This is were the the word "hobby" truly comes into play. I have a SS phono section with both mm and mc outputs. I always felt like the mm was much better than the mc side. So I started doing a lot of reading on SUTs. I obtained a set of transformers from a gentleman on Ebay and built my own.Wow, what a difference!
Yes you have to deal with hum, but there are ways to do that.
The sound is much more dynamic.The sound floor is lower and the frequency response is significantly wider,especially in the treble.The highs seems to have no ceiling.The bass is tighter and more defined.Everything is more coherent.
That said, the transformers I got were good quality Beyerdynamics with values that worked perfectly for my LOMC.
side bar: I emailed Bob of Bob's devices and he offered a lot of help,even though I am not a customer.I cannot say enough good things for a guy that sells a great product and yet is willing to help a DIY project.I would encourage anyone looking into a SUT to try one of Bob's.They start at a very reasonable price and are proven to be excellent.And of course his support is wonderful.
As for which is the way to go? There is no easy answer. I would say that if you are a plug and play guy that doesn't want to spend any time with tinkering with locating the SUT and trying different cables should go with a phono section. But if you are a analog hobbyist than SUTs are a lot more fun and interesting.In my book, a passive device will always have more POTENTIAL than a active one.But active devices are easier.Much like the passive preamp vs. active preamp.
One more thing.I have noticed that a lot of modern tube preamps with phono sections use jfets for the MC section.Many of the reviews of these preamps recieve high praise for everything except the MC jfet section.If you have one of these,a SUT allows for that nice tube phono section to be used instead of the jfet sound.
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Yes you have to deal with hum, but there are ways to do that.
The sound is much more dynamic.The sound floor is lower and the frequency response is significantly wider,especially in the treble.The highs seems to have no ceiling.The bass is tighter and more defined.Everything is more coherent.
That said, the transformers I got were good quality Beyerdynamics with values that worked perfectly for my LOMC.
side bar: I emailed Bob of Bob's devices and he offered a lot of help,even though I am not a customer.I cannot say enough good things for a guy that sells a great product and yet is willing to help a DIY project.I would encourage anyone looking into a SUT to try one of Bob's.They start at a very reasonable price and are proven to be excellent.And of course his support is wonderful.
As for which is the way to go? There is no easy answer. I would say that if you are a plug and play guy that doesn't want to spend any time with tinkering with locating the SUT and trying different cables should go with a phono section. But if you are a analog hobbyist than SUTs are a lot more fun and interesting.In my book, a passive device will always have more POTENTIAL than a active one.But active devices are easier.Much like the passive preamp vs. active preamp.
One more thing.I have noticed that a lot of modern tube preamps with phono sections use jfets for the MC section.Many of the reviews of these preamps recieve high praise for everything except the MC jfet section.If you have one of these,a SUT allows for that nice tube phono section to be used instead of the jfet sound.
e