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Hagerman Bugle2 DIY Kit Phono Preamp

amirm

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This is a quick review and measurements of the Hagerman Bugle2 DIY/Kickstarter Phono prempalifier/stage kit. It was kindly sent to me last year believe it or not! Alas, I am in the midst of evaluating a $40K headphone measurement gear so can't spend a lot of time on it. But thought I test it at least at high level. The PCB for this kit costs $39. Fully assembled kit during kickstarter was US $150. There seems to be a version 3 now.

The assembled version I received is in opaque housing which doesn't make for good pictures:

Hagerman Bugle2 phono preamplifier audio review.jpg


Here is a shot from kickstarter page:

Hagerman Bugle2 phono preamplifier PCB Kit audio review.psd.jpg


NOTE: The manufacturer sent me another unit (slightly modified with dip switches) which produced much better results. See review of Bugle3:

Phono Stage Measurements

Here is our usual dashboard with 5 millivolt input:

Hagerman Bugle2 phono preamplifier audio measurements.png


Distortion is very much under control but one channel is a lot more noisy than the other. I tried different grounding schemes but did no good (red channel). That pushes the SINAD for that channel way low. The other channel has lower noise but major spike at mains 60 Hz which reduces its performance as well:

best phono preamp stage 2020 review.png


Since LPs have a ton of grove noise anyway, the above is probably not an issue in actual use. What is important is frequency response and RIAA equalization:

Hagerman Bugle2 phono preamplifier frequency response audio measurements.png


There seems to be a "rumble" filter to remove low frequencies which is probably wise. There is peaking in high frequencies so for younger folks, you may here slightly brighter sound above 10 kHz.

That's it.

Conclusions
There are excellent phono stages at budget prices so only get this kit if you want to have pride in building something yourself.

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Yes, a $40,000 headphone measurement rig may be in our future. So if you were annoyed with me begging so far for money, you have seen nothing yet! So best get ahead of the curve by donating generously using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
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Labjr

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I would expect a company like Topping to beat this. Possibly for less money.
 
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amirm

amirm

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If the "subjectivist" crowd was going crazy with ASR up until now, wait until Amir starts measuring headphones. That's where the real crazy lives!!!!

I can't wait.
Yeh, that is a major concern of mine.
 

Doodski

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@amirm what is the newest test unit you use for amps and DACs? What month did you start using it for reviews? I searched reviews but couldn't find the details.
 

carlosmante

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I would expect a company like Topping to beat this. Possibly for less money.
The Title says
Hagerman Bugle2 DIY Kit Phono Preamp

and amirm said "...if you want to have pride in building something yourself". I guess you don't understand what the DIY niche is about.
 

Labjr

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The Title says
Hagerman Bugle2 DIY Kit Phono Preamp

and amirm said "...if you want to have pride in building something yourself". I guess you don't understand what the DIY niche is about.


To me, DIY is plugging it in.
1597456877825.png


Seriously, why would you want to build something that performs worse than something assembled you can buy for less??
 

Dmitri

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I built the Muffsy phono pre a while back. Is a great phono pre? Can’t really say. Face it...the required bar’s pretty low for phono s/n and crosstalk specs etc. compared to modern digital. Still, with case and A/C wall wart it I think it was was probably a little over $140 at the time.
There is something to be said for the pleasure of DIY. If “plugging it in” is one’s idea of diy, there’s no point in trying to explain it. Depending on your perspective, maybe, maybe not you end up getting a good deal. If you value your time... not in dollars or euros or other currency, but in the joy you had building your component, then I’d say yeah, you do...but that’s me.
Different strokes...different folks. All I can say is I value it more than something I just pulled out of a box.
A26DD618-595D-448E-B597-0ADB779DE832.jpeg
 

Digital Mastering System

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Clearly, the problem here is noise. The opamp selection is not optimal and one should always use an active 47k ohm load to minimize noise. (electronic cooling).
 
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Clearly, the problem here is noise. The opamp selection is not optimal and one should always use an active 47k ohm load to minimize noise. (electronic cooling).
What is an "active" 47k load?? Amir's test rig has a nominal input load that shouldn't have caused any problems.
The Bugle2 has a 332 ohm build-out resistor, so I don't see issue. The noise performance is the noise performance.

The Bugle2 schematic is on the Hagerman website so it's easy to analyze. It's a straightforward setup with passive equalization. Nothing fancy and should be fine for most any phono application.

Dave.
 

watchnerd

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Seriously, why would you want to build something that performs worse than something assembled you can buy for less??

Because it's fun and educational.

None of the speakers I've ever built are as well engineered or sound as good as the purchased speakers in my main rig.

But I sure had fun designing and building them, which gives me a different kind of pleasure.

Anybody with a bank account can be a mere consumer.
 
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amirm

amirm

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@amirm what is the newest test unit you use for amps and DACs? What month did you start using it for reviews? I searched reviews but couldn't find the details.
??? Test unit of what? For DAC & HP amp, I use RME ADI-2 DAC. It is also used as a source to test powered and passive speakers and external headphone amplifiers.
 

Doodski

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??? Test unit of what? For DAC & HP amp, I use RME ADI-2 DAC. It is also used as a source to test powered and passive speakers and external headphone amplifiers.
I needed the info on the APx555. RestorerJohn and MarchAudio helped me out with the model number. We got it all sorted out. :D When did you start using that APx555 test unit? Have you decided to keep the Brüel & Kjær 5128 HATS system? I'm putting together the Wikipedia ASR entry and need to know if the Brüel & Kjær 5128 should be mentioned. I am mentioning the APx555. Is there other test equipment that should be mentioned?
 
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amirm

amirm

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I needed the info on the APx555. RestorerJohn and MarchAudio helped me out with the model number. We got it all sorted out. :D When did you start using that APx555 test unit? Have you decided to keep the Brüel & Kjær 5128 HATS system? I'm putting together the Wikipedia ASR entry and need to know if the Brüel & Kjær 5128 should be mentioned. I am mentioning the APx555. Is there other test equipment that should be mentioned?
I bought the APx555 more than two years ago: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-a-new-audio-precision-analyzer-apx555.3442/

Of course the other is Klippel Near-field Scanner: https://www.klippel.de/products/rd-system/modules/nfs-near-field-scanner.html
 

hangcheng

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OK,
i will hold my money waiting for the headphones review.....

if ASR's review is a lot different with RTINGS....

come on!
 
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amirm

amirm

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When did you start testing using the Klippel system? How much did it cost?
The retail cost of Klippel NFS is around $100,000 as optioned. I purchased it December last year.
 

Sal1950

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Since LPs have a ton of grove noise anyway, the above is probably not an issue in actual use.
No no, not an acceptable answer. ;) Designers for the vinyl crowd aren't gonna get off that easy.
That's not an excuse for so much excessive noise in this our Lords year of 2020!
Time to go back to the drawing board with this one boys.
Just my 2 cents. LOL

Yeh, that is a major concern of mine.
Oh yea bro, I can just see you shaking in your boots from here. :eek:
 
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