Hey Mjm, It's a fine thing to find someone who agrees with me on this problem of the Black Cube squashing the dynamics of different recordings. It says somewhere in the Lehmann Audio promotional literature that Lehmann designed phono preamps for recording studios before he turned his attention to the home market and the design of the Black Cube. Studio engineers regularly use limiters and compressors during mastering for certain tracks (usually the vocal track and the drum tracks in a rock or pop recording) to smooth them out in the mix. I have a feeling that there is some of this philosophy in the Black Cube. Also, there are points in playback when the Black Cube suddenly seems to change the balance of the instruments all at once. Usually this is exciting, like hearing a new recording all at once in the middle of a piece. It is usually well-placed, musically speaking, on the very first beat of the first bar of a new section in the piece. But it also sounds like a recording studio console that has its different EQ and volume settings for the different tracks stored on computer--an auto-pilot mixer. As far as frequency linearity, it is incredibly difficult for me to EQ bad vinyl recordings through the Black Cube. (I sometimes use a Z-systems rdq-1 digital equalizer to correct imperfections on vinyl recordings that I want to archive on CD.) Yes, the Black Cube sometimes makes a grand appearance on particular occasions (with MFSL and high-quality vinyl); but it can also crush and squash and bend recordings, and then it sounds like the cheap stuff. In general, it sounds better late-night--like all analog.
Budget phono stage- advice appreciated
I would appreciate any opinions/advice you may have. I need to add an outboard phono stage to my home office system. The system as is stands right now: Audio Refinement Complete Integrated, Magnum Dynalab tuner, Oracle Alexandria/Sumiko/Grado Platinum, NAD Reference Series CD Player, Totem Rokk speakers. I considered adding the NAD PP-1 phono stage, but my local NAD dealer tells me it's barely adequate, he recommended the Creek OBH-8. I've read mixed reviews on the Creek. I don't want to spend a lot of money on the phono stage, it's really casual listening while I work. Ideas? Thanks, Jeff
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- 25 posts total
- 25 posts total