VAC Owners:Outboard Phono Stage?

Well, to use the Steelhead as a linestage through its variable outputs sends the signal through additional internal circuitry, volume control, a series of other switches, and different outputs. So it's not as direct as you might think. And it does not add gain, according to the manual, so that's quite different than running the phono stage through fixed outputs into a preamp that provides pure class A gain executed to an extremely high standard. The VAC does not add coloration, at least I don't hear any in mine; it's very neutral. But it does provide far more body and dimensionality, power and extension to the sound, filling out soundstage in all directions. The sound blooms. My first impression upon hearing the VAC was that a light had been turned on inside the music, illuminating it from within like a magic lantern, casting the illusion of live music into the room. That was going from the Steelhead as a line stage--which was quite good itself. The VAC is just better than the Steelhead as a linestage in all the ways you look for, so much better that an additional set of good ICs doesn't reduce the performance gap.

Totally agree with wrm57's comments about vac linestage causing music to be lit within and increasing soundstage in all directions..more body and dimensionality. Perfect description. Plus it delivers alot of resolution but detail from the inside-out (lit within) so it isnt analytical resolution but harmonic detail.

I vote that we honor Bill (Wrm57) with an Audiophile Eloquence Award for perfectly and concisely describing what we all love about our VAC gear. It just doesn't get better than "illuminating music from within." I'm going to send that over to Kevin and suggest he uses it as a tagline!

So, Bill... thanks for the explanation about what "direct to amps" really means. It seems clear and obvious (well, now) that "direct" is not possible because with any outboard or built in phono stage, one would need a volume control and additional circuitry to control the downstream amp, in essence, you need a line stage for this to work – whether it's part of the Steelhead or VAC is irrelevant. Did I understand you correctly (please correct me if I haven't)?

So, I'll risk continuing (if I misunderstood, my foot's already in my mouth, a little deeper won't be too bad): Since this would be exactly like getting ANY outboard phono stage and utilizing my current line stage, I can go back to my original focus on simple phono stages like the Zesto, Herron and Chinook, hook the winner up to my beloved VAC's line stage, and I'm good to go!

03-25-12: Alonski
It seems clear and obvious (well, now) that "direct" is not possible because with any outboard or built in phono stage, one would need a volume control and additional circuitry to control the downstream amp, in essence, you need a line stage for this to work – whether it's part of the Steelhead or VAC is irrelevant.

FWIW, and I have no familiarity with the Steelhead, my take on this is that it is not irrelevant. The functionality of a line stage is needed, somewhere, but if that functionality is implemented to a high standard within the same component that provides the phono stage functionality, investment of a given number of $ can potentially provide better results, since those $ are only paying for one component instead of two (plus an extra pair of interconnect cables).

Also, while a pure phono stage (lacking line stage functionality) will not incorporate a volume control mechanism, it still has to include circuitry to drive the line stage and the interconnect cable between the two components. The requirements for that circuitry will not differ greatly, if at all, from the circuitry that would be required to drive the power amp, and the corresponding interconnect cable. So the two-box approach means having an additional buffer/driver stage in the signal path, compared to the one-box approach.

Obviously, those potential advantages of the one-box approach may or may not be realized depending on the specific components that are involved, system synergy, listener preferences, etc. In your particular case, my feeling is that what you previously proposed is likely to be well worth exploring:

Replacing an amazing preamp that has a really good built-in phono stage, with an OUTSTANDING phono stage that allows me to go direct to my VAC amp for best LP sound (which is what I care about most) and would accommodate my CD player with what would probably be a very decent line stage input. So in essence, it's a preamp with its main focus on vinyl.

One more benefit to this is that I could sell my VAC pre to offset some of the cost of the new phono stage.

Best regards,
-- Al

Alon,

Thanks for the compliment. I was mainly just talking about the differences between running the Steelhead as a preamp vs. through my preamp. The latter sounds better, and my post tried to speculate as to why. I didn't mean to generalize beyond the two components. It may well be that some other phono stage (e.g. an IO Signature, as Jwm recommends) with a volume control would be much better than the Steelhead direct, or the Steelhead through VAC preamp, for that matter. No reason why it couldn't be, as Al says.

Bill