[earlmarc]

I have been reading about Micheal Yee's unique approach to designing amplifiers and preamplifiers. His products seem interesting. http://www.michaelyeeaudio.com/ There is also a review of the PA-3 amplifier here: http://enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0806/yee_pa3_musical_super_nova.htm

[TheChairGuy]

He's an gifted and interesting designer...I own the Musical Surroundings Phenomena phono preamp and power pack....all battery driven. It was desinged, maybe even made by, Michael Yee for Musical Surroundings (the folks that bring us Clearaudio, Benz Micro and Koetsu in the U.S. - so they know a thing about vinyl)

It was so-so with the stock umbilical...but turned into a stellar performer with an aftermarket one cooked up by Revelation Audio Labs (I think, $149 it was).  I bought in mind to play with very low output MC cartridges, but my van den Hul re-tipped, 2.5mv Sumiko sounds just fine run into my Dynaco PAS-4 (tube) preamp.

Frankly, it sounds just a bit better into the Phenomena (which I'm surprised at as teeny phono signals seem to usually prefer the shortest path), but I don't like all the crap hanging around cluttering up my view and rack space.

But, he did a helluva' job on this product...completely dual mono, loads of DIP switches, pure battery driven and, once upgraded with the RAL cable, quite excellent. Of all the many areas of improvement wrought by cable swapping - none have been as sizeable as the umbilicals to my DAC power supply and this power pack (both by RAL).  Most other swap outs have been somewhat sideways or just a bit upwards...swapping in a low inductance umbilical power reaps real dividends 

[Bob Reynolds]

FWIW, he was the designer for Mobile Fidelity about 10 years ago. Three samples of his amplifier submitted to The Audio Critic for review literally blew up. One lived long enough to be measured and the results were very embarassing. The circuit analysis was also embarassing. A MF preamp designed by MY was also submitted for review and though it did not blow up, the conclusion was that it was a very poor design and implementation.

[PaulFolbrecht]

Hey Bob,

THD measurements have absolutely nothing to do with sound quality.

[TheChairGuy]

FWIW, he was the designer for Mobile Fidelity about 10 years ago. Three samples of his amplifier submitted to The Audio Critic for review literally blew up. One lived long enough to be measured and the results were very embarassing. The circuit analysis was also embarassing. A MF preamp designed by MY was also submitted for review and though it did not blow up, the conclusion was that it was a very poor design and implementation.

Interesting Bob...nothing blown here, but I'll make a mental note of this post if and when it does for sure 

[Bob Reynolds]

Hey Bob,

THD measurements have absolutely nothing to do with sound quality.

Paul, as always, you are free to believe whatever you choose. Have a nice day.

[Bob Reynolds]

A decade is a long time and it's possible that Mr. Yee has learned from his earlier experiences.

[PaulFolbrecht]

That THD has very little bearing on sound quality is about as close to established fact as it can get... here's a good paper on the general subject:

http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/FindingCG.html

The most important point is that THD is meaningless without knowing the harmonic distribution.  Upper-order HD is dissonent and far more objectionable (to a factor of 20 or better) than lower (especially 2nd) order.  Again, these are both mathematical facts and borne out by experiments.

There are other factors as well in the HD distribution that affect how noticable it is and how bad it sounds.

[PaulFolbrecht]

Bob,

That 'lil drive-by comment of mine DID come across as snotty - I apologize for that.

Audio is a dang silly thing to argue about; if we're going to dislike each other, it ought to be over religion or politics for pete's sake! 

Actually, I like you just fine... and I luuuuuuv those luscious, gooey 2nd harmonics spilling over me right now!!!!