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SUT shootout

Over the past six weeks I have had the chance to finish a SUT "shootout". I thought I would post my impressions.

My system config for the shoot-out consisted of the following:

TT: Nottingham 294
Tonearm: SME 312S
Cartridge: Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum & Benz Ebony
Preamp: Shindo Masetto
Amp: Atma-sphere S30 and Tube Audio Lab 300B
Speaker: Hawthorne Trio (Biamped Open Baffle Speaker)

Music listened to covered multiple genres (rock, jazz, classical) in both 33 and 45 rpm formats. Because of the different turn ratios of the products I used a SPL meter and tried to listen with volume at roughly 80-85db.

My subjective ranking is as follows:

1. Hashimoto HM-7
2. Auditorium 23 "Hommage"
3. Hashimoto HM-3
4. Modified EAR-834P (Upgraded parts and tubes)
5. Sowter
6. MC from Shindo Masetto (Lundahl based transformer)
7. Cinemag
8. Altec (DIY)

The good news is that all of the above are extremely musical. There were no poor performers. I think most people would be happy with any of these products on their own. It was only in direct comparison where some of the differences became apparent.

The top three (Auditorium Hommage and both Hashimoto's) were a notch above the rest because they had both huge soundstages and the ability to dig deep into the music in regards to detail. The Hashmito HM-7 and Auditorium further distinquished themselves from the HM-3 by being more nuanced and textured. The Koetsu's warm tone came across better with these top 2. The tone using the HM-3 was more neutral in character. In comparing the HM-7 to the Hommage, I felt the HM-7 had a slightly better ability to separate instruments in complex musical arrangements and had a slightly lower noise floor.

The EAR and Sowter were very good at showcasing detail and texture but the soundstage was smaller than the top 3.

The internal SUT from the Shindo preamp had the most unique sound of the group and was the toughest to grade. It had the lowest noise floor and really shined in certain types of music (intimate vocals or small scale jazz/chamber music). However, the soundstage of the Masetto (Lundahl) was the smallest of all the products and when it came to larger scale music (symphonies especially) it had a harder time separating instruments.

The Cinemag and Altec were, not suprisingly, extremely similar considering their common heritage. The soundstage was larger than the Shindo, Sowter and EAR but smaller than the Hashimoto's and Hommage. Where I felt they came up a little short was in the area of musical detail. Of these two products, I placed the Cinemag higher because I thought it was slightly quieter.

It is interesting to note that the pricing of the products ranged from a low of approximately $350 (Cinemag based SUT) to a high of roughly $5000 (Hommage). My "winner" (HM-7) is priced at approx $1600 for a finished product.

Finally, I am aware that the performance of the products in question may differ substantially with other cartridges and systems so my ranking is a subjective opinion within the paramaters of my system, room and musical tastes. None-the-less, I had a fun time doing it.
sibelius
dertonarm
1,042 posts
 
A shoot-out with 8 SUTs and two cartridges without any mention of the source impedance nor the primary of the SUTs ........ sorry folks, but a SUT and a given cartridge do have some technical interactions between (not only... ) the cartridges output and its source impedance and the primary impedance of the SUT and its corresponding step-up ratio.
You may have tried which SUT worked best with your two cartridges (most likely because its technical parameters were best suited to work with the source impedance of the cartridge), but this was not a shoot-out showing anything about the quality of any of the SUTs vs any other others.
ldvalve
21 posts
 
very true and well said dertonam.
vinyljh
46 posts
 
"Finally, I am aware that the performance of the products in question may differ substantially with other cartridges and systems so my ranking is a subjective opinion within the parameters of my system, room and musical tastes."

I'm glad to see you point this out and I'd like to expand on this. I'm thrilled to see the A23 and Shindo tranfos do well and I'm glad you like them. Both are being used with a non optimum source impedance. Nothing is universal about a SUT and each will sound its best with a different source impedance. The Koetsu is 2.5 x the optimum impedance of both the A23 and Shindo SUT putting them at a big disadvantage, IMHO. The shoot out results are more about the cartridges likes than the actual transformers abilities.
sibelius OP
256 posts
 
Dertonarm: The whole purpose of the "shootout" was to determine what SUT worked best in my system. I never implied otherwise. However, I think the post may be of some help to those folks who may have similar equipment.

dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
The shoot out results are more about the cartridges likes than the actual transformers abilities.
Exactly right, and Vinyljh only mentioned half the issues. As fun as this shootout was, there was no mention of impedance loading of any of the SUTs, whether on the primary to match the source (cartridge) or on the secondary to control transformer resonances (Zoebel network).

Based on the OP, it seems unlikely that any of these cartridge/SUT combos was optimized. The outcomes therefore, while valid and interesting as an exploration of listener preferences, demonstrated little about the components themselves.

To perform a meaningful shootout would first require identifying the optimal primary and secondary side load for each SUT/cartridge combination. Balancing even one such combination is a work of several hours, at least. It's also not inexpensive, since multiple sets of high quality resistors are required. I've done this for one SUT and two cartridges. It required $1,000 worth of resistors, which I've still got lying about if anyone wants to repeat it. It's not a task for the fainthearted.

Optimizing sixteen cartridge/SUT combos would take weeks (and many more resistors than I've got). Only after optimizing each combo could we begin meaningful A/B comparisons.

Not trying to rain on your parade, but your shootout only scratched the surface. Using SUTs properly is difficult, time consuming and sometimes more costly than expected. It's less costly than top class active MC amplification, so SUTs remain a viable path into LOMC for those on a budget, but not managing all the factors involved can lead to inconsistent outcomes.

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