Location: london
Posts: 162
I'm martin.
I have had the Vida and a home built unit with a parts cost of 6.5K at my place,I would have liked to spend more time with them as bake off's aren't the best situations for a proper listen,but they both sounded rather special.
Analogue. Basis signature 2200,Basis Vector 4.Koetsu Red,Koetsu SUT,NVO SPA 11.
Digital. Denon 2900,Jolida FX 11
Amp. Pathos Logos,Minidsp dirac 22A.
Speakers. Amphion Xenon.
Airlink CBS 2000 bps
Location: essex; uk
Posts: 260
I'm richard.
The Valeb consists of a lot of kit/components for the money and yes it does seem to be a steal at that price. The write up seems extraordinary given the competition it faced.
The Lounge on the other hand is very well reviewed but it is a US budget phono priced at $300. In the UK its - not unsurprisingly - a rather more expensive £500. But I didn't pay that !. That said, the cost for the sound improvements I'd gained made it good value for me.
I'd be very interested to hear any reports made about the Valeb performance
Nice choice
Nevertheless, the best phono stages I've heard out of rather a lot of them have been LCR, independent of whether valve or solid state (a surprise to me as a valve fan) ... perhaps it's just not worth the effort in trying to solve the engineering problems in creating one if you aren't also shooting for the high end? Custom-wound inductors themselves are quite a big statement, when a LR phono stage can be done with standard components off the shelf. Have you had a crack at one yourself?
Regardless of the sonic benefits, or otherwise of using LCR networks to achieve RIAA equalisation, the fact that in order to reproduce the playback curve to a sufficient degree of accuracy (within 0.5dB at least) means not only do the components not have 'standard' values, but they have to be made to a high tolerance. This will automatically make any equalisation circuits employing inductors expensive. This problem is compounded in that the two channels must track one another, again to within 0.2dB or better.
Barry
Location: london
Posts: 162
I'm martin.
Another well reviewed LCR phono stage - Remton LCR from Czech Republic:
http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardwa...k2-phono-stage
£4000+ ! Jesus. If that Valab is any good, you should have a bonafide bargain.
Fingers crossed.
Location: london
Posts: 162
I'm martin.