Request to review Vista Audio and Darlington Labs phono preamps

[P_M]

A lot of buzz around these in turntable enthusiasts - would be great to see some objective measurements -

Vista Audio - one step ahead (vista-audio.com)
Products — Darlington Labs

Thanks.

 

[BluesDaddy]

Was just going to ask for the Darlington Labs MM-6, though it might be better to wait until they have the MC option as well. Still, would love to see this.

 

[AdamG]

Buy one and send it in to Amir. He will test it and return to you. That’s how this works.

 

[P_M]

Maybe. Perhaps someone on the forum might already have , or thinking about it ?

 

[BluesDaddy]

Buy one and send it in to Amir. He will test it and return to you. That’s how this works.

I get that, but sort of short circuits why I want to see a review.

 

[Gerrit]

Hi there!
I'm very interested in the Darlington Labs Stages too and also very interested in the Six Acoustic York;
https://www.sixacoustic.com/yorkoverview
Does anybody know the York? Seems pretty unknown... Any opinions?

 

[ArtDJ]

It would be great to see full reviews on both the Darlington and iFi Zen preamps. Two very different approaches, the iFi Zen being a mass-produced, op-amp based design with surface mount components and the Darlington being a J-FET transistor based design with hand-soldered, through-the-board components.

The iFi has received stellar reviews across the board while the Darlington products are attracting a lot of attention for their classic design and construction approach. It would be interesting to see if the iFi Zen lives up to the hype, how the Darlington MM-5 compares at a similar price point, and whether the Darlington MM-6 is worth twice the price of the iFi Zen.

 

[Gerrit]

I found another very interesting phono stage, the Hafler PH 50; https://hafler.com/ph50.php ...
... anyone experiences with it?
Oh and +1 for the iFi Zen Phono...
...so many options out there...

 

[deniall83]

It would be great to see full reviews on both the Darlington and iFi Zen preamps. Two very different approaches, the iFi Zen being a mass-produced, op-amp based design with surface mount components and the Darlington being a J-FET transistor based design with hand-soldered, through-the-board components.

The iFi has received stellar reviews across the board while the Darlington products are attracting a lot of attention for their classic design and construction approach. It would be interesting to see if the iFi Zen lives up to the hype, how the Darlington MM-5 compares at a similar price point, and whether the Darlington MM-6 is worth twice the price of the iFi Zen.

I'm currently looking at either the iFi ZEN or Darlington MM-5. Unfortunately with shipping and import costs the MM-5 is $150 more than the ZEN so I definitely want to see measurements before purchasing. Would be happy to send either product for review but being in Australia, the shipping would be expensive and the units would be in 230v.

 

[CausticStorm]

I am ordering MM-5 in the next day and if there is interest I can have it shipped directly to Amir

 

[P_M]

I can assure you there is absolutely no lack of interest and curiosity for this preamp

 

[CausticStorm]

Ordered - waiting for Amir on ship to address, Keith @ Darlington Labs will have it shipped to Amir pending he is interested in testing it

Done - chatted with Amir - its going direct to Amir .

Perhaps someone else can order MM-6 next

 

[krichard2496]

Ordered - waiting for Amir on ship to address, Keith @ Darlington Labs will have it shipped to Amir pending he is interested in testing it

Done - chatted with Amir - its going direct to Amir .

Perhaps someone else can order MM-6 next

We expect the MM-6 to perform similarly to the MM-5 in the battery of tests that we anticipate from ASR, with only small sample to sample variation. However, we would welcome a similar test on either the MM-6 or the new MP-7; but because of strong demand, a user purchasing one and submitting to ASR will be the quickest route.

Sincerely,
Keith Richardson
Director of Engineering
Darlington Labs LLC
Boston, MA

 

[CausticStorm]

Welcome to ASR! @krichard2496 !

 

[krichard2496]

Welcome to ASR! @krichard2496 !

Thank you.
This takes us back 40 years to the beginning of the great Subjectivist vs. Objectivist debates, best typified in America in our mind by The Audio Amateur circa 1978-1985. We'll be interested to see user feedback on this forum.

 

[P_M]

Hi @amirm what # is this in the queue ?