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Any impressions on the Parks Audio Puffin ?

Just now spending a lazy Sunday plugging in the Puffin and giving it a spin. So far it's sounding pretty good (but I'm exhausted so no in depth listening just playing Pink Floyd a little too loud), I haven't really tweaked with it much , just a quick once over to see what everything did, and so far it's far exceeding my preconceived thoughts on how a DSP phono preamp would sound. When I have more cognitive thinkery I'll really put it through the paces, but so far so good.
 
I’ve been using mine daily for the past six weeks or so now, and I really really like it. My setup is Shure V15 III with Jico neo-SAS stylus on a Sony ps-x500 > puffin > McCormack passive > Tubelab SE 2A3 > Sony SS3300 speakers. I still have to try it in my main system which is a little more revealing and see how it does, but it’s proven to be great value and made a believer out of me. It sure does justice to the Shure with SAS stylus.
 
So my head is a little clearer and I've been trying to put the Puffin through the paces.

I'm still horribly exhausted and this is in no way a proper review, but.....

Sound wise it is far from transparent, but on first impression it seems to do a certain trick, and it seems to do it well. Does it sound like a good tube pre? .....well no, not at all. Although it is quiet and I have yet to hear any obvious artifacts, it definitely adds something and is very apparent.

With a little tweaking it is very pleasant to a point that you quickly forget about it and get caught up in the music which is something that I was worried about given that it is so tweakable and is putting a what I assume to be a fairly large level of digital processing into the playback path.

But it integrates very easily and I find myself pulling out less that stellar recordings that I don't listen to much if at all these day because of their glaring quality deficiencies, and being surprised by the enhancement in sound quality. As I said it does a trick and seems to do it does it well.

I very much could see this as an accompanying piece of gear to a truly great phono pre, where you would use the Puffin for mediocre recordings instead of your "good" pre, as it glosses over and improves imperfections in quality instead of highlighting them the way a high end unit might. And I have little doubt that for all but the most picky of us, it might very well be everything you would ever want. As I live with it a little I'll update my thoughts, but on first impressions I'm fairly impressed with it, and I could see myself keeping it and then getting another tube pre and using them interchangeably depending on the source material.

The few phono pre's I have on hand are not the best so I'm unable to do a side by side comparison with a high end unit and I suspect it's faults would be quickly apparent, but by itself without comparison I'm enjoying it considerably more than I thought I would.
 
I own the Puffin, and Lounge Audio LCR MK III. I am not crazy about either one. When i bought a Schiit Mani combined with a Swagman labs psu, then i began to get excited. I own a Fisher 400 with Epos Epic 2 speakers. It may be my combo, but the Schiit mani for very little money is an overwhelming great phono preamp to my ears!
 
I just did the 1.11 firmware update on my Puffin to get the new BASSBOOST feature. Anyone have a chance to try this yet?


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As a Budgie owner for many years I ordered a Puffin as I wanted to try some MC carts. To be honest I was quite disappointed with both MM and MC carts using the Puffin. And yes, I did try different settings. My Mani sounds better, to me at least. I found the Puffin to be a little too "gadgety". A minor annoyance was that you have to turn it on manually every time you use it. In my system everything runs off of a APC power conditioner so I only have to push one button.
Others may like the tone controls and other digital features but I have no interest in them. I returned it to Amazon, glad they have a pretty liberal return policy.
My opinion only but I wish Shannon would resurrect the Budgie with improvements.

Edit: I should also state that I don't really want to fiddle with settings. Some folks like to "fiddle".

Mike
 
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63pontiacgp said:
As a Budgie owner for many years I ordered a Puffin as I wanted to try some MC carts. To be honest I was quite disappointed with both MM and MC carts using the Puffin. And yes, I did try different settings. My Mani sounds better, to me at least. I found the Puffin to be a little too "gadgety". A minor annoyance was that you have to turn it on manually every time you use it. In my system everything runs off of a APC power conditioner so I only have to push one button.
Others may like the tone controls and other digital features but I have no interest in them. I returned it to Amazon, glad they have a pretty liberal return policy.
My opinion only but I wish Shannon would resurrect the Budgie with improvements.

Mike
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Thanks for the review. Most have been very positive, but it’s good to get another view.

I like my current phono pre, and would only be potentially be interested in something like this as a elaborate tone control/EQ for suboptimal recordings.

Are you able to use this in a tape loop without RIAA just as a DSP enhancer for LPs, CD’s, and streamed content?
 
captouch said:
Thanks for the review. Most have been very positive, but it’s good to get another view.

I like my current phono pre, and would only be potentially be interested in something like this as a elaborate tone control/EQ for suboptimal recordings.

Are you able to use this in a tape loop without RIAA just as a DSP enhancer for LPs, CD’s, and streamed content?
Click to expand...
Not sure on that. My setup does not have a tape loop.

Mike
 
captouch said:
Thanks for the review. Most have been very positive, but it’s good to get another view.

I like my current phono pre, and would only be potentially be interested in something like this as a elaborate tone control/EQ for suboptimal recordings.

Are you able to use this in a tape loop without RIAA just as a DSP enhancer for LPs, CD’s, and streamed content?
Click to expand...
You can do this, but I found that it adds too much to the signal and detracts from the quality greatly.

If it means anything, I still have the Puffin after 7 months. As I stated in my review above it is not without faults, but for less than stellar recordings it still does something special that I haven't found in anything else. If you are looking for very high clarity and the closest representation of the recording you will find it disappointing, but it you're not opposed to a bit of color it is a solid choice.
 
halkaloogie said:
You can do this, but I found that it adds too much to the signal and detracts from the quality greatly.

If it means anything, I still have the Puffin after 7 months. As I stated in my review above it is not without faults, but for less than stellar recordings it still does something special that I haven't found in anything else. If you are looking for very high clarity and the closest representation of the recording you will find it disappointing, but it you're not opposed to a bit of color it is a solid choice.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wouldn’t use it as a default, but just for recordings that could use something added. But, thinking about it more, I don’t think my limited use of it would justify the cost.

If it were transparent and great sounding such that it could replace my current phono with the option to tweak the sound for the 10-20% that might benefit from it, then maybe. But it doesn’t sound like it’s quite that.
 
Just a note about spinning vinyl in the digital domain...

It's ^ a tall hurdle to overcome especially for old guys like me. We were listening to LPs in their heyday

I've been spinning records in my main system digitally for maybe 2yrs. Like all things audiophile it depends on quality equipment (not necessarily expensive). My ADC & DAC aren't TOTL but everyone who listens is impressed with the process

Main Point: Don't let the digital thang hold you back
 
I've been wondering for a while about this and the comments here based on experience for and against have been really helpful! Thank you!
 
FoP- fan of Puffin. It's not my go-to and I've been on a digital binge lately but I do like it a lot for the flexibility and sound options.. I was hesitant about the analogue to digital to analogue bit and adding junk to the signal but my concerns were not well met by the reality of a really nice, flexible phono amp. I usually spin through gear if I don't like it but it's stayed here for a while and is becoming part of the family. If you can find one for a good deal on the used market, it's even better.. I still want a Budgie but that would just be dumb with my current options unless I find another deal I can't pass up..
 
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