Phono Preamplifiers

You might reasonably feel that phono stages are a surprising category to demonstrate significant technical developments; after all, the requirements they fulfil and the technology they use have been constant for some years now. Nevertheless, in recent times, many stages have reflected wider changes in vinyl. The first development is multiple inputs – people having more than one turntable has become more common and some stages have reflected this. The second is a renewed interest in balanced connections. This has been around for some time, but has shown a real uptick in interest in the last few years.

Violectric’s PPA V790 manages to reflect both of these developments at once. It has six individually configurable inputs, which even taking into account the increase in interest in the feature is impressive. It then dovetails this with the balanced connection trend by making three of those inputs balanced. This would be surprising from any company, but from Violectric – generally best known for its headphone amplifiers – it’s a genuine bolt from the blue.

The PPA V790 is entirely solid state and uses a gain stage that is DC coupled with cascaded bi-polar superfast input transistors. Each input supports moving-magnet and coil carts and does so with an impressive level of flexibility. MM cartridges get eight different capacitance settings while MCs benefit from seven selectable impedances that will handle the bulk of options on sale today. Both types can have their gain adjusted between 30 and 66dB.

Impressively, the PPA V790 isn’t done yet. As well as the standard RIAA curve, it supports NAB and Columbia curves as well. There is also an additional gain boost setting and a subsonic filter. About the only feature missing that might reasonably be asked for is a mono setting. No less usefully, every one of these extensive options is adjusted from the front panel via buttons with no recourse to dip switches or other irritants. Each input saves its last used settings too. Output is via both XLR and RCA.

This is all extremely admirable, but there are some limitations and they’re mostly found around the back. The Violectric is smaller than it looks and this means a busy back panel with one row of inputs above another – making using it with multiple turntables (particularly a combination of balanced and unbalanced ones), trickier than some other multi-input designs. More annoying is that there is only a single ground point shared between all the inputs. While it’s good engineering practise to have a single optimised ground point, I suspect that actually connecting and grounding six inputs to the PPA V790 at the same time is probably impossible.

Given that most people surely won’t be looking to achieve a full house of connections, though, there is a lot to like about the general design. At first glance, the front panel looks complex but it’s actually extremely logical. The company’s pro audio origins mean that it’s largely free of anything that could truly be described as styling, but the overall standard of build and finish is very good, even taking into account the price. The two-thirds-width casework is going to need its own shelf, but it does mount the power supply internally so there isn’t anything else to accommodate.

Sound quality
I initially set up the Violectric to receive signals over RCA from my Vertere MG-1 MkII turntable with Mystic moving-coil cart (HFC 506 and 499 respectively) and one side of my AVID Ingenium Twin using an SME M2-9 arm and Vertere Dark Sabre MM cartridge. Early signs are positive, the Violectric is silent at idle and changing settings, even on the fly, doesn’t bring up any unwanted noise. So long as you can satisfactorily ground the inputs, it adds very little of itself to the performance.

This sets something of a theme for how the phono stage behaves once the music starts. The webpage for the PPA V790 notes: “Don’t expect any coloration from this amp!” and this certainly appears to be a mission statement that it intends to keep to. Kicking off with moving-magnet, the way it handles Hayden Thorpe’s Diviner is instructive. This is a scrupulously accurate performer that adds very little of itself to the signal path and with the equally down-the-line AVID and SME, the effect is to leave the character of the record as the sole point of emotion.

Happily, this emotional content is relayed perfectly. The PPA V790 generates a three-dimensional soundstage that gives space for Thorpe and his piano to be the focus of your attention. And make no mistake, he’s the focus. The scale, tone and sheer presence of his vocals is genuinely captivating. The lack of colouration simply allows the character this LP has in spades to be the focus.

Switching to moving-coil does very little to change this perception of the PPA V790 being the vessel for the story rather than the story itself. Listening to the eponymously titled album from Late Night Final, the manner in which the opener, Thank You, builds from silence reveals just how quiet the Violectric is. Its spaciousness and unflappable precision is relayed in its entirety, giving everything you play a refinement and cohesion that is consistently addictive. Being very picky, I’ve experienced deeper bass from the Vertere through some other phono stages, but it would be a stretch to call the Violectric bass light.

At this point, the resident Michell GyroDec and SME309 enters the fray, sporting a hastily begged balanced output lead, fitted once I’ve ‘sighted’ the performance over RCA. If you can use the PPA V790 over XLR and you have a turntable that is itself quiet, the effect is deeply impressive. Air’s Talkie Walkie becomes a wall of sound that you can all but walk about in and the absolute absence of a perceivable noise floor releases tiny details from the mix. The effect is incredibly natural, combining space and tonal realism to really bring records alive. No less usefully, the general lack of colouration is not something that automatically renders poor pressings unlistenable either – it’s a surprisingly forgiving device for something with the resolving power it has.

What the GyroDec also demonstrates is that the PPA V790’s presentation is perfect for an analogue front end with its own well-established character. The Van den Hul DDT II (HFC 425) cartridge it uses isn’t ‘coloured’ in the obvious sense, but it has qualities that are best enjoyed when combined with other devices that are more matter of fact. The partnership it forms with the Violectric is utterly joyous because you are essentially being given the DDT II with no further embellishment.

Conclusion
This makes the Violectric something that is going to be interesting even if you’ve decided to stick with one turntable rather than trying to go for six. Without ever being a joyless or overly forensic-sounding thing, the PPA V790 lets your turntable show its qualities, providing the inputs, breadth of settings and connection options required to ensure you can get the best out of it. For people dipping a toe into balanced operation in particular, it’s a must audition and a fascinating further evolution of phono stage thinking. ES    

DETAILS
Product: Violectric PPA V790
Type: Multi-input MM/MC phono stage

FEATURES
● Six phono inputs – 3x RCA; 3x XLR
● All inputs configurable for MM/MC loading
● Outputs: RCA; XLR