This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hagerman Bugle3 MM/MC phono preamplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $199.
I had previously tested Bugle2 which had fairly high noise, resulting in lack of recommendation from me. Company designer said that was too low of a performance and sent me this sample which other than having dip switches for gain, is the same as Bugle2.
Hagerman Bugle3 Measurements
In the interest of time, I focused my measurements on the 40 dB/MM mode. Here is our dashboard:
This is substantially better than the older sample as you can see in our ranking table:
The old one only garnered a SINAD of 61 dB. Phono stages are usually noise limited in this test and this is no exception. We can see that by extracting the distortion alone:
Most important in a phono stage is RIAA equalization which Bugle3 passes for the most part:
The high pass is probably a good thing, getting rid of some rumble. The high frequency peaking is minor at 1.4 dB at 20 kHz.
I would have wanted to see higher tolerance of input spikes as to lower the chances of clicks and pops clipping:
Usually this is highly frequency dependent but is not in this case:
We don't lose our margin until we get to 20 kHz whereas other units usually show a frequency specific step down. In that regard, performance is good at higher frequencies. Just not at 1 kHz as much.
Conclusions
Good to see much improved performance in this product (kit). Performance is now pretty competent and lands around average in all the phono stages I have tested. If you take joy in building your own phono stage, the Hagerman Bugle3 makes a good option.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I had previously tested Bugle2 which had fairly high noise, resulting in lack of recommendation from me. Company designer said that was too low of a performance and sent me this sample which other than having dip switches for gain, is the same as Bugle2.
Hagerman Bugle3 Measurements
In the interest of time, I focused my measurements on the 40 dB/MM mode. Here is our dashboard:
This is substantially better than the older sample as you can see in our ranking table:
The old one only garnered a SINAD of 61 dB. Phono stages are usually noise limited in this test and this is no exception. We can see that by extracting the distortion alone:
Most important in a phono stage is RIAA equalization which Bugle3 passes for the most part:
The high pass is probably a good thing, getting rid of some rumble. The high frequency peaking is minor at 1.4 dB at 20 kHz.
I would have wanted to see higher tolerance of input spikes as to lower the chances of clicks and pops clipping:
Usually this is highly frequency dependent but is not in this case:
We don't lose our margin until we get to 20 kHz whereas other units usually show a frequency specific step down. In that regard, performance is good at higher frequencies. Just not at 1 kHz as much.
Conclusions
Good to see much improved performance in this product (kit). Performance is now pretty competent and lands around average in all the phono stages I have tested. If you take joy in building your own phono stage, the Hagerman Bugle3 makes a good option.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/