Thanks Myles
That is very interesting.
Are there other companies beside Nick that do the same
The Hagerman Trumpet Reference is fully differential. I wrote a review of it here:http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue78/hagerman_trumpet.htm
Thanks Myles
That is very interesting.
Are there other companies beside Nick that do the same
A couple of points :
1- MC cartridges are differential devices - this simply means that both +/- are floating (not tied to ground) and that they have signal present in equal magnitude and opposite phase.
2- A differential amplifier amplifies the signal present on both the positive and negative legs of the cartridge. it is better able to reject common mode noise and since it is not referenced to ground, is relatively immune to ground noise. If I believed SE technology would suffice, I would have used it.
3- The Transparent phono cable that Josh developed uses transparent networks in differential mode thus preserving the transmission of the signal to the Phono input. Feel free to contact Josh at transparent for further information
4- there are no transformers used in the cable on in the input of the Doshi MC stage.
5- there are other manufacturers building balanced MC inputs, for many varied reasons, I believe my phono stage is at least their equal. It certainly has achieved the engineering and subjective criteria I put forth in the design.
6- I did a demonstration at Paragon where the only change was the cable, maybe the folks at the demo can relay what they heard.
Thanks for the explanation, I'm unclear about a couple of points.
1- Is the signal coming out of the tonearm SE or differentially balanced? As far as I know any RCA jack is SE, the signal has to be converted to balanced either by a transformer or electronic circuitry, is there any other way in this scenario?
A jack is agnostic to the signal. A RCA jack can carry a differential signal. If the female jack on the equipment side is floating then there is no contact with ground. and every tonearm cable I have ever looked at, is wired with the positive and negative legs of the cartridge output brought to the tip and sleeve of the RCA connector. These cables typically have 2 conductors and a shield. The signal can be ground referenced (negative leg tied to ground) at the phono preamplifier IF the phono preamplifier is a SE design. If it is a differential (or balanced) input, the separate ground wire from the arm provides ground reference.
3- "transparent networks in differential mode"? Is there another way aside from electronic circuitry or transformer to convert the SE signal coming out of the tonearm to a balanced signal?
The signal is not SE
4- Does this include Tranparent's differential wires we're discussing here? In case of a standard RCA to XLR phono cable basically equates to a SE signal, so what's the point? Just to clarify, your comments were regarding standard phono cables and not what's sitting inside your phono stage, am I correct or did I miss something?
Again, you are equating an RCA connector to a SE connection, this may not always be the case. If the cable used is a co-ax, it is unwise to use it in balanced use since the path taken by the two conductors is not the same, if as with most tome arm cables , a twin conductor + shield, it can be used as a balanced connection even with a RCA connector. It is best to use a XLR since the shield can be extended over the mating surfaces providing a continuous shield which is an advantage in heavy RF environments. It is only single ended if the negative leg is tied to ground.
david
Sorry to continue Nick I'm trying to figure something out here; RCA connectors are unbalanced regardless if they're used for inputs and outputs. The "ground" connection serves for completing the electrical circuit and way to connect the shield cable to the chassis. Are you saying that its not true and the RCA output jacks from tonearms are all connected as you describe above and that there's no conversion of a SE signal to Balanced is happening inside the Transparent's box?Below:
Again, you are equating an RCA connector to a SE connection, this may not always be the case. If the cable used is a co-ax, it is unwise to use it in balanced use since the path taken by the two conductors is not the same, if as with most tome arm cables , a twin conductor + shield, it can be used as a balanced connection even with a RCA connector. It is best to use a XLR since the shield can be extended over the mating surfaces providing a continuous shield which is an advantage in heavy RF environments. It is only single ended if the negative leg is tied to ground.
Sorry to continue Nick I'm trying to figure something out here; RCA connectors are unbalanced regardless if they're used for inputs and outputs. The "ground" connection serves for completing the electrical circuit and way to connect the shield cable to the chassis. Are you saying that its not true and the RCA output jacks from tonearms are all connected as you describe above and that there's no conversion of a SE signal to Balanced is happening inside the Transparent's box?
david
There is no conversion happening inside transparent's network box. A simple test with a VOM will confirm the absence of any transformer. RCA chassis mount connectors on the equipment end can be tied to chassis ground or left floating depending on the design of the connector and equipment. Most high end RCA jacks are supplied with chassis isolation washers and can be used for isolated connection. If you have a balanced source and balanced input, you can achieve a balanced connection with a RCA connector. Not ideal but possible. The advantages of having a balanced input for a MC cart certainly outweigh any drawbacks of having to use an RCA for the connection. In Doshi audio gear, we can supply the units with RCA jacks or XLR connectors so as to accommodate the end user's cable.
I believe Myles was attributing the dynamics to the V3 design advances over the 2 series in general not the specific addition of remote control loading and other features. The Doshi V3 Phono stage is offered in 2 specific guises. The first being the Remote controlled version in which we believe the majority of the buying public will be interested. There is a studio version which incorporates metering allowing for L+R / L-R metering for azimuth adjustment as well as selectable eq and roll off to accommodate for older eq curves. This unit is targeted towards a pro/transcription user. They both sound massively good - take your pick
Nick, are Myles's connections RCA-to-RCA and do i see an extra wire coming out of the Transparent box? It seems to me this 'differential balanced' thing is all about preserving signal independence from chassis ground, and your phono also preserves it, as does the VPI RCA and XLR boxes. As such, all kinds of cables preserve that relationship, and the Transparent would simply run a chassis-ground wire from the phono over the signal wires for shielding (that second wire I think I see coming out of the box, on the bottom of Myles's picture).
Installed my 2nd set of Magnum Opus today. This time replacing Opus Gen 5. It's from my tonearm to phono stage. Like a new phono stage...more to come...
Installed my 2nd set of Magnum Opus today. This time replacing Opus Gen 5. It's from my tonearm to phono stage. Like a new phono stage...more to come...
Congrats!...contemplating a possible move to Opus MM2 (2nd hand) speaker cables as many of them are now rolling in...look forward to reading more about your comments on the big Magnus Opus...
I know a lot of cable skeptics...but these Opus MM2, Gen 5 and Magnum Opus are component level upgrades...
I still love my Opus MM2 Speaker...to the point I don't want to be without it for 2 weeks or so while gets updated to gen 5...absolutely NOTHING wrong with MM2, in fact, it beats most out there. As far as my new Magnum Opus, put it this way, I thought it made a bigger different than a new phono stage (I tried 2 others more than twice the price of my Nagra)
I know a lot of cable skeptics...but these Opus MM2, Gen 5 and Magnum Opus are component level upgrades...
Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |