Measurements of Parks Audio Puffin Phono Stage

[urom]

Being a longtime lurker on this forum this is my first time message. I got the puffin in may 19 and i like it very much. Last week I implemented the Spdif mod, which works. Only issue is that, connected to a Topping E30 Dac, I get a disturbing hum. It is not very loud, but clearly heared in silent passages of the record. The cartridge is an old Shure VST V with new stylus. The analog out of the puffin is dead silent. The E30 is, connected to my AVM CD Transport via Coax, silent to. Toslink and USB are also silent. I tried different psu, but no success. Any idea on this?

 

[watchnerd]

Being a longtime lurker on this forum this is my first time message. I got the puffin in may 19 and i like it very much. Last week I implemented the Spdif mod, which works. Only issue is that, connected to a Topping E30 Dac, I get a disturbing hum. It is not very loud, but clearly heared in silent passages of the record. The cartridge is an old Shure VST V with new stylus. The analog out of the puffin is dead silent. The E30 is, connected to my AVM CD Transport via Coax, silent to. Toslink and USB are also silent. I tried different psu, but no success. Any idea on this?

Try running a grounding wire from the Puffin to the Topping, in addition to the one from the TT to the Puffin.

 

[audiopile]

Q: Did you self install the sPDIF jack or did it come factory installed ? Q-2: Have you installed the latest software yet? Q-3: what are you using to feed the Topping the signal from the Puffin ? Is is 75 ohm co-ax construction ?

 

[urom]

@watchnerd
will do
@audiopile
1. I did it myself
2. firmware is 1.21
3. dedicated 75 ohm cable

 

[watchnerd]

@watchnerd
will do
@audiopile
1. I did it myself
2. firmware is 1.21
3. dedicated 75 ohm cable

Using analog out, I had hum issues with the Puffin into my Devialet line-in until I added the extra grounding between the Puffin and the amp.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Since my wife keeps asking for getting the vinyl up an running I bought a Puffing with Toslink out to my all digital pre amp.... Made more sense than buying a DAC to improve from -119 to -120 db,,,

 

[ctbarker32]

Since my wife keeps asking for getting the vinyl up an running I bought a Puffing with Toslink out to my all digital pre amp.... Made more sense than buying a DAC to improve from -119 to -120 db,,,

The Puffin doesn't have a Toslink (optical) output option. Just a S/PDIF coax output.

 

[audiopile]

Very recently Shannon started offering a choice for optional digital outputs -either SPDIF/RCA female or optical TOSLINK. Balle - was the optical l out the same price ($598) as the SPDIF ?

 

[Balle Clorin]

No, see website Toslink was 639USD.. ., but I get galvanic isolation , and Toslink jitter should not be an issue according to vendor. So I went for Toslink

 

[audiopile]

I might have to order a second Puffin to get the optical out. As someone who spent chunks of their audio career chassin my ol budies hum n buzz round n round - I was sold on optical out before I saw my first TOSLINK output or cable. At least -it's bye-bye ground loops. My speakers are limited to 24/96 so that limitation doesn't bother me . TBH- not sure I can hear the difference between music going out at 24/96 and the same music being fed out at higher rates ?. For me -it's irrelevant anyway. But the Puffin just keeps gettin better n better .

 

[watchnerd]

I might have to order a second Puffin to get the optical out. As someone who spent chunks of their audio career chassin my ol budies hum n buzz round n round - I was sold on optical out before I saw my first TOSLINK output or cable. At least -it's bye-bye ground loops. My speakers are limited to 24/96 so that limitation doesn't bother me . TBH- not sure I can hear the difference between music going out at 24/96 and the same music being fed out at higher rates ?. For me -it's irrelevant anyway. But the Puffin just keeps gettin better n better .

Are you getting ground loops over the digital connection using coax?

Also, what do you mean by your speakers being limited to 24/96? Meaning you have active speakers with a digital input?

 

[audiopile]

Nope- haven't experienced a digital ground loop yet thru SPDIF connection ( on Puffin or anything else ?)-but I'd like to be able to hook up the puffin thru my 4 in /1 out Toslink switcher. in the past -even on my own system- having as many components as I have in the signal chain would have inevitably led to some hum chasin (especially since I mainly listen to LP's and on multiple turntables). I thought SPDIF was designed to avoid ground loops -am I wrong ? Do people commonly plug in SPDIF connections and get visited by hun n buzz ?

 

[watchnerd]

I thought SPDIF was designed to avoid ground loops -am I wrong ? Do people commonly plug in SPDIF connections and get visited by hun n buzz ?

I haven't experienced hum over coax SPDIF, but I have experienced hum from the Puffin using analog out if I didn't use 2 sets of grounding cables.

I don't know if an SPDIF over coax grounding loop is impossible -- it does carry an electrical current over conductive wire with grounding via the shielding.

TOSLINK, on the other hand, seems impossible under normal home electrical potentials and air.

 

[Balle Clorin]

From Parks Audio facebook page, as reply to me about Coax vs Toslink spdif, questioning if Toslink gives more jitter than coax

Author
Parks Audio LLC
I'm not worried about jitter these days. I think jitter was more of an issue in the 90's with poorer clocks and no re-clocking. Nowadays, clocks are much higher performance and SPDIF receivers re-clock the signal, too, so no drifting out-of-sync. The optical transceivers are also much, much better (i.e. faster edges). I also think that these relatively modest data rates (48kHz and 96kHz) are slow and easy enough to do. Lastly, I've run optical jitter tests for hours and never have triggered a single jitter event on my test gear.
Ground loops and leakage currents still remain with us. I guess if someone knows they have a troublesome system - always fighting hum and noise - then I would definitely recommend optical. It 100% isolates the most sensitive part of your system.

Blumlein88 posted data here giving identical J test for Toslink and Coax spdif
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-converters-introduce-jitter.2279/#post-62260
So then Toslink is the best choice for me , even if I have no hum or ground issues today

.

 

[watchnerd]

From Parks Audio facebook page, as reply to me about Coax vs Toslink spdif, questioning if Toslink gives more jitter than coax

Author
Parks Audio LLC
I'm not worried about jitter these days. I think jitter was more of an issue in the 90's with poorer clocks and no re-clocking. Nowadays, clocks are much higher performance and SPDIF receivers re-clock the signal, too, so no drifting out-of-sync. The optical transceivers are also much, much better (i.e. faster edges). I also think that these relatively modest data rates (48kHz and 96kHz) are slow and easy enough to do. Lastly, I've run optical jitter tests for hours and never have triggered a single jitter event on my test gear.
Ground loops and leakage currents still remain with us. I guess if someone knows they have a troublesome system - always fighting hum and noise - then I would definitely recommend optical. It 100% isolates the most sensitive part of your system.

Blumlein88 posted data here giving identical J test for Toslink and Coax spdif
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-converters-introduce-jitter.2279/#post-62260
So then Toslink is the best choice for me , even if I have no hum or ground issues today

.

Interesting, thanks.

It sounds like the implication is that coax is more vulnerable to ground loops, which isn't at all surprising.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Hi Micheal, I'm using this amp with a Dual cs5000 with AT0C9MLII. Amplification on 60db and Magic on. I did my own upgrade to spdif and that worked out very well. The puffin is via spdif connected to Topping D90/A90. This combo is playing just wonderful. Doesnot sound digital at all. Very analog sound. The update to spdif is easy, but if you cannot do it yourself I would still recommend to buy the spdif version. You can use your own dac which in my case is much better than the build in. Goodluck with your choice

I have the same pickup, What settings do you use besides 60db gain?

 

[audiopile]

Watchnerd -sorry missed the second question - I run a roughly 20 year old set of Meridian DSP-5000 speakers. These have a pair of SPDIF inputs that my later production pair limit to 24/96. (earlier DSP-5000 are -I think-limited to 18/48 max). These are triamped with DSP crossovers -stock-built into this model.

 

[Bonito12]

I have the same pickup, What settings do you use besides 60db gain?

I only use a tilt of - 1. In the meantime I have replaced the CS5000 for a Technics 1500c.
That removed the small humm the cs5000 produced.

 

[win]

I'm a bit sad that I got the coax digital out version now

Had to use a coax to optical dongle for my system