Quote Originally Posted by alcarmichael View Post
I've had a play with some very nice kit in my system for someone relatively new to vinyl, transformers used were the Hashimoto H7's found in the Choir Audio SUT-H7 and the Tribute SUT. Active stages were the Denon HA-1000 and the Arkless Mk1.

I liked every single one of them and would've been happy to keep any of them. For me though the Arkless was the best for me in my system. It's an outstanding bit of kit and enables me to enjoy the music how I prefer it. It has bags of energy, drive and balls, the bass produced is phenomenal, deep, powerful and tuneful, it's also delicate with softer music and vocals sound so realistic.

For what its worth my research also led me to believe that an SUT was the way to go. When I first heard the H7's I was a very, very happy man. I had absolutely no belief that the Arkless head amp would sound better than what I was hearing with the Choir Audio in my system. I was wrong.


I just wish more people who make claims along the lines of "everyone knows SUT's are better than head amps" would have a think as to how they "know" this... (usually I'm sad to say this is "where they read it") and maybe seek out one of the (admittedly rare) high end head amps for comparison

For the record, my own view is that:
1/ The very best head amps and SUT's are comparable... I'll admit a slight personal preference for the best head amps but we're talking Nth degree.

2/ When it comes to comparing mid priced or "less than the very best available" head amps and SUT's, the head amp will usually beat the SUT's.

3/ Head amps are vastly more flexible when it comes to cartridge matching etc. Just set the loading with the loading plugs (or small switches in some head amps) and that's it. New cart? Change the loading plugs or switch settings to suit. There's non of the fecking about with matching turns ratios etc....

4/ Head amps are also far less fussy in getting minimal mains hum than SUT's.

5/ SUT's win in terms of low noise. BUT... a good head amp will be quiet enough for it to be purely academic as the noise from the head amp will be much lower than the "vinyl roar" etc anyway. They do vary significantly in this parameter and in the case of some head amps which are less than optimal in this area, the noise can be a limitation in ultimate low level detail retrieval. With the best of head amps though this is just not an issue. I can make a head amp that is quiet enough and has enough gain for an Audio note Io for example, and due to the large turns ratio needed in a SUT for this job I would expect a clear win for the head amp here!