I have now been living with Channel D’s Lino C 3.3 transimpedance phonostage for about 2 weeks.
I had to wait for it as they are built to order, equipped with the specification you order.
It arrived double boxed. I opened the boxes to the sound of something rattling around, not a good sign. I opened the unit to find 3 screws rolling around, i figured out where they came from. By looking at that I figured one more screw must be somewhere and low and behold, I found the fourth screw. Not happy about this, I emailed Channel D and followed up with a call the following day.
Rob from Channel D answered, after he figured out where the screws came from, he was very apologetic and offered to send out replacement screws and brackets the next day if I am happy to replace them myself or send the unit back. I opted to have new brackets and screws sent out.
He did explain what had happened and yes his explanation was plausible, I did say to him I was surprised QC did not pick this up before it went out the door. He assured me this is a one off, I believe him.
Anyway, that over and done with, I got down to the fun part listening.
I plugged it in and left it for a good 30 minutes while I listened to music on the Rega Ios.
I switched over to the Lino C using the Voltage mode, the first thing that came across was the quietness, the wider / deeper soundstage. Everything sounded more believable the vocals / high frequencies were clearer, the sound was punchier.
I switched back to the Rega, so I can go from the Rega back to the Lino C using the transimpedance section of the Lino C. Wow, going to the Lino C using the transimpedance part of the phonostage was an ear opener, the music sounded more real is the only way I could describe it.
So now that I know the Lino C is better than the Rega Ios, now is the time to compare the Lino C’s Voltage mode against the Current mode.
I played tracks to compare both the Voltage / current mode. The voltage mode appeared punchier which I put down to the higher gain. Using the voltage mode, with the volume knob at 9 o’clock on the current mode I had to wind it up to 11 o’clock to get about the same volume.
Anyway comparing the 2 modes, the music coming out of the current mode was just more real / believable than the music coming out of the voltage mode. That’s not to say the voltage mode is bad, just that the current mode is that much better. I prefer the current mode sound.
To get the best from a current mode phonostage the cartridge’s internal resistance should be as low as possible, some people say in the single figure range. My cartridge has an internal resistance of 24 ohm, the Lino C should apparently work with up to 40 ohm resistance but the lower the better.
Since the current mode sounded better to me, that is what I am going to use. I only had the issue of the volume from the turntable being much lower than the rest of the other sources.
I must remember to adjust the volume knob if I am going from one source to the other, else I will get a nasty surprise.
Some days later I remembered I can change the gain setting in my pre-amp, so I have now gone into the pre-amp and turned down the gain settings by 6db on all the line-in except the turntable input so now everything matches.
One of my friends came over to have a listen to the new phonostage.
I started by playing the Lino C since it was hooked up then the Rega, he liked the Lino C.
I then played the Lino C again, now going between the current / voltage mode. I did not tell my friend which was what, he correctly identified the current and voltage modes. He preferred the current mode like I did.
Rating the Lino C
I have to say on build quality I would have to rate the Lino low and on sound quality, I rate it very high. So overall I would recommend the Lino C, but I hope in the future they keep an eye on their QC and build quality.
I have played some records using the phonostage, but not as many as I would like as I have been busy. The other reason I had not played as much is one of my drive units on my speakers is on the way out, it distorts badly when a low bass note is played and that side sounds louder.
Before I worked out the issue, I had already decided to buy new speakers.
Doing a lot of tests like changing cables round so moving left cable to right to see if the information moves, nothing moved around.
Then I worked out it was the drive unit on the way out.
I then pushed on the drive units, I noticed the suspension on one of the drive unit is gone. The faulty one moved too freely and the other gave me more resistance. When playing I can see the drive unit was out of control and moving wildly compared to the other drive unit.
I have placed an order for Peak Consult Sonora plus I have placed an order for 2 matched pair drivers for the broken Peak Consult Princess Signature, I still want to be able to sell the speakers on and it would be nicer for the next person to have matched drivers.
Since the Sonora are made to order, I must wait at least 4 weeks for them to be built and shipped. Since the replacement drives are made to order as well and they don’t have any in stock so I must also wait about the same length of time. So it looks like the replacement drive units will arrive at the same time.
