วีดีโอ

Hi Marcus, thank you. Yes, no problem. I ship worldwide, including to Canada. All valid destinations can be selected at checkout on the website. If there are any questions or problems, just leave a note via the contact form. Happy to help.

@@maudifi OK great, thank you. This might sound crazy, but I stumbled across your videos and then your website and I then I tracked down a 551p and ordered it off a local gentleman on eBay. I did this specifically because I saw your videos and thought I would give it a try. See you’re inspiring! I really enjoyed a couple of your videos and I am going to subscribe. Very nice idea, nice man, nice narrative and tone, you have a knack for it! And have found a niche.

@marcusbenwell3655, aren't all of us audiophiles crazy? 🤣 You're not the first to have done this. I've had others follow the same path who are very pleased with the results. Thanks for your kind words and support. I'm proud to be providing an alternative route to high-end audio and glad others see value in it too.

Only one of these left in stock! Once sold, future units will be made to order.

Thanks for watching and for your comments. More has happened to the DAC, I've just not got around to producing videos for it yet. Other events have caused this to be sidelined. It's now using SparkoS discrete op-amps, my own designed noise snubbed ultrafast rectifier modules, filtering component upgrades and most importantly decent quality film coupling capacitors. It sounds fabulous, but of course there's more to come 😂. The TDA1541A is on my list to investigate at some point too. Too many project ideas - not enough time. I sourced on old Marantz CD50 to use as a starting point for investigations. I've also heard good things about the OPA861. Being an OTA it's not a drop-in replacement for an op-amp, and the max supply voltage is +/- 6.3V, but definitely worth investigating. The yel/blk wires there are the original S/PDIF out spec'd by Musical Fidelity. The S/PDIF input originally used them too, but I replaced those with 75Ω co-ax, which you can see, when I replaced the digital in socket with one from CMC. The digital out will get the same treatment. The analogue output signal wires seem to have been upgraded by the previous owner, but the grounds left alone. I plan to use Townsend Isolda copper foil here to CMC sockets, but I didn't want to do this yet while the PCB was coming in and out for other upgrades.

Thank you for watching and your feedback. I try my best with the time and resources I have. In this case, the PhonOh! 756 is more of a higher tier replacement than an upgrade to an existing circuit. The Stage 2 is certainly an upgrade and in my videos I try to describe the sonic differences before and after. I fear this can sometimes sound a bit repetitive because the same problems come up time and again. Maybe I don't give this as much time in videos as I should though? I could show comparisons between measurements and plots for upgrades, but they will never tell the whole story. You can have component A show a plot indistinguishable to one for component B, but they sound completely different. They form a baseline only and it is in the thoughtful selection of appropriate components beyond the original manufacturer's restrictions that the transformation takes place. I don't feel they are particularly relevant at this performance level, other than as I mention for standard functional requirements. The other thing I'm considering is recorded sound clips for comparison. However, I'm sure you are aware that can only present a very restricted view on the performance differences, due to the limitations of recording equipment and highly varied playback equipment over which there is no control. It gives a hint of the change, but not the full picture. The other issue here of course is copyright in the music used for the samples. Definitely something to consider here though and I'll try to weave something in to future videos. Thanks.

Hi Simon, Thanks for your comments. Yes, I agree, a good quality power supply takes it to the next level. There are tiers in this too from one transformer to the next even. So, with that in mind I'll have a mad 'Signature' supply in due course.😂 Cheers, Scott

Thank you. Yes, that's possible. In fact, having two outputs has crossed my mind, either for a phono stage and DAC or say a couple of Musical Fidelity X-series units. The MF X-PWR power supplies go for $ridiculous amounts on the used market for what they are, so this would be a better option. It would be easy to add a second independent output, without pushing the cost up too much. I can certainly do that as a custom order for anyone interested.

Thank you. The simple answer is no, I don't, because I haven't heard the AXR85 and I don't know the details of what is inside it. HOWEVER, have a think about it - There is a lot crammed into the AXR85: DAC, FM Tuner, Phono stage, pre-amp, headphone amp and power amp. All for approx £400. The chances of the phono stage being as good as Cambridge's own MM phono stages is not high, let alone a well modified one. It's almost certainly going to be a basic affair to get you going and I guess that's absolutely fine at the price point. For me personally, I prefer the less is more route: Give me fewer features, but increase the quality of the internals. Then you can add, upgrade and modify the components you need over time. Hope that helps. PS/ There is now a simple maudifi PhonOh! phono stage which makes the mod much, much easier. maudifi.co.uk/phonoh756-landing-page

Thanks for your comments. Likewise, it's difficult for me to position the PhonOh in comparison to others because there are so many and I can't possibly have listened to them all. I'm sure I would be accused of bias regardless. For launch I have just about squeezed it into the budget price category and perhaps from a business point of view I have made a mistake there. I won't be able to sustain that forever, but to get the word out I felt it was worth trying. I hope I haven't shot myself in the foot. Having looked at what's inside a couple of the current well regarded phono stages at around the £1250 - £1500 mark, I think the PhonOh would at least be competitive on sound quality. I can't say definitively, because I haven't compared and again it's easy to be accused of bias. However, it does not sound budget by any means. I do compare it to the CA, but only because the chassis of those make for a decent looking unit, combined with the PhonOh! I think it's a pretty good solution. I've compared also against the Rothwell Simplex and the Musical Fidelity KW Phono. The former is significantly ahead of the CA in that it actually produces a soundstage, but that lacks the detail and finesse, width, depth, etc. of the PhonOh. The comparison between the PhonOh and the KW Phono (£3k, but "old" now) is more difficult and I'd need to spend more time comparing, but from limited listening so far I'd say the PhonOh has the edge in terms of 3D soundstage / imaging, airiness but the KW is maybe a little bit better on pace, but even that is close. The KW is a bit grainy in comparison. That will almost certainly be due to the budget capacitors they tend to use. I don't know if that helps?

@@maudifi Thanks. I understand that its a difficult question to answer. I appreciate your response.

Thanks. Currently, the only Musical Fidelity upgrade kits I have are for the Tri-Vista 21 (maudifi.co.uk/product-category/hifi-tuning-upgrades/musical-fidelity/tri-vista-21-dac). I'm thinking of other stages/kits to follow this. Re USB input on the Tri-Vista 21, it's possible, but TBH I think it could be a pain to implement well as retrofit, so I'm not sure it's worth doing. I drive mine from my streamer through S/PDIF with great results. You can always use an USB to S/PDIF converter. I think there are some based on the Amanero USB interface that may be worth a try. Should be perfectly possible to upgrade the amplifiers as well, but engineering drawings are not readily available. So, I'd need a model here to devise any upgrades. HTH, Scott

Thanks for your questions. I'm planning a video on this subject. The PhonOh!756 also takes a 12Vac power input. The rectification and the rest of the linear power supply is onboard. I highly recommend a good quality toroidal transformer. As I say I'll have a video on this soon which will share more details. A good transformer does give a worthwhile improvement, but (hint) you get a much bigger bang for your buck by upgrading the phono board first. HTH.

Thanks for the feedback.

Using my best British understatement ... there's a little bit of a difference! 😂 But really they serve two different markets ... the upcycling/upgrade angle allows customers to get higher-end sound quality at a more affordable price and hopefully divert some older kit from heading to landfill.

Thank you @pattygraham830! Price from 315GBP for launch, depending on options. You can see everything on the website at maudifi.co.uk/product/phonoh-756-phono-stage . Shipping worldwide, so including the US. About a third of maudifi kit sales go to the USA actually. Thanks guys! Any questions, just ask. Cheers, Scott.

Thanks for your support! "through the haar" - are you a fellow east-coaster?

Galashiels so an East coast sheep shagger 😂

Noted! The background level has come out a little louder than intended. on this one. If only we could use proper music without copyright strikes from TH-cam ;-).

Thank you! Cheers!

No, they are Sonus Faber Venere 2.5.

☺️ 2 videos pending edit. Watch this space.

Thank you @pattygraham830 ! I'll try.

Nope, not Polish. Guess again 😊

@@maudifi , to me you sound like a Pole who’s lived in the UK for a long time :) That’s why I asked. I hope I didn’t offend you. I’m Polish.

You're posh Scottish?

😊 Definitely not offended. I probably think of myself as European, but I'm Scottish.

😂

Why? We don’t care lol. I mean we don’t care if you don’t believe him.

Absolutely correct , all you hi fi nerds do a blind test with cameras rolling without edits and lets see if you can genuinely hear improvements.Im an electronics engineer with science behind the facts , not psuedo bullshit.

@@markw7997 science is inferior to reality

@@Coneman3 I'm not saying I don't believe him. I'm just interested to see whether people can do what they claim they can do. Because it's easy to say you can do something yet never have to show it. Did you know I can jump over a car? I don't care if you believe me, but I can.

Thanks. I'd seen that somewhere before. It's on my list to try 👍🏻.

Thanks @Retro_Analog. Appreciated!

I've read also that it's 1.5m. It's a long time since I studied transmission line theory. This may be the case, but is it not more important that the line termination impedance is correct? In any case with RCA connectors is it not likely to be stuffed up anyway, causing potential reflections.

😂

I had the exact same thought!

A very young and dashing Ronnie Barker maybe.

To play to your opinions I tried to make the start and end of the follow-up video in the style of the Two Ronnies.

And it’s goodnight from me 😂

Thank you. Glad you liked it.

Grazie per la tua domanda. Il prezzo del kit di aggiornamento 540P Stage 2 è disponibile su maudifi.co.uk/product/540p-phono-stage-stage-2-upgrade-kit Alimentatore: ce ne saranno di due tipi: uno standard toroidale e uno di qualità audio. Sono in vacanza in questo momento, ma se mi lasci un messaggio al seguente link posso confermarti al mio ritorno. Cordiali saluti maudifi.co.uk/upgrade-feasibility-request-form Thank you for your question. 540P Stage 2 upgrade kit pricing is available at maudifi.co.uk/product/540p-phono-stage-stage-2-upgrade-kit Power supply - there will be 2 types - a standard toroidal based one and a signature audio grade one. I'm on holiday right now, but if you drop me a note at the following link I can confirm with you on my return. Kind regards maudifi.co.uk/upgrade-feasibility-request-form

Hi @tweakerman, thanks for your question. Yes, I have. However, there are much bigger bang for the buck improvements elsewhere in the 540P/551P. The RIAA on these is not that accurate and more circuit changes should really be made to correct it. That said, I have a better solution in the pipeline that addresses this and some other needs. The 551P with a Stage 2 upgrade is rather impressive even without addressing the poor RIAA response.

@@maudifi Hi, I've upgraded a CP1, Solo & a 540P use Audi note Kaisei electrolytic capacitors, that in the power supply & some signal caps, I've also replaced the 6 film caps with JB JFX premium film caps, they just fit without to much trouble & I can say they are all outstanding now, I've done a few videos on my channel about them, cheers for sharing your video👍

For those of you interested in such things, the better solution I mentioned here is now available. ... an easy fit upgrade solution that you can fit yourself in around 10 minutes. No soldering, only a screwdriver required. Check it out at maudifi.co.uk/phonoh756-landing-page/ or watch the videos on it (the end screen of this video has been updated to link to them). Any questions, just ask.