Shannon got back to me in about an hour. Known issue. He sent new instructions and 10 minutes later the Puffin was back in action. Very pleased. I wanted the update for the magic setting more than anything. This was my first interaction with Shannon. Granted it was only email but the fact he got back to me within an hour at 8 o'clock on a Sunday night is exemplary.
I bought my Puffin over a year ago and am attempting my first firmware update. Unfortunately, I’m just picking up that my Puffin did come with the USB cable but not the Allen device. Is this Allen device specific to the Puffin—or will any old Ikea Allen device work? I imagine that one has to remove the DC input cap to reveal a USB port connection. Is this where it is—or is there some other way to reach the USB connection? Very little that I have seen online is specific to how this works. I have contacted Shannon Parks about the Allen device. Anyone who has made USB-linked firmware updates, your advice is highly appreciated. Thanks, Bill
http://www.parksaudiollc.com/firmware.html Steps 3 & 4 from the page linked above might help: Unscrew the four corner screws on the Puffin top plate. This requires a 5/64" Hex Driver or Allen Wrench (supplied with Puffin). Connect USB cable (supplied with Puffin) to Windows computer. Connect USB-Micro connector to Puffin board - connector has sticker marked L432KC. No power is needed as it is powered via USB.
I have a Puffin and love it. I’m also considering a Rega Planar 6 down the line. I didn’t understand your post and using digital out with it. Do you mean you would mod the Puffin to have the digital out?
Puffin arrived today. Unboxed it, updated the firmware (had an issue with updating it on my MacBook Pro on macOS so went over to Bootcamp and Windows 10 worked perfectly). Set it up for the Hana EL and plugged the Rega Planar 6 in. There is no actual pre-amp for me right now, so the Puffin as acting as the Phono stage and pre-Amp. Running it right into Yumi Kanto powered speakers until I piece the rest of the system early next year. Honestly? This thing blows the Vincent Pho 300 out of the water. Now, that may not be the case if the Vincent was going into a proper pre-amp and set-up, but holy crap. The difference is noticeable immediately. And then using Magic on an LP I have that I know has some pops and clicks (Foxing's "Albatross") was a complete revelation. How this thing is under $500 (and I picked it up for under $350 used) is beyond me.
I am shocked that it was this easy to choose between the two since the Vincent was such a nice step up over my Phono Box S.
"Pleasure" by Feist has so much more depth to it with the Puffin. The song feels so much more complex than it does on either the Box S or 300. Again, this is really without changing much on the Puffin other than triggering Magic. Now to mess around with the other settings.
Final thought right now: Thinking now of building a wooden box for this. The Puffin is an . . . interesting looking piece of equipment. Almost reminds me of a guitar pedal. With that said, I am probably going to try and hide it in my cabinet. Could build the wooden box (like how Shannon has photos of on Facebook) and then paint it in an antique white to try and come close to paint matching it to the cabinet. Would probably hide it really well.
I saw the box on Shannon's website. That does look nice. I've already priced the AudioQuest gold right angle adapters (RCA 90) at Crutchfield. If I get the Puffin, it will sit right next to the Digital Motor Drive on the top shelf along with my PolyTable. The right angle adapters are an essential component for me.
Thanks, Steely! Shannon Parks quickly replied and mailed me the specific missing Allen wrench this morning. I missed those parts of the manual as I skipped over the Windows section for the iOS one. I’m looking forward to making an update as soon as the wrench arrives! Thanks, Bill
In experimenting with my new Puffin I discovered an issue. When I crank the volume on my receiver really high, I can hear a strong, rapidly pulsating sound, the source of which I believe is my TP-Link Deco mesh Wi-Fi router. The Puffin came with a small “quick start” card that mentioned possible interference from phones and Wi-Fi devices so obviously this is a known issue; however, I don’t know how to solve it. The Puffin and router are not particularly close to one another and moving them even further apart doesn’t eliminate the interference. In fact, in some cases depending on orientation of the Puffin, the offending noise gets louder. Any suggestions? BTW, the cables from my turntable are shielded.
You said the router is some ways away, but are there any wireless devices in close proximity to the Puffin? Maybe when you powered the router off, some other device closed to the Puffin also went "dark?"
Not liking the sound of this. My router is in the next room from my family room where all my equipment is. There is no way that I'm going unplug things to get by a problem such as this. I anxiously await the next report.
Eliminating the Wi-Fi interference is proving to be quite a challenge for me. While it is virtually inaudible at normal listening volumes, just the fact that the noise is there bothers me. The TP-Link Deco M9 is a “tri-band” mesh router and something about it is introducing extraneous sounds into the otherwise silent Puffin. My Verizon Gateway router does not have the same effect so I know it’s something specific to the TP-Link, perhaps the “backhaul” channel. To be continued.
I contacted Shannon Parks about getting the Budgie tube phono preamp a few years ago. I asked him about the rumors of it picking up interference from wi-fi, as the tubes were not fully shielded. I told him that their proximity couldn’t be changed. Parks recommended not buying the Budgie. I bought the Puffin as it had the shielding. My wi-fi router is near it, and I never hear it. My hi-fi guy, upon matching my Puffin to my turntable, told me to lower the overall volume of the Puffin from 100% down to 50%. The readouts on his oscilloscope led to this recommendation. He said my records would sound even better, and he was correct. If you have it at full volume, try lowering it. It could help. It’s the first option on the Puffin. I also noticed that I picked up slight TV sound when my turntable was on at the same time. My television audio is hooked up via Schiit Modi. If I switched the Modi away from the TV signal to another input, the background noise disappeared. If you have something similar going on, give that a shot. Keeping the Puffin is worth it. Good luck, Bill
I think I licked the interference problem late last night. It took some doing but by re-routing a lot of wires and Ethernet cables I was able to situate the Deco M9 “puck” far enough from the Puffin to the point where I can no longer hear even a hint of extraneous noise with the receiver fully cranked and my ear directly in front of either speaker. I’ll have to confirm today with a fresh set of ears but I believe I’m out of the woods!
