Just to get back to the Tisbury/MFA comparison: I got to run through a few things yesterday though was also comparing a Sugden and Quad power amp at the same time. Mainly vinyl but finished with some digital as I wanted to check some things. Phono is Tron Convergence which is relatively new to me so I'm still exploring what that is doing as well.
First record was Brahms Alto Rhapsody with Christa Ludwig, an EMI from the 60s which sounds of its time but a decent recording none the less.
The really noticeable thing for me was the lack of deeper resonance to the voice with the Tisbury, really not sounding mezzo-soprano at all, a rather lighter, brighter soprano sound. Similarly with the orchestra, lacking a bit of body. The MFA to me bringing back that depth and also giving a wider spread between the speakers, particularly with the choir.
Next was the Schubert String Quintet with the Melos quartet plus Rostropovich. Similar sort of issue to the Brahms here, it's not the lower end that's missing completely with the Tisbury but a fullness somewhere around where the viola and upper end of the cello should be. There are some plucked sections early on that were pretty much lost to start with and as they get louder come through as just generally percussive, could equally have been a knocking, with the MFA there is much more of a sense of a string being plucked.
To check what was going on I played the digital version that I have of the Alto Rhapsody which is a fairly recent one with Christianne Stotijn. Clearly the recording style is very different but I was also surprised to find that the difference in sound with the two pre-amps was nowhere near a marked as it had been with the vinyl playing, still different but much less obvious.
The first thing I thought of that I have both vinyl and digital was Kind of Blue so got that out next, not to compare the two, but to compare the two pres separately on the two formats.
As before I found they came across as far more different in presentation with the vinyl than the digital, though both still had differences. In this case though the Tisbury presentation with vinyl actually had something going for it. On So What there was more bounce to the bass and a really metallic shimmer to the cymbal work that made for a funkier presentation, in some ways a bit more fun. Putting the MFA back gave a more even, more complete sound, enjoyable in a different way.
I'm guessing there could be various reasons why vinyl should have shown more of a difference between two pre-amps than digital; perhaps the Convergence works better into the TVC, perhaps the particular recordings used happen to highlight particular areas, perhaps my DAC just isn't putting out as much information, I don't know.
My conclusion at the time though was that the MFA was overall more even-handed and allowed more of the recordings through. The Tisbury could be fun and indeed I have used it in the past for quite a while, but with this phono stage and in comparison to the MFA there were times when it just sounded plain wrong.
Lastly, the Sugden/Quad comparison brought about a similar conclusion with the 405 being my preference there.
