I received this message yesterday and thought it was worth sharing and what better testimonial can you get than from a Mastering Engineer.
Hello Graham,
As well as an interesting week of Mastering (soundtrack written by a Japanese composer for NHK, and a soundtrack for a 1930's French silent movie) I've also had a very frustrating week of listening to phono stages.
I was persuaded to try a solid state phono - a XX XXXXX - on the basis of it being a 'giant killer', according to a review in Stereophile, with 'the best mid-range at any price' - but it was, to my mastering and musical ears, hard and compressed for the most part (full but nasty thuddy bass, narrow classical images - just generally claustrophobic). Switching back to the Convergence was, quite literally, a huge relief.
So - I'm putting my searches to one side now and will wait until your Atlantics are ready. I was intrigued today to see that a Seven Ultimate is for sale for £2,000, but it turned out to be MM only. [actually, it's a standard model too]
Your final sentence suits my case exactly. I only have one arm (and likely only ever will do) and I need an MC input for my drt xv-1s. The gain on my Convergence (68dB) is plenty.
All the best, Eric
Hello Graham,
As well as an interesting week of Mastering (soundtrack written by a Japanese composer for NHK, and a soundtrack for a 1930's French silent movie) I've also had a very frustrating week of listening to phono stages.
I was persuaded to try a solid state phono - a XX XXXXX - on the basis of it being a 'giant killer', according to a review in Stereophile, with 'the best mid-range at any price' - but it was, to my mastering and musical ears, hard and compressed for the most part (full but nasty thuddy bass, narrow classical images - just generally claustrophobic). Switching back to the Convergence was, quite literally, a huge relief.
So - I'm putting my searches to one side now and will wait until your Atlantics are ready. I was intrigued today to see that a Seven Ultimate is for sale for £2,000, but it turned out to be MM only. [actually, it's a standard model too]
Your final sentence suits my case exactly. I only have one arm (and likely only ever will do) and I need an MC input for my drt xv-1s. The gain on my Convergence (68dB) is plenty.
All the best, Eric