Hi Karl,
Well, In all honesty, I would say this phono stage isnt far off being as good as the stage in alans KIN. now what I mean by that is, although the KIN has valves in it, so has the monoblocks so there isnt a massive difference in sound. Alan tells me the stage in the KIN is £1000. So this is 20% of the price but it doesn't sound it. The KIN obviously has the final say in all areas BUT the sonic signature is exactly the same. That Firebottle sound is so evident and by sound I mean transparency, clarity and detail with no colouration. Its fantastic value for money.
I can't tell you which one to go with but I'd honestly say that the PS1 is going to be hard to beat.
I dont have any experience of the unit you previously had so I couldn't compare them. Also I cant say what the donor unit is because I dont know !
Alan did say today that he thought the FB-PS1 was possibly better than the FB-plus but we didnt do a side by side comparison. If alan is offering you a cheaper unit, remember, hes making less money so id suggest he thinks highly of It too.
I did wonder myself if a separate power supply would benefit the FB-PS1 but its extremely quiet anyway and im not sure for what other reason to have a separate suppy ? I should mention too that surface noise was greatly reduced. Not "black hole" quiet but a very dark shade of black.
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