Great review! About your suggested feature to count album sides, cool idea, very clever! I'd use that if it were there. I'd suggest it to Shannon for possible inclusion in a future F/W update. Looking forward to hearing what your thoughts are when you split the Lounge output and see what affect it has being in-line. I'm thinking maybe Tilt or Air might help you get back some shimmer. Also, question for you: when you played your Bowie tune and noticed the two issues (lack of bass depth and less shimmer), was the Magic on then? As a sidenote unrelated to your review: One thing I'm curious about why the Line In suggested gain is -4dB instead of 0dB. When I was doing my A/B using the tape loop, I set it on 0dB because otherwise whenever I'd switch to the Puffin, it'd be a bit softer.
A note on bass - I found, that with the music I listen to, that the new default settings of the 1.2d cut some bass out. I had to turn deRumble off, and set my low freq from 25Hz back to 20Hz. This was for electronic or synth bass that I have in some music, for example side A of Lyle Mays / Pat Metheny "as falls Witchita" and a couple of other records with synth bass. You could also use test tones. I also turn bass boost off, can't remember if that's the default or not. I mainly use with Air and Tilt at zero. For some records, I will adjust those.
I tried the Bowie track with and without Magic on. Regardless of settings on the Puffin, I wasn’t able to achieve the spaciousness that the Lounge gave. We will see with the A/B. I will then be able to toggle back and forth using the Parasound’s remote from the listening position.
Just a couple small changes from the previous Beta D firmware: -Grade won't be running after turn on or Set? load. -Cleared Grade after Set? load. -Eliminated some tiny pops when changing between some settings. -Lowered fxinkNoise 6dB.
I played with the 1.20 beta more over the last week and maybe it’s just me but I didn’t hear magic make a ton of difference to my ears. I would hear crackles and turn it on and play again and still had about the same amount . Maybe it’s just pops that it really eliminates which I don’t usually have issues with the grading feature seems a little strange, I’d play a record with just a few crackles in a couple spots and it would get a c or d but that few crackles would normally grade vg+/b. I’ll have to upgrade to the final version and play around more
I recently switched back to using the Puffin internal DAC after using the SPDIF out for a while. I had been using a MiniDSP NanoDigi to EQ the bass before sending the signal to an external DAC (either the Cambridge DACMagic Plus or the Schiit Modi 3). Got pretty frustrated with some treble harshness and the messy complexity of it all. I also upgraded my cartridge and felt I should clean up the signal path to really hear it at its best. So I switched back to the Puffin alone, and voila it sounds amazing again. Properly low-passing my sub turns out to fix the bass issues I thought were more complicated. But I've also discovered one of the more powerful tone controls in the Puffin in the EQ curve feature. Using the custom settings you can modify it from standard phono RIAA in pretty granular steps. Similar to the top-level tone controls, you can shift the bass shelf or treble roll-off, but (and this is the one that's made a big difference for me) you can also pick the "turnover" frequency which can alter the midrange in subtle but effective ways. Would encourage anybody who's got the tone control itch to play with it a little: EQ
Here is an update on my A/B testing. Life got in the way so I haven’t been able to do more with comparing stuff, but I wanted to share what I wrote to a fellow member the other day: I went to Lowe's and picked up two RCA splitters for about $10 total. They do the job but nothing fancy. I set every setting to basic on the Puffin--this includes setting the Hi and Lo settings at 48khz and 5hz, respectively, and everything off. This just left whatever effect the ADC-DAC had in the chain without any DSP. I did have to reduce Volume on the Puffin to 84% in order to match the Lounge volume (and that includes a pair of 6db Rothwell attenuators on the Lounge into the integrated--my Lounge is truly that loud in my system!). At this basic A/B comparison, I played my Bowie torture track again. I got much of the "shimmer" back but not all of it. There was some spaciousness in the Lounge at times but not always. The biggest affect the Puffin had in the chain was with the bass. There was more of it with the Puffin, and that one portion of the Bowie track was just so much better with no Puffin. It was tight and clear (balanced?) with just the Lounge. The Puffin made it a touch loose and ill defined... but just a bit. Kinda like two different flavors of components, ya know? The Puffin seemed a bit less accurate, but on the other hand, it mellowed it out a touch and was less crispy. There is a Walt Dickerson To My Queen reissue that I have where the vibraphone notes are about as dynamic as you can get. The Puffin couldn't handle it. It distorted at some of those notes. When I switched over to the Lounge, the distortion was there but it was a completely different type of distortion and far less noticeable. I look forward to listening to a Qobuz stream of it to see if the distortion is there or if it is just my Ortofon cart (which I had to switch out to my Bronze because my Black is getting a bit too long in the tooth). Bottom line: I love comparing stuff like this. It is one of my favorite parts of the hobby. Comparing gear, comparing masterings, comparing formats. I love choice! Therefore I am going to keep the Lounge in the chain so I can toggle back and forth when I want. If I want that air and feel at 70-80db on pristine, well-mastered LPs, I will hit a button and cut the Puffin out. If I just want to listen to regular LPs at 60-70db or if I am socializing, the Puffin will stay in the chain. It is a super cool device and I am so glad I bought it. But I think I will get in touch with Robert Morin and upgrade to the silver stuff and ask him to reduce gain for me. My analog chain is just too hot and crispy at times with it!
What would happen if you upped reduced gain on the Puffin (what gain did you use?), and returned the volume to the default of 100? You can monitor the ADC/DAC levels and toggle peak on to see if you are clipping there.
You split the phono signal from the turntable to the two preamps with these or...? Are these Y cables?
Yea, I know, we just talked about that in another thread, hopefully that's not what he's doing, double the capactance and half the resistance.
Of course not. The two Y splitters are from the Lounge output. One splitter per channel. The Puffin is then just in line for one path to the integrated and not acting as a preamp. My comparison of both as preamps are further up this thread..
Ha, I missed that. Which thread is that? Now I get it. While at it, is there any harm in splitting a line signal from the phono preamp with Y cables? Need this in a certain scenario.
Well, it is a cable, so everyone will have an opinion, I suppose. But I believe the differences in components connected by cables are far more important than the cables themselves. If I like this method I have devised (and it seems I will) I will likely look for a more robust cable to live with long term. Short term? $10 is a perfect way to see if it works!
If the output of the Lounge is that high, maybe the Puffin would also benefit from inline attenuators between the Lounge output and Puffin input. Since -4dB is the lowest you can set the Puffin gain, I wonder if it actually needs some attenuation before the input to avoid distorting.
That is a great point! I will put in the Rothwells prior to the Puffin and play that Dickerson again. Thank you.
That's right, I forgot, sorry. Looking forward when you are able to setup the Puffin as a pre, then compare with Lounge or others. I think there are a lot of variables when using the Lounge as the phono pre in both scenarios, and then testing with and without the Puffin as an EQ, e.g. impedance matching, tape send/return levels, and their associated resistor/cap networks. You might also want to try the Puffin directly after the Lounge at line level. But for sound quality testing as a phono pre, I think it would be good to get a switcher and switch them both in phono pre mode.
I absolutely love the Puffin. I’m listening to the recent Abbey Road half-speed remaster of Peter Gabriel‘s melting-face album. It was a bit dull sounding on my usual settings laid out for pre-1990’s vinyl. I edged the Tilt a few notches to -1, and the record is jumping and dimensional. Isn’t that what this whole audiophile movement is about? Cheers, Bill
Can anyone speak to the volume setting on the puffin? Are there any sonic disadvantages to the adjustable volume setting against a traditional phono stage? Do most people just keep the volume at 100%, as recommended?
