[johnto]

Has anyone tried the Parks Puffin phono pre ot looks amazing for its price. If you have what did you compare it to.

[Wasabi]

I'm interested in this one too since I can't find a Budgie. How does it compare to the Lounge LCR MKIII?

I have $500ish burning a hole in my pocket and need a phono preamp.

[raddar]

Has anyone tried the Parks Puffin phono pre ot looks amazing for its price. If you have what did you compare it to.

Here is my review I posted on Amazon. BTW, Shannon answered all my questions prior to my purchase. I am 100% satisfied with the Puffin.
Ultimate Flexibility and Ease of Use
June 21, 2018
Verified Purchase
I hooked my Puffin and listened to an assortment of headphones and my ProAc Tablette 10's. The Puffin offers the flexibility to easily adjust the gain, volume, bass, treble, tilt and air (and other parameters) so you can listen to your turntable with various headphone types (I own Sennheiser, HiFiMAN, Audio Technica, Koss and ESS) with impedances from 32-300 ohms and varying sensitivities and you no longer have to open up headphone amps and adjust gain settings to optimize the volume range for each headphone, etc.
All I can say is WOW! I love the ease of use and ability to customize the sound. 90% of my vinyl is from the 1970-80's and many of the LP's have less than perfect recordings. Lack of bass, bright, fatiguing highs, etc. My current turntable is an Oracle Origine with an Ortofon 2M blue which can sound bright on some old vinyl records. The Puffin allows me to tame the shrill highs, enhance the bass and add a bit of "tube" sound when I want it. My linestage is a Modwright LS 100, so I did not need/want a phono pre with tubes- In the past I owned an Acoustic Signature Tango , Ray Samuels XR-2, iFi iPhono phono preamp(cheapest feeling toggle switches ever on an audio product that I've owned!) and most recently a Simaudio 110LP with an aftermarket PS and none of them offered the flexibility to adjust so many parameters with the turn of a knob to optimize the sound. Let's not forget no need to remove screws to open up the box to access micro switches, change jumpers,adjust gain,etc. My impression of the Puffin is that it exceeds my expectations and allows me a level of flexibility which enhances the listening enjoyment of my vinyl collection. As a side note, I have the Puffin standing on it's side as opposed to laying flat so I can easily access the front panel on the second shelf of my rack. The Puffin is so easy to use without having to read an instruction manual and the various modes enhance the sound - no tube rolling, cable changes or cartridge upgrades needed!

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

I know this is an older thread.  I'm wondering if anyone has tried one of the Park Audio phono stages and if so what have they compared it with?

Thanks for your help.  Cheers Rod

[hagtech]

Yes, curious if anyone has compared to Cornet3...

[undertowogt1]

I am very interested in anyone's impressions of this phono as well Even though the reviews on Amazon are amazing I would rather hear impressions of this audiophile community as I know we all strive for the same thing.

I am looking for a new phono preamp to get into an MC cart in the future and work well with my Promitheus Audio TVC. My current Phono is a Bottlehead Reduction but when going through the Promitheus Audio TVC there is some impedance issues or something (sounds very bad) so I have a Tube Buffer in between to fix this issue. I would prefer not to have this in the chain and want to go direct from a Phono to Promitheus Audio TVC to amp. I have also realized I prefer a quite background which my tube phono does not really supply.

I dont mind that the signal is goes through a DSP as long as it sounds like it doesn't if ya know what I mean.

[CASTOR 2]

Hi,
I am happy owner of puffin.How to describe in shorts Puffin? If you are in the search for not high end phono pre that cost just few houndreds, then Puffin is the wayto go. By the memory I can tell that it is far more better than JASMINE LP2 modestly tweaked, Marschall Leach BO MC SU in SRPP tube pre amp, Marrschall Leach BO MC SU in PS AUDIO first pre made by PS AUDIO, PS AUDIO 4.8 PRE, also better than few local manufacturers of phono pre. In shorts; Puffin is a GIANT KILLER! I am using it very resolutive rig! Turntable and tone arm made by Bruno Puhar, PICK UP SUPEX 901MK4 retiped by SOUNDSMITH, pre ESE Lab ANU, PA MC2 S800, speakers CIZEK MG27 2X + CIZEK 2, OR KLIPSCH FB17.

[CASTOR 2]

Oh, I forgot to mention the cables. I have to change tone arm cable, because it is to brite and not shielded ended with ETI Silver plug, beetwen Pufuffin and ESE Lab ANU,  AQ NIAGARA same go for PA MC2 S800 (PA amp made in GB)with CARDAS XLR to RCA adapter. Power and speakers cables are made by me.

[CASTOR 2]

Hi mr Hagerman,

Years I was dreaming your TRUMPET, but if I can see it correctly, CORNET 3 is only MM. I have in the near future to connect DENON 320 MC SUT to Puffin , just to convice me what I allready heard. Cheap MC SUT are not on the task. Anyhow you deserve all my respect. Sorry for my poor English and I can not express in shorts my glorification to rare audio persons like Mr. Hagerman is.

[stonedeaf]

SPDIF output has been available for awhile with 24/48 comin out of it - recently that's been upgraded on new factory installed SPDIF units to 24/96. I'm pretty impressed with the Puffin -of my motley collection of phono preamps - this is the best imaging of the lot (always assuming original LP engineering supports a stereo image).Magic noise reduction is a nice addition too and I think that just requires a software update for any Puffin.