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- May 4, 2023
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I brought home a Sutherland 20/20 with LPS from a local shop because my Manley Chinook is experiencing some ground noise, and the Sutherland is well reviewed. The shop was willing to loan it to me for a few days to try out.
I was fully expecting to love the Sutherland and drop the nearly 3k on the pre and the LPS.
Let me preface this by saying I have limited experience with varying phonostages, and my experience is a mofi low end phonostage ~$150, my Chinook, this Sutherland, and the built in MM stage on my mcintosh MA352. I also hate myself a little bit for using a handful of the below subjective terms.
I just felt the Sutherland was a little thin in comparison to the Chinook. The midrange felt a little squashed together, and the Chinook seemed to allow instruments in the midrange maintain separation more than the Sutherland. In particular, there are guitar parts that I had to listen very closely for on the Sutherland that were easier to hear on the Chinook. Not that they were mid forward on the chinook necessarily - just seemed to have greater midrange clarity.
Same thing for low frequency punch; the Chinook just seemed to have a little more weight down there. The high frequencies seemed comparable on both units.
The soundstage on the Sutherland seemed a little "flat", and the chinook, a little more "3D" (This is the stuff I absolutely hate myself for saying, but I'm not sure how else to describe it - the Chinook just seemed to allow things to be placed in space/the stereo image more accurately, and with more separation/clarity.)
Now the above absolutely shocked me. Under normal circumstances, I would have expected a tube pre to have a little less clarity.
Am I crazy? Is this just a tube vs solid state thing? Is the sutherland maybe just not the right solid state pre for me? I did LOVE how quiet the sutherland was. Damn near silent when nothing was happening.
Anyone got thoughts? Are there other solid state phonostages I should try? Honestly, if the Sutherland had the sound of the Chinook and the super low noise level of the Sutherland, I'd have handed over my money instantly.
Thanks!
Mike
I was fully expecting to love the Sutherland and drop the nearly 3k on the pre and the LPS.
Let me preface this by saying I have limited experience with varying phonostages, and my experience is a mofi low end phonostage ~$150, my Chinook, this Sutherland, and the built in MM stage on my mcintosh MA352. I also hate myself a little bit for using a handful of the below subjective terms.
I just felt the Sutherland was a little thin in comparison to the Chinook. The midrange felt a little squashed together, and the Chinook seemed to allow instruments in the midrange maintain separation more than the Sutherland. In particular, there are guitar parts that I had to listen very closely for on the Sutherland that were easier to hear on the Chinook. Not that they were mid forward on the chinook necessarily - just seemed to have greater midrange clarity.
Same thing for low frequency punch; the Chinook just seemed to have a little more weight down there. The high frequencies seemed comparable on both units.
The soundstage on the Sutherland seemed a little "flat", and the chinook, a little more "3D" (This is the stuff I absolutely hate myself for saying, but I'm not sure how else to describe it - the Chinook just seemed to allow things to be placed in space/the stereo image more accurately, and with more separation/clarity.)
Now the above absolutely shocked me. Under normal circumstances, I would have expected a tube pre to have a little less clarity.
Am I crazy? Is this just a tube vs solid state thing? Is the sutherland maybe just not the right solid state pre for me? I did LOVE how quiet the sutherland was. Damn near silent when nothing was happening.
Anyone got thoughts? Are there other solid state phonostages I should try? Honestly, if the Sutherland had the sound of the Chinook and the super low noise level of the Sutherland, I'd have handed over my money instantly.
Thanks!
Mike