LDA MCJ3 Phono Stage - Impressions

[Qwin]

I've had my MCJ3 for a couple of weeks now and love it.

Its a LOMC only Phono Amp.
Hybrid, in that it has a JFET stage followed by Tube stage.

There's only one control, to adjust cartridge loading.
It has a fixed gain of 60dB so suits cartridges around the 0.2 to 0.8mV range (most LOMC's)
Fixed Capacitance of 330pF.
One pair of single ended Inputs/Outputs.

If your looking for great flexibility and lots of settings to play with, its not for you.
Its designed to perform one specific task and it does that, extremely well.

https://www.longdogaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/mcj3-product19-01-1-1000x500.jpg

https://www.longdogaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/mcj3-product19-08-1000x500.jpg

It was reviewed over at TNT Audio and was rated as the best sounding, non Balanced Phono stage, they had heard.

From my point of view, its silent in use, has great bass, warm detailed mids and a crisp top end, without over emphasising anything.
Works well with my VDH ONE Special at 100ohm loading.
To be honest, I don't even listen to the phono stage in an analytical way any more, I just enjoy the music it makes, which is a sure sign its doing everything right.

Can't praise it enough, great build quality and parts used, even came with a MCRU lead.
At £1400, if purchased direct, it's an absolute bargain.

I'll be bringing it to the next Nebo meeting in May 2023

[DiveDeepDog]

I had the granddaddy of that one, enjoyed it very much.

The Longdog gear is well made, I have their PS on my Garrard ��

[Firebottle]

Nick's designs are good and it is a well thought out phono stage.

I don't know of anyone who hasn't liked it.

[Andy831]

I had the granddaddy of that one, enjoyed it very much.

The Longdog gear is well made, I have their PS on my Garrard ��

I bought the Granddad off Mark a few years ago, I am still delighted with it, with the Garrard Power Supply and with Nicks built 300b Mono Blocks.

Nicks stuff just gets on with doing the job it was designed for with little or no drama, just well thought out design and implementation of that design.

[rubber duck]

Ken, how does this compare to your Aqvox 2ci?

[Qwin]

Ken, how does this compare to your Aqvox 2ci?

Hi Jeff
Detail and transparency through the mids and top end are about the same, ie very good.
LDA has slightly deeper bass, but with more detail and texture being noticeable and a nice richness to lower mids.
I would never have called my Aqvox lean in the mids, but in direct A/B comparison with the LDA it comes across as less capable in this area.
I suspect the Aqvox is truer to the source, but I like the sound of the LDA. :D

The LDA is SE so has a bit less gain, gets loud enough though, 1 o'clock instead of 12 o'clock on the Freya+ Volume knob, gives loud home listening.

I like the LDA so much, I'm considering selling the Aqvox 2ci.

[rubber duck]

Thanks Ken, that's very helpful. I may be interested in a second 2ci if you decide to sell.

[Qwin]

:thumbsup:

I'm waiting for the caps to fully settle in the LDA and I've just changed the output caps in my Freya+ Pre, from Wima to V-Cap ODAM, which take a while as well.
When everything settles down, if I'm still as happy with it all, I will let the Aqvox go, so I'll make a decision early in the new year.
If I do decide to move it on, I'll give you first refusal Jeff.

[rubber duck]

Thanks Ken, appreciated

[petrat]

Only just spotted this, Ken ... glad you got sorted ... looks a really nice choice for your system :thumbsup:

[Qwin]

Only just spotted this, Ken ... glad you got sorted ... looks a really nice choice for your system :thumbsup:

Yeh, very pleased with it Peter, the combination of Phono/deck/arm/cartridge works very well. The only thing I changed on the LDA was the Knob for adjusting the loading, with the one fitted, it was not obvious which setting it was pointing at. So I put one on, with a bar type upstand and a line running down the side, much easier to read. Its not continuous rotation and has detents for each setting, which I lined the new knob up with.

I've also done a cap upgrade on my Schiit Freya+ Pre Amp, which cleaned things up, in terms of a clearer view into the music. The DC blockers on the output were Wima's which are OK but nothing special, I substituted these for V-Cap ODAM and the improvement was significant. The mod was recommended by Nick at LDA, when he found out I would be using his phono stage into a Freya Pre Amp. He had done this mod for a customer and said it was well worth doing. He wasn't wrong.

I also got a pair of active near field studio monitors (Event Opal) and feed the Freya's balanced output straight into these.
They are front ported Die Cast Aluminium cabinets, Beryllium Tweeter, Neodymium magnet mid-woofer, with 1inch linear excursion. The mid-woofer has twin 2.5" voice coils, one wired out of phase, so one pushes the cone forward, the other pulls it back, gives tighter control over cone movement. Lots of technology went into the design and they even came with a calibrated Mic and software, to help adjust the front mounted controls for optimum in room response.
They use 270w amp for Bass 50w for Twt, these are old school class A/B amps and the adjusters for room acoustics are all analogue, no DSP used at all, they way 21kg each!
They image really well and have an insane amount of bass for a 7.1" woofer. Its classed by some as 8" (to the frame) but its official piston size in the spec is 7.1".

I don't know if you will be going Peter, but I will be taking them to NEBO-13.
I'm having a lot of pains in my joints and I just can't manage the size/weight of my modified NS-1000m, so these smaller lighter monitors should help for bake offs etc. I'm also planning on doing the WAM show in October, it's near Barnsley this time round, maybe see you there? :eyebrows: