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New Gold Note PH 10

I had posted a question a while ago about hearing from anyone with experience comparing the Gold Note PH 10 vs. the Bryston BP2 or Clear Audio Smart V2 phono preamps.  I never heard anything back about this subject, so I decided to just simply purchase a new PH 10 and compare it against my Clear Audio preamp.  

First impressions:  As much as I love my Clear Audio Smart V2 and in particular its sound stage and imaging qualities, I have to say that the PH 10 was considerably better at detail and picking out the instruments, especially the low and mid range ones.   The Clear Audio seemed to be a little better at the upper end imaging and the sound stage.  But keep in mind this was with the PH 10 new right out of the box.

I was told the PH 10 needs at least 50 hours of run in time to open up, so I used it for two nights and left it on for several days.  After allowing it to settle in and enjoying a lot of music, I still thought the Clear Audio had a leg up on it in the sound stage/imaging department.   So I decided to listen to a well known record to me with excellent recording and a lot of dynamic range on the PH 10, then switch the wires over to the Clear Audio (which I had not heard in several days by this time), and replay the record.   YIKES!!!  it was like a blanket was draped over my speakers.  I had become so gradually accustomed to the new PH 10 that I had not noticed the slight changes going on with the break in.  When the Clear Audio was swapped back into the system (it took me about a minute to do this), it was night and day the differences.

The PH 10 was by far a much more detailed, pronounced signature with a superior sound stage and the imaging was hands down better.  I am using it with the Audio Technica AT20ss vintage MM cartridge which has an extraordinary frequency range of 5-50K hz, so I was able to take advantage of the Enhanced RIAA curve the PH 10 has.  It is pretty outstanding.   Make sure you break things in!   I love this phono preamp.
slimpikins5
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Or perhaps I could use one of the loading resistors on the input RCA's which might do the same thing.

No, you can't. But it depends. The reason i asked Joe to modify my JLTi phono stage with 500k Ohm internal resistor, so i can add any lover value in the dedicated pair of RCA plugs on the back. This is how it works if i want 100k Ohm:

The formula for parallel resistors is simple if you have a calculator.

R=(R1*R2)/(R1+R2)

If R1 is 500K and R2 is 100K, then multiply the two. You will get a large value.

Next step, add R1 and R2. You will get a much smaller value.

Now divide the larger value with the smaller value and you will get the final value.

In the above example, it is 500K x 100K = 50,000

And 500K + 100K = 600

Now divide 50,000 by 600 = 83K333 or 83.333K if you prefer.

If the value of the loading is way under 500K or 1M, then the value in the
loading plug will completely dominate.

slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5 OP
192 posts
 
I would not be surprised if my transmitters cause interference with the audio system and vice versa, if I were to play my music as loud as I usually do, I know it would interfere with my transmitted signal :)  And it's illegal to transmit any music over amateur radio frequencies as they are not broadcast bands.   
slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5 OP
192 posts
 
I will send an inquiry off to Gold Note to ask about the idea of increasing the loading to 100K for MM and see if there is a simple solution to trying it without getting into the guts of the unit.

rsf507
2,439 posts
 
@slimpikins5 did you buy your PH10 new and get one of the updated lower noise units? I hear it's 12db lower in noise than the original.
cardani's avatar
cardani
160 posts
 
@slimpikins5 I think Gold Note should just make a an new revision with an MM 100k ohm loading feuture, it has so many options already , why not just add this one.
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