VAC Master line and phono preamp

[Dth31]

A couple of years ago, I made extensive upgrades to my system. Magico Q3s to M3s. Vac Phi200 monos to stereo Vac 200iQ. Vac Signature Mk IIa to Vac Master. Synergistic Research Element to Galileo interconnects and speaker cables. Addition of TotalDac d1-server and d1-six tube dac.


While the new system sounded amazing and exceeded my expectations, it also took quite awhile to get accustomed to the new sound. The width and depth of the soundstage, tonality, ability to separate out individual instruments or voices from a complex mix was far beyond what I thought was possible. I immediately fell in love with this system! The musical connection was intensely satisfying and I found myself listening to music whenever I was home.


That’s not to say that everything was perfect. I first realized that a single 200iQ was struggling in my room at the volume levels I occasionally listened to. Adding a 2nd 200iQ made a BIG improvement. Not only was there more and better bass and mid bass, which was my main goal with adding the 2nd amp, but that also banished some occasional hardness and compression whose presence I only realized had been present after it was gone.


There were still some remaining “hardness” and room for improvement with tone and tone density that was markedly improved with switching the stock 200iQ tubes to Sylvania and RCA 6SN7s. Changing the stock Master linestage 6DJ8s also made a BIG difference although it took some time to get the sound tailored to my preferences. Mullards were too warm and slow. Telefunkens a bit too bright and tipped up. Amperex 7308s, however, were just right.


What I discovered along the way was that this system almost always sounded better to my ears with components and tubes that were themselves neutral.


More recently, I upgraded the TotalDac d1-six to the d1-seven. Major improvement across the board.


Looking back, once I added the TotalDac to my system, I pretty much quit listening to vinyl. For the first time I didn’t feel like I was sacrificing musical quality for convenience and the listening fatigue I had always previously suffered with on digital sources was gone. Not reduced. None. Nada.


That brings me to the Vac Master phono. The Master preamp might be the best component I own. The Master preamp, along with the TotalDac, made the single biggest differences in my system. The Master linestage is absolutely superb. But I was not happy with the phonostage.


I think it took me a long time to finally do a bit of tube rolling in the phonostage because I was so in love with digital sources. I should have done it much sooner because the phono is much better than I suspected! New Tung Sol 12AX7s were better than the stock tubes but had too much hardness and didn’t have the warmth or liquidity I like. I added 2 Mullard 12AX7s at the critical “3” and “4” (middle) positions, but I got slow, overly warm and syrupy sound, just like the Mullards I had tried in the linestage. Today I switched in 4 Amperex 12AX7s (middle positions). To say I was shocked is an understatement. Now all of a sudden vinyl was fully competitive with digital! I should have known that the phono was better than I had been giving it credit for, but I am still incredulous at the sheer magnitude of improvement. The Master preamp is just SO transparent that what one might think would be small changes are anything BUT small. I will now be listening to a lot of vinyl again since I have a lot of records I don’t have digital versions of, or my preferred version is on vinyl.


From the first listen I could recommend the Vac Master linestage preamp. Now I can also wholeheartedly recommend the Vac Master phonostage.

[Mike]

Thanks for the write up. The VAC Master Preamp with Phonostage is on my list to purchase this year.


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