My main phono preamp and other experiences

[Deleted member 43441]

It is morning on the East Coast of the US, and another cold day… comon spring! I wanted to share my experiences living with the Parks Audio Puffin for approximately eight months, and I purchased mine well before the ASR review. I’ve extensively read a lot of reviews on here, as well as watched the ASR YouTube channel, and I’ve also read hundreds of discussions here. So when my beloved phono preamp was placed in the middle of the pack I went back to Mr Parks, and him and I had some pretty candid conversations. I also sent my Puffin back and had a digital coax output installed so I can run this into my Topping D90 DAC (thanks Amir) As some of you know the Puffin lacks some headroom, and I wanted to share my thoughts on that also. I’ve been spinning vinyl for quite a while, and I’ve been seriously spinning it since 2013, when I got back into it after a 20 year hiatus. I also understand that not much is going to beat the sound of a good DAC, with a good source, going into good clean amplifiers and our favorite speakers. But… I found I was disconnected from the music, and there was very little interaction. Gone were the days when I looked at the label of an LP or a 45, pulled out the lyric sheet, or the gatefold sheet and learned a lot about the bands I liked… without having to search the Internet.

Anyway I guess that’s for a different thread. The Puffin has clip indicators in the gain menu, and I was advised by Mr. Parks to set that gain at 37 dB or 38 dB for my 5 mV output cartridge, and keep an eye on the clip indicators. Another great feature of those indicators is they let you know if the clipping happened upstream or downstream. After doing this for awhile I rarely clip this phono preamp, even when I drop the needle in the wrong spot on the run in groove, or run over a piece of debris. Although I find the built-in DAC to be adequate, I wasn’t about to stop there. I run the coax output into my D90 DAC, and then of course XLR that into my preamp. The sound is the best I have ever had on my set up, I don’t have any measurements but I think you vinyl guys know what I’m talking about when I make this next statement… It was a night and day difference between this and my other preamps of which I have many. Just an amazing phono preamp, and I am looking for a way to share its duties between my two turntables. I thought for anyone on the fence, I can put some of the headroom issues to rest. Does it still have a lack of headroom? I guess it does, but I hear nor ill effects As long as the gain is set correctly. Sooo… isn’t this what vinyl is all about the tweaking? To me it is, and trying to make a 100 year old technology sound as good as it can is just fun.

 

[Helicopter]

It is morning on the East Coast of the US, and another cold day… comon spring! I wanted to share my experiences living with the Parks Audio Puffin for approximately eight months, and I purchased mine well before the ASR review. I’ve extensively read a lot of reviews on here, as well as watched the ASR YouTube channel, and I’ve also read hundreds of discussions here. So when my beloved phono preamp was placed in the middle of the pack I went back to Mr Parks, and him and I had some pretty candid conversations. I also sent my Puffin back and had a digital coax output installed so I can run this into my Topping D90 DAC (thanks Amir) As some of you know the Puffin lacks some headroom, and I wanted to share my thoughts on that also. I’ve been spinning vinyl for quite a while, and I’ve been seriously spinning it since 2013, when I got back into it after a 20 year hiatus. I also understand that not much is going to beat the sound of a good DAC, with a good source, going into good clean amplifiers and our favorite speakers. But… I found I was disconnected from the music, and there was very little interaction. Gone were the days when I looked at the label of an LP or a 45, pulled out the lyric sheet, or the gatefold sheet and learned a lot about the bands I liked… without having to search the Internet.

Anyway I guess that’s for a different thread. The Puffin has clip indicators in the gain menu, and I was advised by Mr. Parks to set that gain at 37 dB or 38 dB for my 5 mV output cartridge, and keep an eye on the clip indicators. Another great feature of those indicators is they let you know if the clipping happened upstream or downstream. After doing this for awhile I rarely clip this phono preamp, even when I drop the needle in the wrong spot on the run in groove, or run over a piece of debris. Although I find the built-in DAC to be adequate, I wasn’t about to stop there. I run the coax output into my D90 DAC, and then of course XLR that into my preamp. The sound is the best I have ever had on my set up, I don’t have any measurements but I think you vinyl guys know what I’m talking about when I make this next statement… It was a night and day difference between this and my other preamps of which I have many. Just an amazing phono preamp, and I am looking for a way to share its duties between my two turntables. I thought for anyone on the fence, I can put some of the headroom issues to rest. Does it still have a lack of headroom? I guess it does, but I hear nor ill effects As long as the gain is set correctly. Sooo… isn’t this what vinyl is all about the tweaking? To me it is, and trying to make a 100 year old technology sound as good as it can is just fun.

Agree Puffin is excellent. I am the steward of @BDWoody 's Puffin, and I added the digital coax output to it. I have it running into a Schiit Modius, to Schiit Freya S to a custom dual monoblock Hypex NC500MP amp and Focal Aria 948 speakers. I have not experienced any issues with headroom on this setup. When it is time for the next stage in the wandering Puffin's travels, I will probably pick up the Toslink one for myself. I might get a Cambridge Duo too. I originally borrowed it for cartridge measurements, but I ended up running my turntable directly into the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface anyway. My thought is the Toslink one could run into another interface such as the Fireface UCXii. The big hurdle here is not electronics though, it is test records.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

Ahhh I see! I appreciate you posting, and it’s nice to have someone that knows what they’re talking about agree with me. I really don’t think that it gets any better than setting it up like you just said. I did almost the same thing, and once the gain was set correctly, the headroom part was a non-issue. The good part is that you could actually keep an eye on it, rather than being in the dark like all the other phono preamp‘s. I think people tend to have the gain set to high, myself guilty in the past. Talking to Shannon Parks extensively about this shed a lot of light on what I should be doing with the Puffin. My cartridge puts out 5 mV, and setting the game to 38 Db produces no clipping. That’s the bottom line for me, and if it clips because of one big pop it’s not going to do much damage.

The big part to me is running it into my favorite DAC, an XLR in my preamp, just stellar sound for vinyl.

Please share more of your experiences when they happen, thanks for posting.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

@Helicopter
I bought the Duo on a whim, Cambridge USA has a store on eBay and they have B stock or C stock for $199 complete with one year warranty. Mine was perfect except for one little ding that you couldn’t see you unless you knew it was there. Sounded perfect, but the Puffin into the DAC is the ticket lol.

Edit;
Cambridge USA sells those like hotcakes on eBay, but they have a few right now. Great people to deal with and how can you beat that for $199?

 

[Helicopter]

@Helicopter
I bought the Duo on a whim, Cambridge USA has a store on eBay and they have B stock or C stock for $199 complete with one year warranty. Mine was perfect except for one little ding that you couldn’t see you unless you knew it was there. Sounded perfect, but the Puffin into the DAC is the ticket lol.

Edit;
Cambridge USA sells those like hotcakes on eBay, but they have a few right now. Great people to deal with and how can you beat that for $199?

Wow! thanks for the tip. I ordered one. There's one more left if anyone else wants one.

 

[BDWoody]

I'm a big fan of the Puffin as well.

Wow! thanks for the tip. I ordered one. There's one more left if anyone else wants one.

Yeah, that's a good deal on that. Had to pick it up... Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Deleted member 43441]

Wow! thanks for the tip. I ordered one. There's one more left if anyone else wants one.

You’re welcome, I’m glad you got that! Just yesterday there were six of them.

It’s a good preamp, and I put it on the back burner right now, because I am so keen on the Puffin. When I hooked the Duo up initially I thought it sounded a little dull, compared to the Puffin. Then I figured it was placebo, or just the fact that the Puffin has a bit of an unfair advantage. I mean can vinyl really sound much better than that? When I got all done I took a good hard listen and I was pretty wowed, and I remember thinking… stop tinkering it’s arrived lol

 

[Deleted member 43441]

Sorry I didn’t say something about it earlier guys, I probably should’ve messaged you Woody… anyway I’m glad you both got one, that just made my day.

It’s a lot larger than the pictures look, and
it’s a nice piece for sure. It’s right in between the size of a Topping D30 pro and a D90.

Take care guys I got a run.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

I'm a big fan of the Puffin as well.



Yeah, that's a good deal on that. Had to pick it up... Thanks for the heads up!

I'm a big fan of the Puffin as well.



Yeah, that's a good deal on that. Had to pick it up... Thanks for the heads up!

I’m glad you’re enjoying the Puffin, I think that’s the best kept secret in all of vinyl.

Talk about and about face for Parks audio, they were tube guys, he made the budgie and others. I understand some people were horrified when he introduced the DSP into vinyl lol.

The world we live in, you have to have an open mind sometimes.