Thanks for all the input.
I spoke with Ron Sutherland and he is the nicest guy. Can't believe he acts as his own distributor and handles inquiries directly.
He said others in the past who did the Insight upgrade were pleased, but he didn't say they were happy they did it and would do it again. He is not a salesman at all and said with or without it, I would be happy, but he knows it it technically better and like some of the posters have said there is some internal noise reduction. The question is, does it sound better to someone with very good, but not Absolute Sound ears.
It's an internal board which he said I could do myself, but you have to "jigger a couple things" and blindly thread an LED and it would take an hour (same price if he installs it or not, which was surprising). The second time I would do it would be easier/quicker.... I'm not really looking for a science project. Even though it's only spacers and screws and an LED (no soldering), he said you need to be dexterous.
By the time shipping back and forth is added, it's about $400, almost half of what I paid for the whole phono stage (used). It is a marketing strategy - he charges 25% of list for the linear Power Supply, which seems a bit much compared to the cost difference when manufacturing the LPS board versus the SMP one. I doubt the incremental cost to him is 25% more with the swap. On his 20/20 PS, which is also widely regarded as a great value, he charges $450 for an LPS and it comes in a separate box, so it is easy to compare.Thats a $2200 Phono Stage vs. $1400 for the Insight.
Doesn't matter though - if it is a noticeable improvement, I would do it.
I just don't know....if it was an external box it would be so much easier to compare and return if I wasn't happy.
Does anyone know anybody who has done the upgrade and saw a noticeable difference? I'm of the school that the most important part of the system is the source, so I don't mind spending $$ there.
I spoke with Ron Sutherland and he is the nicest guy. Can't believe he acts as his own distributor and handles inquiries directly.
He said others in the past who did the Insight upgrade were pleased, but he didn't say they were happy they did it and would do it again. He is not a salesman at all and said with or without it, I would be happy, but he knows it it technically better and like some of the posters have said there is some internal noise reduction. The question is, does it sound better to someone with very good, but not Absolute Sound ears.
It's an internal board which he said I could do myself, but you have to "jigger a couple things" and blindly thread an LED and it would take an hour (same price if he installs it or not, which was surprising). The second time I would do it would be easier/quicker.... I'm not really looking for a science project. Even though it's only spacers and screws and an LED (no soldering), he said you need to be dexterous.
By the time shipping back and forth is added, it's about $400, almost half of what I paid for the whole phono stage (used). It is a marketing strategy - he charges 25% of list for the linear Power Supply, which seems a bit much compared to the cost difference when manufacturing the LPS board versus the SMP one. I doubt the incremental cost to him is 25% more with the swap. On his 20/20 PS, which is also widely regarded as a great value, he charges $450 for an LPS and it comes in a separate box, so it is easy to compare.Thats a $2200 Phono Stage vs. $1400 for the Insight.
Doesn't matter though - if it is a noticeable improvement, I would do it.
I just don't know....if it was an external box it would be so much easier to compare and return if I wasn't happy.
Does anyone know anybody who has done the upgrade and saw a noticeable difference? I'm of the school that the most important part of the system is the source, so I don't mind spending $$ there.