Still waiting on that Mani 2 retest with new PS.. lol
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Cambridge Audio Duo Phono Stage Review (Updated)
- Thread starter amirm
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I have one of these that I use to good effect with a Shure V15-IV (Jico stylus) in an SME Series III arm on a VPI HW-19 'table. It sounds pretty good, but of course it's still vinyl so there's a poor S/N ratio from the media, as well as inherent distortion from the mechanical nature of the LP playback process. I am not one of those folks hypnotized by "vinyl hype" that hear the inherent THD and IM from this medium and think it makes the recording sound "natural" or "organic." To me, the many limitations of vinyl playback seriously detract from listening to music. Alas, I have many LPs with content not available in any digital form, so if I want to hear those recordings I am stuck with rattling a stylus in a groove.
ALSO I always wanted an SME arm, just having it is enjoyable to me. Nicely made object. I enjoy looking at while listening to digital playback.
ALSO I always wanted an SME arm, just having it is enjoyable to me. Nicely made object. I enjoy looking at while listening to digital playback.
Jkdjedi
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You must have some ****** vinyl
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I mean.. yeah I thought the same, but then I remembered he said "I have many LPs with content not available in any digital form", so that can explain the poor quality, for some cases at least.
Nothing a good turntable + good cartridge can fix, definitely.
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I have about 400 LPs of which perhaps 250 are not available in digital form. I've had some of these for over 50 years, when I had a Philips 212 turntable and an ADC XLM pickup. Back in those days, vinyl was the highest-fidelity source available to the average person. There were occasional high-quality FM live broadcasts.
Jkdjedi
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Elvis has nothing on you
Except he's dead, I'm not QUITE.....
Jkdjedi
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You're so predictable, enjoy your collection.
Engineers tend to be.
Hi everyone, since I'm planning to buy it and I don't want to get a separate headphone amplifier, how do you think it performs with the Sennheiser HD58x Jubilee and the Hifiman Ananda Stealth? might have problems managing them?
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The Ananda's are slightly more sensitive than the Sennheiser 650s for what it's worth.
See https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-planar-magnetic-headphone-review-png.338446/
See https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-planar-magnetic-headphone-review-png.338446/
Vlad Soare
Member
I've just bought a Duo based on its outstanding test results. It looks and feels great and, as far as I can work out, works perfectly fine. It sounds great (mind you, not audibly different from my previous phono preamp, but I didn't actually expect that anyway). Everything is perfect at first glance.
However, I have noticed something odd.
Once I finish playing, put the LP back in its cover and turn off the turntable, there's a twenty minute time span after which the Duo should go to sleep. And it does, indeed. But until it does, from time to time there's a short, soft pop coming from both speakers. My previous phono preamp never did that, no matter how long it remained on with no input. The Duo, with no input, pops once every eight minutes or so. It's not a loud pop, it's rather soft and very short, but clearly audible nonetheless.
Has any of you noticed this? Is this normal, or should I send it back?
However, I have noticed something odd.
Once I finish playing, put the LP back in its cover and turn off the turntable, there's a twenty minute time span after which the Duo should go to sleep. And it does, indeed. But until it does, from time to time there's a short, soft pop coming from both speakers. My previous phono preamp never did that, no matter how long it remained on with no input. The Duo, with no input, pops once every eight minutes or so. It's not a loud pop, it's rather soft and very short, but clearly audible nonetheless.
Has any of you noticed this? Is this normal, or should I send it back?
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Jkdjedi
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I'd check your cables are securely tighten all the way. No that's not normal.
Vlad Soare
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I pushed all the cables again, as hard as I could. None of them moved at all. They seemed to be already as secure as it gets. But then I spent the next twenty minutes sitting on the floor in front of one of the speakers and didn't hear anything this time. So who knows, maybe it was indeed one of the cables. Fingers crossed. I'll keep an eye (well, an ear) on it.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Jkdjedi
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The ground wire was it for me, it was loose and I was getting constant humming until I figured out I hadn't tightened that screw enough.
Vlad Soare
Member
Oh, I didn't check that. Good point. Maybe I inadvertently moved it a bit while wiggling the others, which caused the pops to disappear. I'll give it a closer look.
Thanks.
Thanks.
I'm going to post this here since I just bought one of these. Some is a cross-post from another thread. Cambridge has a holiday sale for $250, shipped. They have been out of stock but just came back in. I've dug through more measurements and reviews than I care to admit, and walked away being most impressed by the Cambridge. Its only shortcoming is the lack of loading options, which shouldn't be a big deal. (The hash from the switcher is annoying, but not a deal killer.) Now, some of that being impressed has nothing to do with anything that actually matters. It's really just that that Cambridge managed to use an actual power cord with the PSU in the box, and implement not one, but TWO completely discrete phono amps for this price, and have it all come together this well. I don't think this is available from anyone else close to the current price. I'm just a sucker for stuff that's isn't all opamps. Not that there is anything wrong with opamps. There is not.
Also, I finally found close-ups of the PCBs in the Cambridge units. Not the ones in the thread, but super close-ups of the bits and pieces. In the Duo, each of the moving coil and moving magnet circuit paths have stacks of parallel discreet transistors. Why there are more in the Duo MM path than in the Solo, and why the circuits appear different, I don't know. Usually, they would just copy it over, but without a schematic (and since these are pictures of tiny surface mount devices) it's just not possible to tell exactly what is going on, but this all tends to suggest Cambridge is still using a heavily paralleled (to reduce noise) discrete transistor input. That or its a differential input. Whatever it is, eight transistors in a phono front end is unusual in this day and age. Another clue is that they also used discreet inputs on the previous 651A phono (which was thru hole), but put it in a little metal box conveniently labeled "Discrete Phono Input". They also appear to have some or another implementation of a split RIAA compensation which is partially active and partially passive, since they pull off an extremely good 90mV overload all the way to 10kHz, which then drops back a bit at 20kHz, but still more than adequate. Then there's a properly implemented rumble filter which is "always on", and perfectly fine since it's flat down to about 25Hz, after which it drops like a rock.
Regarding overload, the 85mV on offer here is more than enough, since it keeps that margin out to 10kHz. The range from 1kHz to 10kHz is what really matters, and keeping it that high all the way to 10kHz is fairly unusual in the opamp era. I suppose its still possible it is not a split active/passive RIAA and they're somehow bleeding "missing overload" they ought to have at 1kHZ due to some other design choice. Either way, it doesn't matter that much. It's good.
It's just neat to see that someone put this much effort into a product that costs a few hundred bucks. When I buy a component I want something better than what would (or could) be dumped into a receiver, and looks nice. This fits the bill. There may be some others, but there's really not too many in that $200 to $500 range.
Anyhow, not much has been said about the Duo and it's been out for awhile, but I thought it worth plugging at the current sale price.
Also, I finally found close-ups of the PCBs in the Cambridge units. Not the ones in the thread, but super close-ups of the bits and pieces. In the Duo, each of the moving coil and moving magnet circuit paths have stacks of parallel discreet transistors. Why there are more in the Duo MM path than in the Solo, and why the circuits appear different, I don't know. Usually, they would just copy it over, but without a schematic (and since these are pictures of tiny surface mount devices) it's just not possible to tell exactly what is going on, but this all tends to suggest Cambridge is still using a heavily paralleled (to reduce noise) discrete transistor input. That or its a differential input. Whatever it is, eight transistors in a phono front end is unusual in this day and age. Another clue is that they also used discreet inputs on the previous 651A phono (which was thru hole), but put it in a little metal box conveniently labeled "Discrete Phono Input". They also appear to have some or another implementation of a split RIAA compensation which is partially active and partially passive, since they pull off an extremely good 90mV overload all the way to 10kHz, which then drops back a bit at 20kHz, but still more than adequate. Then there's a properly implemented rumble filter which is "always on", and perfectly fine since it's flat down to about 25Hz, after which it drops like a rock.
Regarding overload, the 85mV on offer here is more than enough, since it keeps that margin out to 10kHz. The range from 1kHz to 10kHz is what really matters, and keeping it that high all the way to 10kHz is fairly unusual in the opamp era. I suppose its still possible it is not a split active/passive RIAA and they're somehow bleeding "missing overload" they ought to have at 1kHZ due to some other design choice. Either way, it doesn't matter that much. It's good.
It's just neat to see that someone put this much effort into a product that costs a few hundred bucks. When I buy a component I want something better than what would (or could) be dumped into a receiver, and looks nice. This fits the bill. There may be some others, but there's really not too many in that $200 to $500 range.
Anyhow, not much has been said about the Duo and it's been out for awhile, but I thought it worth plugging at the current sale price.
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