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An evening with the Whest PS.30RDT Special Edition

Well last night I had a great listening session with a few audiophile friends, all of which are anti-forum types...don't blame them!

Anyway, a couple asked me if it would be OK to bring over their own phono stages along for the ride.

'What the heck' I thought, go on then BUT be prepared for a slaughter...which is what I was thinking. Didn't do that classic Homer thing and say what I was thinking!

Anyway, I switched off the Whest PS.30RDT Special Edition in the morning to keep the playing field as even as I could.
The units coming over were going to be off for an hour at least before playing.

7.30pm... a knock at the door and in comes a 2008 ASR Basis Exclusive - nice. Not worried as I have heard one of these before and thought the Whest was way ahead.

7.46 'Knock Knock' - in comes a Boulder 1008. I think a bead of sweat might have trickled down my forehead but hey that's what the evening was going to be about 'Rumble in the Jungle' well more 'the City'.

We powered up the 3 units for about an hour or so and launched into some great.... wine. You thought I was going to say sounds! That came in about 15mins later.

First on - Kate Bush Lionheart - Kashka for Baghdad.
The ASR was first on. Really Nice, musical detailed although Kate Bush sounded a bit 'thin' - lacking in absolute body but overall a really really good sound.
The 1008. It was really quite different. Fuller but slower. We all agreed that it would have been better to have the speed of the ASR with the presentation of the 1008.

The Boulder 1008 soundstage was nice but not like what we all heard next - my trusted Whest PS.30RDT Special Edition. If any of you have ever heard this track - 'flipping hell'!!
The Whest was is a very different league. Not small at all. Where to start. First of all the other guys decided to sell their units after this first track and this is why.

The Whest pulls out stuff from the vinyl that the other 2 units just hinted at. Paddy Bush (Kate's Bro) plays percussion on this track and you can hear what each percussion instrument is made from, but also the instruments have a dimension to them which is 'freaky'.

The rhythms in this track seem very basic on the other 2 units. The Whest pulls out the individual rhythms to enable you to hear the makeup of the track - rhythmically. OUTSTANDING!!

Kate's vocal is fantastic through the Whest. Not too full, or too thin but like Goldie Locks says: 'Just right'. BUT you can also hear her 'manner', the Kate Bush personality which is captured on the vinyl BUT completely missed with the 1008 and ASR.

Not normally my cup to tea BUT here goes: Yellow Jackets - The Hornet. Track name: It's almost gone.

By this time we were well into the evening and although I was smiling I could see my audiophile buddies thinking how to finance a purchase without the 'other half' thinking about divorce.

So, Yellow Jackets goes on and it's the turn of the Whest to play. I've just bought this LP on ebay this morning because my trusted Whest has again opened my eyes to a sub-genre that I would normally not consider.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jazz, but 80's Digital Warner...not normally me. Everything about this LP, every track went down like an excellent glass of wine, champagne or lager (tick which you prefer).

The Whest bought out stuff that the other 2 just couldn't see! The 1008 and ASR were blind to the emotional content of whole thing.

Well after the Whest it was really down hill - all the way. The speed, soundstage, imaging, pace, rhythm, space, imaging, pace, speed, soundstage, rhythm and oh did I mention speed seemed to collapse with the other 2 units.

Great phonostages but that is about as far as the other 2 units go. If these are phonostages then you cannot put the Whest in that category. The other guys were so dumb-struck that the differences could be so large.

The ASR and 1008 play what is on the needle, the Whest plays what's in the groove!

The evening continued and I was offered $$$$$ for my Whest as these guys already knew about my plans to get the Whest MC REF V -NEXT WEEK. But Boy...am I keeping my PS.30RDT Special Edition. It is too good to give up. The performance level is simply breathtaking.

Going from Phoebe Snow to Miles, and from EMI to CTI, the Whest outperformed the 2 other units in every area and I mean EVERY AREA. I have never seen 4 audiophiles behave in such a way - well I tell a lie, show any of these other guys a hi-rez image of a Bullet plug and it's like they are staring into the eyes of heaven.

We finished up listening to the 'Round Midnight' Soundtrack written by Herbie Hancock. Great finishing LP and shows the genius that is Herbie Hancock. This LP also enabled us to take some time out to gloat, cry and sob. I'm one of them - any ideas which one?





dcarol
auxetophone
114 posts
 
"My only theoretical beef with Whest is that I don't see where the cost of their upper end products is justified in terms of chassis and parts quality, power supply complexity, etc. Of course, one should not think that way, but still..."

Well, in the here and now, you are right that the maker can charge what the market will bear, but for those of us who can (ok, MUST) wait, it's encouraging to observe that very high performance can be achieved without spending a fortune in parts. Hopefully the competition will quickly react to the opportunity, and bring similar performance at a price more consistent with production cost . . .
lewm
6,770 posts
 
Thanks, Auxetophone. But are you agreeing that the parts quality for the upper end Whest phono stages does not seem to justify their pricing? (Prices in the US market are additionally inflated by the importer or distributor, apparently.) At the same time, I agree that fancy and expensive parts do not alone make for good sound and that there is a virtue in doing more with less. Moreover, one would rather pay for good sound than for parts.
dcarol OP
62 posts
 
Auxetophone, I think if you look the the chassis of the ARC, Conrad Johnson, Manley and many others you'll find they are just a simple folded steel or aluminium affair like the old NAD 3020. The Whest 30 chassis is a bit more complex than you might think as it is a hand-welded CAD designed chassis and is done that way for strength to allow the internal suspension to work properly. My mates Asthetix Rhea chassis is just a folded bit of aluminium or steel but has a fancy front panel.

Going down the 'boutique component spec' parts is always a dangerous thing. Over the years many companies have failed in giving us decent sounds even though their units are full of boutique. Personally I just trust my ears.

Before I went down the Whest route I owned a Trichord Diablo phonostage which used quite a few 'audiophile graded' components and the Whest PS.20 I heard against it still managed to better it by a mile!

'Boutique' does not make for a better sound....a great design makes for a great sound!

There is far too much crap and hype in this industry and trying to find the real gems seems to be getting harder.

One just needs to look at the whole interconnect/ cable industry and what can be had on ebay or DIYers. What do you do...go with a $2000 per metre IC because it's made with a material only seen on Jupiter and has won 5 awards or go with something that is independently recommended by 150 people that have nothing to do with audio industry and only costs $200.

I would listen to both BUT I've yet to hear a $2000 cable that is actually worth $2000!
curio's avatar
curio
294 posts
 
'Boutique' does not make for a better sound....a great design makes for a great sound! - Dcarol

I totally agree .. and the Hi-End history is crowded by fantastic examples of simple projects that sound magical without any "boutique" component.
I guess many boutique units disguised poor projects.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
9,123 posts
 
Dear Lewm: Reading through Whest site I can understand why those prices that you think are not justified :

first I think that all the time that used the designer on its two top of the line phono stages means the careness he taked to be where is today, the research and tests to achieve top quality performance in any audio item is not only time consuming that means $$$$ but expensive too when you are testing different parts, boards layout and whole design. Remember too that a SS design with bipolars devices is a complex one a lot complex than in a tube design and certainly not a plug and play one till you tested carefully. These guys said that take it years to be " here ".

These are subjects that IMHO speaks why those prices:

- Pure discrete transistor design
- Channel matched RIAA section
- New hand made and matched ClarityCaps
- Matched capacitors and transistors
- Hand selected parts used throughout
- High current and high voltage

discrete bipolar class A design, not an easy task the ASR named here has no discrete design but use several IC's that degrade the cartridge audio signal.

Channel matched RIAA section tell me that this people take care in deep about. Please read and see here the " disaster " that the 30K Dartzeel unit is not only on RIAA deviation but on channel RIAA matching!:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/dartzeel-nhb-18ns-preamplifier-measurements

Now, the people at Whest say that parts were not only hand selected but matched: this is way time consuming and means money too because you need to buy a lot of any part trying to match it...

This seems to me a serious approach to a phono stage design where the designer " understand " where the " money counts ".

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.
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