Parks Audio does it again

Dr. Jackson

Active Member
For fans of Shannon Parks' work with the Budgie tube preamp and Cinemag SUT, he has come out of hibernation with something all new.

The good: it's affordable, interesting, versatile and perhaps the most advanced thing he's ever done.

The bad: it's solid state and so new nobody has tested it yet. No tube rolling with this box. The Budgie and Cinemag SUT are out of production. This is all he's doing.

Long story short, it's a preamp with an adjustable DSP. Handles mm and mc carts as well as non-phono inputs. Five custom user settings can be saved. Every part of the sound is tweakable including preset factory match EQ settings.

Check it out at http://www.parksaudiollc.com
 
This is indeed a new direction, and one I won't be heading on. I would applaud if his other products remained in production. Since they haven't, silence.
 
Before I "dis" his new product I'll wait for some reviews to come in. If it performs as claimed it may be a real bargain. $399 is not a lot for a device that does everything advertised.
 
The concept is fantastic. It looks very interesting. I prefer all analogue on my phono equipment, but this might be worth looking at. Shannon knows what he is doing, and if he likes it, then it might be worth trying.
 
Very interesting device, but absolutely no specifications of useful significance. Download the manual and have a look for yourselves.

Let's see some specifications!:
RIAA deviation in dB?
Overload characteristics in mV/dB?
Distortion?
Frequency response, (sampling rate etc)?
Residual noise (that will be the big one IMO)?

I don't care that it can do all these cute DSP things. I care what it can do really well. I've emailed them to ask for real specs- we'll see what comes of it. I'm interested myself in a configurable phono stage.

Just like a smartphone can be a camera, a browser, a compass, a note pad, a telephone etc- but it does no one thing really well.
 
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Very interesting device, but absolutely no specifications of useful significance. Download the manual and have a look for yourselves.

Let's see some specifications!:
RIAA deviation in dB?
Overload characteristics in mV/dB?
Distortion?
Frequency response, (sampling rate etc)?
Residual noise (that will be the big one IMO)?

I don't care that it can do all these cute DSP things. I care what it can do really well. I've emailed them to ask for real specs- we'll see what comes of it. I'm interested myself in a configurable phono stage.

Just like a smartphone can be a camera, a browser, a compass, a note pad, a telephone etc- but it does no one thing really well.

The manual had the sampling rate, 24bit 96khz. Contact Shannon for the tech details. I imagine he's not shy with numbers.
 
Very interesting device, but absolutely no specifications of useful significance. Download the manual and have a look for yourselves.

Let's see some specifications!:
RIAA deviation in dB?
Overload characteristics in mV/dB?
Distortion?
Frequency response, (sampling rate etc)?
Residual noise (that will be the big one IMO)?

I don't care that it can do all these cute DSP things. I care what it can do really well. I've emailed them to ask for real specs- we'll see what comes of it. I'm interested myself in a configurable phono stage.

Just like a smartphone can be a camera, a browser, a compass, a note pad, a telephone etc- but it does no one thing really well.
let us know what you find out. Is this thing a digital device in that it does AD - DSP and then DA for final analog output? Or is it somehow using DSP to control analog parameters?
 
It'll be bringing the various cart levels up to (hopefully) the sweet spot of the A/D and then running all the EQ etc in DSP and then throwing it all out the D/A.
 
Well I can report Shannon not only got back to me promptly, but is clearly a very nice chap to boot. I have put the Puffin on my Christmas wish-list.

Here posted (with permission) are considerably more detailed specifications for the numbers junkies out there:

3dB Bandwidth: 5Hz to 48kHz

60dB minimum channel separation

channel balance: 0.2dB or better

RIAA EQ response (20Hz to 20kHz): +/- 0.2dB

.008% THD (40dB, 1kHz, 10mV input, 30kHz LPF)

Default Preset Noise (shorted inputs):

MM 40dB 27uV A-weighted

MC 56dB 59uV A-weighted

PC 16dB 24uV A-weighted

CD -4dB 27uV A-weighted

Overload Margin 17dB

All the EQ is done is DSP and the specs perhaps don't really indicate how the Puffin will be used.

All in all, I'd like to get hold of one- it could be a bit of a game changer for Phono stages where ultimate musical enjoyment is the key. Having played with DSP based phono real time noise/impulse solutions, I believe the A/D-D/A process is audibly transparent, letalone with a considerably more powerful DSP/processing like what apparently the Puffin uses.
 
Just read about the demise of the Budgie. Kinda sad. Had mine for quite some time. Early version with the wood trim.

Mike
 
Just read about the demise of the Budgie. Kinda sad. Had mine for quite some time.

Yeah, I have one and was about to buy a second for myself last Christmas....and Amazon said there was only one left.
I thought, yeah right, only one left, uh huh.

Anyway, by the time I got back to it....admittedly some time later.....the last Budgie was indeed gone.
Sucks. I really could've used another.
 
The Budgie is a good little amp. I have one, but I am no longer using it as I switched to a Fisher 400 integrated due to lack of space and I needed a phono input & FM band.
 
So, has anyone gotten a Puffin? I read favorable comments on another forum, but looking for feedback here as I am thinking about adding an external phono stage to my system. If you have one, please chime in with your thoughts on its performance.
 
Yep, I got one. It’s great. I’ve got it between a denon 103 and 300b amp.
To be fair, I don't have much experience with phono preamps. I've only used a couple and none of them were very good. I was listening to Altec 4722's with a Fisher 500c. The Puffin far surpasses this. The adjustable features are great and nice to use to moderate my shouty Altec horns.
 
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Yep, I got one. It’s great. I’ve got it between a denon 103 and 300b amp.
To be fair, I don't have much experience with phono preamps. I've only used a couple and none of them were very good. I was listening to Altec 4722's with a Fisher 500c. The Puffin far surpasses this. The adjustable features are great and nice to use to moderate my shouty Altec horns.

Thanks for the thoughts. It sounds like a great unit. Just seems a bit odd to convert to digital and back again when listening to vinyl. I assume you didn't notice any effect from the conversion?
 
Well, I've been trying to get as close to analog as possible for the time I've been tinkering with audio. So, yes this is a departure. But the DSP sounds a damn sight better than anything else I've heard and I get an EQ and a bunch of other options. There's probably more magical preamps out there but I don't want to spend the thousands to find them.
 
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