my MM3 speakers were shipped out last Monday. on Monday i also sent my darTZeel NHB-18NS preamp to Switzerland for a battery replacement and charging system upgrade. so i had no phono stage......except the King Cello sitting over next to the Studer twins. it turns out that it comes set up with 47k ohms loading and 60 db of gain; right for my Ortofon Anna. so it ought to be plug and play.
so this afternoon i unplugged the King Cello from the Studer and moved it accross the room in position under the tt, and grabbed the Stax SRM-717 ss headphone amp and connected everything together, plugged the Telos into the King Cello.
i'm now listening thru the Stax O2 Mk1 headphones and it's really very very good. i can't say if it or isn't darTZeel territory, i don't think so. but it's very good and i will most definitely investigate further when the dart pre returns just how close it comes. it seems to have a very low noise floor, nice open and transparent mid range and vivid presentation. the bass has lots of body and articulation. it is basically the same great sound i get from my tapes, which is to say great.
these headphones are pretty good, but obviously are limited at any sort of soundstage.
i'd say considering how great the King Cello is as a tape repro, and it's under $4000 price, the fact that it has a very good phono stage too makes it a huge bargain. and the Ortofon Anna only has .18mv of gain and requires a very low noise phone stage.
so this afternoon i unplugged the King Cello from the Studer and moved it accross the room in position under the tt, and grabbed the Stax SRM-717 ss headphone amp and connected everything together, plugged the Telos into the King Cello.
i'm now listening thru the Stax O2 Mk1 headphones and it's really very very good. i can't say if it or isn't darTZeel territory, i don't think so. but it's very good and i will most definitely investigate further when the dart pre returns just how close it comes. it seems to have a very low noise floor, nice open and transparent mid range and vivid presentation. the bass has lots of body and articulation. it is basically the same great sound i get from my tapes, which is to say great.
these headphones are pretty good, but obviously are limited at any sort of soundstage.
i'd say considering how great the King Cello is as a tape repro, and it's under $4000 price, the fact that it has a very good phono stage too makes it a huge bargain. and the Ortofon Anna only has .18mv of gain and requires a very low noise phone stage.