Audiophilepure

Now, the Parasound JC 3+ has slightly more flexible loading options than its predecessor. You can choose 47K for your MM cartridge, 47K for your MC cartridge if you wish (some of the Transfiguration cartridges like this setting) and finally a variable setting (with custom-built Vishay dual-gang potentiometers) where you can choose between 50 and 550 ohms. I’m going to say that these are all the loading options I need.

The price of the Parasound JC 3+ phono preamplifier is $3000. That’s the same price as the Vendetta Research back when it came out in the early ‘90s. I have a feeling that if John Curl started making Vendetta Research phono stages again, just like the originals, he could charge a lot more than $3000. That’s what Parasound brings to the table—a scalable continuation of a legend.

https://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/vtl_tp65_ii_signature.htm

At its best, the TP-6.5 II has that rare ability to shrug off its technological baggage, sounding neither overtly tubelike, nor dryly etched and solid-statey. Instead, it cleaves to the musical character of the recording, burrowing into its musical core and then giving it a healthy shove in the right direction. There’s more than one way to skin a musical cat, and allowed to do so, this phono stage can perform the task with such sleight-of-hand you don’t even notice it happening — and that’s the mark of a product that will deliver not just great performance but long-term satisfaction. Party tricks and the sonically spectacular will quickly pall. The TP-6.5 II’s core musical virtues are made of sterner stuff. If you’ve ever wondered how VTL gets all those Best Sound at Show accolades, now you know: they play records and they play them through a genuinely excellent phono stage. Time and again, in public and throughout this review, VTL’s TP-6.5 Series II Signature phono stage has demonstrated that it is more than capable of producing (and reproducing) performances that are both musically powerful and compelling, the very essence of what vinyl replay should be about

https://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/vtl_tp65_ii_signature.htm

At its best, the TP-6.5 II has that rare ability to shrug off its technological baggage, sounding neither overtly tubelike, nor dryly etched and solid-statey. Instead, it cleaves to the musical character of the recording, burrowing into its musical core and then giving it a healthy shove in the right direction. There’s more than one way to skin a musical cat, and allowed to do so, this phono stage can perform the task with such sleight-of-hand you don’t even notice it happening — and that’s the mark of a product that will deliver not just great performance but long-term satisfaction. Party tricks and the sonically spectacular will quickly pall. The TP-6.5 II’s core musical virtues are made of sterner stuff. If you’ve ever wondered how VTL gets all those Best Sound at Show accolades, now you know: they play records and they play them through a genuinely excellent phono stage. Time and again, in public and throughout this review, VTL’s TP-6.5 Series II Signature phono stage has demonstrated that it is more than capable of producing (and reproducing) performances that are both musically powerful and compelling, the very essence of what vinyl replay should be about

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0623/Cary_Audio_SLP98P_Vacuum_Tube_Preamplifier_Review.htm

Thanks to the absolute spot-on mid-range, vocals are creamy smooth, especially female vocals, and the SLP-98P delivers them in a way that drags listening sessions from a couple of hours at a session to a full day-long event. Upper frequencies are delivered with sparkly, sizzle, and realistic decay without an annoying edge or shrillness. Bass slam, while never being a strong suit of 300B tubes, is very present with the addition of the 845 vacuum tube in the mix. I continue to be impressed to this day with the level of bass depth and slam that I get from my 805 amplifiers and the SLP-98P just conducts everything so smoothly to the amplifiers that it all blends into a seamless delivery of audio nirvana.

As I said earlier on in this review I have not had a single regret about buying the SLP-98P. It has proven to be a very high-performing preamplifier and one that I plan to live with till I move on to the next phase of existence. It would take me winning a mountainous lottery to think of replacing it with anything. At that point, I would go out of control on everything including building a specific listening room with room correction built into the room. Since I do not see that happening to me I am quite content to live out my life with my current amp and preamplifier setup.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/analog-corner-258-dan-dagostino-momentum-phonostage-gold-note-tuscany-gold-mc-cartridge

The Momentum did this LP full justice, presenting a transparent window onto the recording. Hartman’s voice was three-dimensional, and possessed all the warmth in his lower register, even as his precise articulation was fully delineated, and the slight bit of added reverb was put in proper context.

In the second chorus, as Billy Taylor’s piano subtly floats down in the mix, behind and off to Hartman’s side, to create a relaxing bed, and as Wilder’s three-dimensional flugelhorn emerges from pitch “black,” I heard the Momentum’s reproduction of air and honest texture (not too soft, not too etched) and harmonic rightness—not quite as ripe as through ARC’s Reference Phono 3, but sufficiently developed to make the case. But in terms of dynamics and transparency, the Momentum won.

https://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/vtl_tp65_ii_signature.htm

What is less obvious is the way that instrumental substance and intent contribute to the weight of the musical performance, the clear understanding of what is being played, but, more importantly, why. Why did anybody think this music was worth writing, playing or recording? The TP-6.5 II makes playing records more than just an academic, matter-of-fact exercise. It reveals when (and revels in) a performer who is more than simply going through the motions. It rewards the listener in turn — and it does so regardless of genre or scale. I’ve concentrated on the individual in describing this unit’s performance, but don’t overlook the cohesive, musical coherence it brings to proceedings. The notion of a choir all singing from the same song sheet, or of the orchestra as instrument, are vividly embodied by the VTL. Whether it is the quicksilver brilliance of Mozart Divertimenti or the sparse soundscape of RVW’s Sinfonia Antarctica, the TP-6.5 II imbues the performance with both presence and purpose — as well as the Antarctic landscape with a stark and bleak chill,

Review complete except for this wrap-up: I still haven’t returned to either reference phono preamp. Grant Green’s Feelin’ the Spirit (Blue Note ST-84132/B0033488-01) plays at moderate level in the background, and both the “Tone Poet” and VTL’s 6.5 MK II nail this one. Transparency, transient precision and delicacy, harmonic richness (RVG got Herbie Hancock’s piano just right on this 1962 recording), and an enveloping sense of the large, open Englewood Cliffs studio space produce a “you are there” sensation (and I’ve been there!).

I greatly preferred the active JFET/tube input to the transformer-coupled input, though I most preferred my costly transformer into the mm input. A different cartridge or a different system might produce a different result, but I don’t think so. My only complaint about the 6.5 Mk II was that there was more background noise (“tube rush”?) than I like to hear, and I wish it had been quieter. But that’s it. Successful transplant. In an email, Luke Manley (whose signature could not be found anywhere on the “signature” phonostage) wrote that “we are selling all we can make of this design.” I believe it.