you listen to the Chinook and can have that kind of experience with the music, you've hit the jackpot. If not, I'm sure that you'll find it with the Herron. |
professorsvsu rob67 has one of these Herron’s phono stages, and because it has nice low 400ohm output impedance for a tube and high (69db) of gain, he probably doesn’t need any more gain from an active preamp, so he’ll be trying it out with his new Lightspeed Attenuator (should be far lower noise this way) he should have it this weekend which will be driving into his Gryphon Antilleon Signature poweramp driving his Wilson Sasha’s, I’ll ask him to comment on the sound here for you once he’s had a good listen.. Cheers George |
georgehifi, I would be excited to read about how the Herron performs in a truly high end system. My system is almost a starter kit in comparison. I'm glad that you brought up the Lightspeed. I have a Goldpoint floating around that I haven't used in years and I may experiment with that as well when I have free time. |
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