This is a review and detailed measurements of the Musical Surroundings' Nova III Phono preamplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and sold through dealers. It costs US $1,500.
While not in luxury class, the Nova III is a step above DIY type cases and designs:
Nice to see a subsonic filter that is selectable. Back panel shows extensive customizability:
So I imagine some of the high cost is justified by that. I tested the unit with the switches as you see with gain set to 40 dB, input capacitance of 100 pf and 47 k Ohm.
Musical Surroundings Nova III Measurements
Let's feed the unit 5 millivolt, simulating what a moving magnet cartridge might do:
SINAD is rather low but that is because of the mains noise that I could not minimize past the level you see:
Distortion itself is quite low as invisible in the spectrum analysis. Teasing it out from under the noise floor we get:
Needless to say, the format itself can't remote approach these levels of distortion. And what is there is pretty close to threshold of audibility. So no problem there.
Frequency response which can provide the most audible factor is almost perfect:
Headroom is decent but I like to see a bit better;
Conclusions
Technically I don't see anything wrong with the Nova III unless that mains noise is a universal issue. Otherwise, frequency response and distortion are very good. Is the unit worth $1,500? I am not the right person to judge that relative to its customizability. So not going to leave a recommendation one way or the other.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
While not in luxury class, the Nova III is a step above DIY type cases and designs:
Nice to see a subsonic filter that is selectable. Back panel shows extensive customizability:
So I imagine some of the high cost is justified by that. I tested the unit with the switches as you see with gain set to 40 dB, input capacitance of 100 pf and 47 k Ohm.
Musical Surroundings Nova III Measurements
Let's feed the unit 5 millivolt, simulating what a moving magnet cartridge might do:
SINAD is rather low but that is because of the mains noise that I could not minimize past the level you see:
Distortion itself is quite low as invisible in the spectrum analysis. Teasing it out from under the noise floor we get:
Needless to say, the format itself can't remote approach these levels of distortion. And what is there is pretty close to threshold of audibility. So no problem there.
Frequency response which can provide the most audible factor is almost perfect:
Headroom is decent but I like to see a bit better;
Conclusions
Technically I don't see anything wrong with the Nova III unless that mains noise is a universal issue. Otherwise, frequency response and distortion are very good. Is the unit worth $1,500? I am not the right person to judge that relative to its customizability. So not going to leave a recommendation one way or the other.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/