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In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: The last phonocorrector: “End of Life" Phonostage
Post Subject: Apologies!Posted by guy sergeant on: 6/6/2008
While the question was somewhat facetious there was supposed to be a serious point behind it. I experience a similar 'effect' with a linestage I sometimes use. It is quite easy to hear what this stage contributes and initially it is too different to take it seriously. However, the 'conditioning' or 'shaping' this stage applies is very seductive, I do soon hear past its interpretation and it does, particularly with my digital source, make the music seem more involving & (curiously) the power amplifiers seem more powerful. Learning about this effect & trying to identify what exactly has happened to the sound has been very educational. It goes right against the virtuous principles of what's normally perceived as high fidelity, but asks the question whether, if the resulting sound is an improvement, (ie subjectively more enjoyable) the means used in achieving it are so important. I suppose that depends on what an individual's idea of improvement actually involves.
Active Line stages in particular have often been a puzzle. The output from your DAC ought to be relayed best directly to the input stage of your power amp, yet its not uncommon to hear an attenuator of some kind coupled with a gain stage actually 'improve' things. Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site