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Measurements of Parks Audio Puffin Phono Stage

sergeauckland

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I'd forgotten about that one. It's a fixed gain device so really only suitable for MC cartridges, not MM. I've only had experience of one of these and in the system it's being used in, it causes an irritating hum which we can't get rid of. I've used another MC phono stage in that system with no hum problem, so it's not the arm or cartridge that's the problem.

S.
 

pastorbarrett

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Here's some other Puffin Specs.


.008% THD (40dB, 1kHz, 10mV input, 30kHz LPF) 3dB Bandwidth: 5Hz to 48kHz 60dB minimum channel separation channel balance: 0.2dB or better RIAA EQ response (20Hz to 20kHz): +/- 0.2dB Default Preset Noise (shorted inputs): MM 40dB 27uV A-weighted MC 56dB 59uV A-weighted PC 16dB 24uV A-weighted CD -4dB 27uV A-weighted Overload Margin 17dB
 

dinglehoser

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More info on the digital output option: per Shannon, he's pretty sure it's doable as an easy DIY (drilling in a new RCA jack and soldering a couple of wires, plus a firmware update) and is looking into it now. He's planning on releasing DIY instructions as soon as it's available; retail availability is going to be a wait-and-see. SPDIF out will be coax (obviously) and you'll retain analog out; the firmware update will allow the user to switch between them as a new menu option. No specific ETA but the tone of his email made it sound like it could be soonish.
 

pastorbarrett

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A nice update, hopefully becomes retail before long. A headphone amp in there would be money for someone like me.
 

watchnerd

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I'd forgotten about that one. It's a fixed gain device so really only suitable for MC cartridges, not MM. I've only had experience of one of these and in the system it's being used in, it causes an irritating hum which we can't get rid of. I've used another MC phono stage in that system with no hum problem, so it's not the arm or cartridge that's the problem.

S.

I've had good results with SUTs with MCs, both a Lundahl 1931 (1:16, 24 db gain, also 1:8) and Hashimoto HM-7 (1:15, 23dB gain, also 1:30). No hum, and completely eliminated any noise/hiss from the MM input on my amp.
 

watchnerd

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A nice update, hopefully becomes retail before long. A headphone amp in there would be money for someone like me.

You want a headphone amp built into the phono stage?

Phono signals are very low voltage. That might not be a great idea from a noise POV, at least in a box as small as the Puffin.

It seems like it would be a better idea to just feed the output of the Puffin into a dedicated headphone amp for best of breed results.
 

pastorbarrett

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You want a headphone amp built into the phono stage?

Phono signals are very low voltage. That might not be a great idea from a noise POV, at least in a box as small as the Puffin.

It seems like it would be a better idea to just feed the output of the Puffin into a dedicated headphone amp for best of breed results.

Fair enough, had not considered this. I just really abhor box counts. Less the better for me.
 

Dj7675

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Another update... while the digital out of the parks puffin was just a diy option, it is now being sold with the digial out for an extra $100. I decided I didn't want to do the diy but now may have to give this a try. Nice to see the digital out option to now purchase.
http://parksaudiollc.com/
 

MichaelP

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Very cool phono stage! This guy is at the top of my list for updating my phono stage. How are you all liking it? Is the digital out worth the extra $100? Does the "Air" control do a good job of adjusting for capacitance mismatches?
 

Bonito12

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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
 

MichaelP

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Thanks for the reply. Sounds like the versatility of the SPDIF is worth it. Are you using any EQ or additional DSP magic? Curious if all that sounds transparent.
 

Bonito12

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When I started to use the puffin I tried things like tilt (balance high/low) and air. Did not hear any degration on sounds , but in the end the combi just didn t need it. So I only have some minor bass boost. I assume that all tweaking is done in the digital domain, and since the dsp is always on, there is not much chance that you can hear any difference. The biggest improvement is with spdif out, connected to an external dac in my case the d90, it is even more transparent then with its own dac. Magic is also working very well I seldom hear pops etc.
 

MichaelP

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It arrived today. I'm impressed. It sounds excellent! Super clean. I'm using an Ortofon 2m Blue cartridge.
Some thoughts on how it sounds compared to my old Cambridge Audio Azur 640p:

- Bass is SO much better, really impressed with the bottom and mids
- Less bright than the 640p. Adjusting the "Air" setting to +1 fixed that. (The 640p seems to be a pretty good match to the 2m Blue).
- The Magic setting is really nice, does a great job of cleaning up pops and clicks. It's VERY transparent to my ears.
- Nothing digital sounding about it. It's kind of mind blowing that a DSP based RIAA implementation is so good.
- I tried the tube and tape effects, not my cup of tea. Will revisit.
- Record grading is cool. My new recent pressings are coming up A to B+. Some older used records, C. I have some really rough stuff, will try.
- I haven't experimented with running it into my DAC. It sounds great using the analog outs.

Really curious to try it with a MC cartridge.
 

Bonito12

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Hi Michael,
Thats a nice quick review. This will help others to deside, I can fully acknowledge your findings. After using it with its build in dac for a while I needed to connect it by spdif for locational reasons. By switching over to my own dac I found out that it brought the puffin to an even higher level. So always nice to know that there is something to gain thanks for your feedback.
 

audiopile

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I listen 90% or more to LP's -but everything analog goes thru a pair of 24/96 ADC's into my digital input speakers. And at least half to three quarters of the time there's some sort of MM/IM cart being used. When using LOMC's - I tend to use SUT's -this has led to a functional obsession with phono overload. The 17dB overload at 1kHz quoted for a 10 mV input has me a little confused -assuming lower output MM carts -say2.5 to 4.5mV is it safe to assume I'd have something around 20 dB of overload margin to work with ? I'm very curious about the digital output since this would allow me to avoid any worries about overloading the ADC in the Puffin and my past experience (10? years or so ago?) with 24/48 was very pleasant.
 
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