Which one to upgrade: cart. or phono stage?
Hey mate glad to hear you are enjoying the new stage. I listened to your clip on AA forum and it’s making some sweet sounds.
Just thought I would add that this is a SERIOUS phono stage for the money involved. £1250 for a fully built top spec job with all the best sounding parts and components available for the job, all ultra matched to 0.1% tolerance or better, latest JFET upgrade board ,top spec Clairty Caps and telefunken valves . And if you are handy enough you could build one yourself for a fair bit cheaper. I took a leap of faith and it paid off .
I had the latest whest 2.2 with improved discreet stage which some believe to be the best sub 2k phono around (and it’s 300 quid more expensive ) and was worried that it would be a bit of a sideways step at best as it’s a lovely phonostage, but, the new BB3 is in a different league. I’d guess you would have to go at least a step or possibly two up the Whest ladder to get this type of performance and then you are taking 3k+
It throws a deeper wider soundstage, more details , and you really hear the production of the tracks and how they are layered more. It’s quite remarkable for the outlay and a real bargain. I would recommend it in a heartbeat .
I swapped back and forth a few times and it was quite clear each time that there was a significant difference (even the missus could tell and she’s usually deaf to my Hifi changes) so I put the Whest up for sale the next day and haven’t looked back. I’m really enjoying the BB3 and from what I’m reading around , everybody else is too. There are also a handful of people that now think it beats their own paradise stages, but I can’t comment on that as I’ve not had the pleasure of hearing one.
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CTC Classic 301 , SPH bearing and Hanze Hifi HAT CPS-2 all analogue power supply / Tenuto Mk2 mat / custom Panzerholz and Kewasinga articulating plinth / Track audio isolation feet / Reed tonearm / Audio Technica ART 9 / 2 box BigBottle mk3 phonostage with Clarity cap CMR and NOS Telefunkens valves / Croft 25R preamp with upgraded 12BH7A line stage and NOS 1956 RCA valves / Croft 7R monoblocks with NOS 56 RCA valves/ Dynaudio Contour 30i speakers / Spotfire interconnects and speaker cables / Merlin Scorpion mains block / Rhodium mains cables / Marantz CD DAC /