Ypsilon VPS - 100 phono stage - how good?

XV-1

Well-Known Member
May 24, 2010
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Try the allnic with the allnic head amp. Still less money than the Ypsilon but a whole different ballgame over a stock H3000.

H5000 and Ypsilon not even competitors IMHO.

That is well and fine considering you sell Allnic so you may not be considered as impartial. I still find it amazing that you buy a 30k Allnic phono which has SUT's and still have to fork out more $$ for an Allnic head amp to improve the sound? It should be an option to have it built into the H5000 at the factory.

It would be great to a couple of impartial comparisons of the Ypsilon and the Allnic H5000. At this level, it may be nigh impossible. perhaps Fremer?

cheers
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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That is well and fine considering you sell Allnic so you may not be considered as impartial. I still find it amazing that you buy a 30k Allnic phono which has SUT's and still have to fork out more $$ for an Allnic head amp to improve the sound? It should be an option to have it built into the H5000 at the factory.

It would be great to a couple of impartial comparisons of the Ypsilon and the Allnic H5000. At this level, it may be nigh impossible. perhaps Fremer?

cheers

If the Allnic phono stage has built-in SUTs, why do you need a head amp?
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
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That is well and fine considering you sell Allnic so you may not be considered as impartial. I still find it amazing that you buy a 30k Allnic phono which has SUT's and still have to fork out more $$ for an Allnic head amp to improve the sound? It should be an option to have it built into the H5000 at the factory.

It would be great to a couple of impartial comparisons of the Ypsilon and the Allnic H5000. At this level, it may be nigh impossible. perhaps Fremer?

cheers

as an H5000 owner you do not need the Head Amp...the LCR network/transformers sounds fabulous. I have been using it that way since I got it 3 weeks ago. That said, I ordered the head amp to run via the MM input to have the option of a different sound. I wanted the best out there and w/o directly trying the Ypsilon, I feel good that I made the right decision for these ears.
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
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If the Allnic phono stage has built-in SUTs, why do you need a head amp?

you don't...active gain does have some advantages as does the passive transformer (lower noise level and remarkably accurate timbre) and if you can have two different sounds for the same phono amp, why not ?
 

Bill Hart

Well-Known Member
May 11, 2012
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Fred Crowder, Albert Porter's buddy, has the Yip and had it at Albert's place a few years ago. I don't see why they couldn't have a battle royale with the DHT, since Albert is running that now....
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
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Fred Crowder, Albert Porter's buddy, has the Yip and had it at Albert's place a few years ago. I don't see why they couldn't have a battle royale with the DHT, since Albert is running that now....

from what I understand, the H3000 was real close, some liked it better and that was w/o the head amp HA-3000. I think the H5000 would smoke the Yip... my biased opinion of course ;)
 

Lotus

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2013
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That is well and fine considering you sell Allnic so you may not be considered as impartial. I still find it amazing that you buy a 30k Allnic phono which has SUT's and still have to fork out more $$ for an Allnic head amp to improve the sound? It should be an option to have it built into the H5000 at the factory.

It would be great to a couple of impartial comparisons of the Ypsilon and the Allnic H5000. At this level, it may be nigh impossible. perhaps Fremer?

cheers


For sure, mine is just another opinion, biased as you say like anyone else's because of my room, listening tastes, music and partnering equipment (rather than any business orientation I might add).

I merely elucidate the point that the H3000 is a fair bit cheaper than the very similarly designed VPS100 and the difference will more than fund the Head Amp as well. You don't NEED the head amp of course and its a different methodology that some will not prefer. The option is there though just as some Avalon speakers can be purachsed with or without a diamond tweeter or a Naim amp with or without a Naim powerline or Michel Gyrodec with or without the improved HR power supply etc.

A few people other than me have done the H3000/VPS100 demo here in the UK and I know that some people have too in the USA and FWIW I gather a good portion of those folk preferred the bare H3000 too, so really the point is that they are comparable and you're best hearing both and deciding for yourself.

As for the H5000, I stand by my assertion that its an altogether different level (biased or not) and I am confident that this will be borne out by forthcoming reviews. That said, so it should be as its an altogether different price bracket too.
 

jpetek

Well-Known Member
Feb 12, 2013
138
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I know this phonostage. She has a very big problem. You know which one? You cannot use the Stage for every Cartridge, for example my VDH Colibri Platin is not working with the prepreamp. For me a NOGO for such a expensive stuff.
 

Reinhard

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2012
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925
germany
Colibri Platin is a high impedance Cartridge, not really useful for transformer coupling.
Problem is the cartridge, not the phonostage.
 

jpetek

Well-Known Member
Feb 12, 2013
138
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No the problem is the Phonostage. We are talking about a lot of money and a phonostage has to work with all cartridges. For my opinion a transformer is the wrong way. A transformer work onyl with a few cartridges right.

What happend if you buy a new one which do not match? You buy only cartridges which match. Really? And what about the 95% which do not match?

Bye the way the VDH Colibri Platin is one of the best cartridges avaiable. (>5000 Euro)
 

Reinhard

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2012
98
30
925
germany
If you think transformer coupling is the wrong way, we cannot discuss anything.

For me the wrong way ist to use a wire with bad conductivity (Platin). and that has
nothing to do with the Price.
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
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Canberra Australia
For me the wrong way is to use a wire with bad conductivity (Platin)

Like everything in life nothing is quite that simple

Although if you look at platinum on a conductivity table it doesn't compare with silver or copper

in very thin layers and under the influence of electric field its resistivity can drop dramatically, this is referred to as the anomalous hall effect :)

its other desirable properties are

least reactive metal
more ductile than gold
doesn't oxidise at room temperature

although it resistivity may be an issue in long lengths in coils of mc cart it is not problematic
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
20,806
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Like everything in life nothing is quite that simple

Although if you look at platinum on a conductivity table it doesn't compare with silver or copper

in very thin layers and under the influence of electric field its resistivity can drop dramatically, this is referred to as the anomalous hall effect :)

its other desirable properties are

least reactive metal
more ductile than gold
doesn't oxidise at room temperature

although it resistivity may be an issue in long lengths in coils of mc cart it is not problematic

I am happy to meet someone with an open mind about the non trivial technical aspects of wires.

Unfortunately people stick with the most simple property (resistivity of the pure metal, that can be found in any periodic table), and forget another very basic property you refer - oxidization. Almost all metal surfaces oxidize when in contact with air or other pollutants. Military (and knowledgeable manufactures and a few audiophiles) know since long that this the real reason why silver or silver plated wires are used for many applications - signals propagate at the surface of the wires and silver oxide has a resistivity similar to the pure metal, although copper oxides have high resistivity and even worst, can behave as a semiconductor.

IMHO it is why my twenty year old Monster speaker cables, that show a greenish aspect under the transparent PVC insulator, now sound horrible and the similar age silver plated Van den Hul 502 sound as good as new.

BTW, some chemistry is also needed to understand cable insulators, physics is not enough.
 

awsmone

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2014
1,616
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Canberra Australia
Yes surface oxidisation is extremely important

With AC, skin effect is important

Oxidisation of the surface will have an impact on high frequency resistivity

Silver Gold and Platinum obviously dont

Also Gallium alloys have perfect smoothness as they are a liquid, which may account for their exceptional sound qualities

Platinum is particularily fascinating for MC as it is both a conductor and ferromagnetic, with the ability to tune it physically

It is more ductile even than gold, which means a better surface consistent coil can be made, which as i have mentioned is critical to audio

So I think if it was not for the expense we would see more platinum used, as it is several orders of magnitude more expensive than silver

However it is often found in pure form naturally, though its a very rare metal, which makes processing pure platin cheaper
 

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