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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
lewm
13,496 posts
 
I see that it says 220pF in the specs, but look at page 9 of the owners manual, in the troubleshooting section. There at the top of the page you will see “330pF”. I agree this is in conflict with the specs. Even 220pF is high-ish before adding capacitances due to the ICs. Of course, please don’t get me wrong, the most important thing is that it sounds good to you and to a great majority of the owners.
slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5 OP
191 posts
 
I had questioned this variation in specs and sent an e mail to Gold Note back in March.  They clarified the misprint and told me that it's 220pf.   That is still on the high side for a lot of MM carts.  When you add in 5pf for the cable in the tone arm, 50 to 120 pf for the phono interconnect and the input of 220pf  its very high.

My AT20ss likes to see 100 to 150 pf total.   The capacitance makes a huge determination in performance.  It would be nice if they either offered variable settings or fixed it at a low level so that one could make adjustments via the phono cables.

I am surprised that Gold Note has not changed the specs in their listing as they know it is not correct.

 
lewm
13,496 posts
 
I have a feeling they add some capacitance in parallel with the input, to prevent oscillation of the input gain device, which is probably a wideband transistor.  And both tubes and solid state devices develop some inherent additional capacitance related to their operation.  Thanks for the clarification.  Do you use your Gold Note with that AT20SS?
slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5 OP
191 posts
 
Lew, yes I did use it with the PH10.   In fact its all I use!  My AT20ss (which was an AT15ss prior to this past winter when I swapped out the stylus for a NOS AT20ss stylus) has been in use since 1976.  I like it too much to migrate over to any MC carts.  In fact a friend of mine who has an Ortofon  Windfeld Ti recently put an AT15ss with a NOS Stylus I sold to him into service.  He's having a hard time determining if his $4500 Windfeld Ti is better than the old vintage MM :)

I really enjoyed the PH10 a lot.  It had very nice mid range, it was dynamic and very clean.  

The Whest Three doesn't use any capacitors in the output stage I am told and the input is "trimmed" as James says for 91pf on the input.  He suggested that I change out my 120pf phono cable for something along the lines of 50 to 60pf to dial in the total capacitance to near the 150pf range for the AT20ss.   James at Whest is very familiar with the AT20ss, he said it's a "GREAT CARTRIDGE", that is a direct quote.  He loves it and said that its a perfect match up with the Whest Three phono stage; especially if I lower the input capacitance with a input cable change.

A friend of mine sent me a link to some Mogami pro audio cable which is 14pf per foot.  A meter or so of this cable would really dial this in if I have a cable made up for the SME IV tonearm to the 
lewm
13,496 posts
 
Reading between the lines, you seem to be saying that despite the high capacitance at the input of the gold note, you are very happy with the combination of the AT20SS with a gold note . It would be interesting to see if you like the combination of AT20 SS and the whest phono stage better. Or to learn how it changes the total balance.

I own several expensive low output MC cartridges and several rare vintage moving magnet and moving iron type cartridges. Price, technology, and year of manufacture  are not guidelines to sonic excellence. If I were moving to a deserted island and could take only one cartridge, it would probably be one of the older vintage models.
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