ART II DJ phonamp....a pleasant surprise.

TJLitt

TJLitt

Super Member
about a week back, the bugle ended up with a couple busted pins on two components, due entirely to my hamhandedness. As my time is limited at the moment, it might be a while before I can sit down and repair the damage, so I cast about for a cheap(I'm inherently cheap soul) make-do preamp, in the meantime. Having read a few kind words about the ART II, and a couple unkind ones as well, and duly noting the $40 price tag, I sprung for one. It arrived today, and while I figure there is a bit of break-in to do, I did some listening around dinner. Some Wantanabe, some Neville Bros and the Cars first album hit the platter, so I got a bit of a cross section of sounds and dynamics. You know, the little ugly box with the bright light is a darned pleasant surprise. I'll A-B it against the Bugle, which I dearly love, when I get that one fixed, but the sound is pretty good, right out of the box. Solid bass,
good mids, fairly nice and quite clean highs. Soundstage a bit more closed than the Bugle, but not oppressively so. If someone is looking for a phono pre on the cheap, they could do worse. Much worse. I'll report back after a couple days of breakin time.
 
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I also happen to have both the Bugle and the Art DJ (free shipping with Amazon Prime), and I agree completely that it holds its own, but doesn't have the soundstage of the Bugle.

How one component has more of a "soundstage" than another is a mystery to me, but, there it is. More of a 3D image and a bigger 2D image in the room, somehow.
 
TJLitt said:
If someone is looking for a phono pre on the cheap, they could do worse. Much worse. I'll report back after a couple days of breakin time.
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I 100% agree. I sent back some pricier competition with some pretty obvious shortcomings and settled on using the ART, where I hear no major flaws. When you consider the price, it's just an insane bargain. I'm getting very tempted to build a Bugle after all I'm hearing about it though... I even have a bunch of 9V NiMH batteries I'm not using for anything else and a good charger. The ART will run on 7-12 volts DC. I wonder how it would sound using some of my 9V batteries hooked up in parallel?... or 8 AA NiMH in a battery tray for more mAh? Hmmm....
 
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Interesting. :scratch2: I currently have a NAD PP2 going into a technics amp (that can act as a power amp). I wonder if the ART would be better, adjustable gain and all that.
 
leepal said:
Interesting. :scratch2: I currently have a NAD PP2 going into a technics amp (that can act as a power amp). I wonder if the ART would be better, adjustable gain and all that.
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IMO, the bass sounds better than from the PP-2 and the highs sound more open, unless you're using an upgraded power supply with the PP-2 which opens them up some. The NAD is a similar unit that uses those micro parts. But, there is a "subsonic" filter you can't defeat which I think hurts bass weight a bit and the power supply that comes with the NAD is shameful. The ART won't do moving coil though...
 
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royphil345 said:
IMO, the bass sounds better than from the PP-2 and the highs sound more open, unless you're using an upgraded power supply with the PP-2 that opens them up some. The NAD is a similar unit that uses those micro parts. But, there is a "subsonic" filter you can't defeat which I think hurts bass weight a bit and the power supply that comes with the NAD is shameful. The ART won't do moving coil though...
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I don't have a moving coil cart, I did buy the PP-2 with a view to getting one in the future but they tend to be out of my price range.

The Technics (SU-V570) is an old amp but new to me, bought from a thrift store a week ago, it does actually have both MM & MC capability. I'm trying to decipher if the PP-2 is any better than the amp's own phono stage, at the moment I can't really hear any differences but maybe need more listening.
 
Aerobat said:
I also happen to have both the Bugle and the Art DJ (free shipping with Amazon Prime), and I agree completely that it holds its own, but doesn't have the soundstage of the Bugle.

How one component has more of a "soundstage" than another is a mystery to me, but, there it is. More of a 3D image and a bigger 2D image in the room, somehow.
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based on my limited listening last night, I agree about having a lesser soundstage than the Bugle. I also am in the camp that could never understand why such phenomena occur.
 
I just got back from picking up an ART DJ PRE II for $25 on Craig's List. I plan on using it with a Dual 1019, so the low cut filter will come in handy, especially on 78s. I bought it based on some samples that steely sent me a while back; normally I would avoid something so inexpensive!

It will be interesting to see how it compares to my other pre, a Rega Fono Mini.
 
Oh that would be a great comparison!!

I have an ART and I "used" to have the Cambridge 640P...and as much as I raved about the Cambridge, I went back to the ART and sold off the 640P...sheer giggle factor!!! It is indeed a fantastic little unit that cost so little!!

Cheers!!!
 
TJLitt said:
Soundstage a bit more closed than the Bugle, but not oppressively so. If someone is looking for a phono pre on the cheap, they could do worse. Much worse. I'll report back after a couple days of breakin time.
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Your comment about the soundstage is much appreciated, iirc you are the first to mention it.

Dave/ChairSpud
 
steely said:
That reminds me...
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4813159&postcount=47
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steely said:
FWIW, I pitted my $70 ART (USB model) against my neighbor's esoteric "audiophile" Cary/AES PH-1 tube preamp costing over 10 times as much, and the ART came out the clear winner. Gain was better, sound was cleaner and there was less background noise (actually, no perceivable noise with the ART). Somewhere I still have the comparison audio files to substantiate.

You absolutely cannot go wrong with those inexpensive ART phono preamps!
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Steely shared those comparison samples with me a while back and didn't tell me which was which until I listened to them. The ART was the clear winner in my opinion, there was no question about it.
 
Canadian music retailer L&M show them in stock , have to head over this weekend and have a peak maybe .I have an old Teac phono pre that doesn't compete with my int amp's phono section .Would be nice to see what the ART would do ?

What power source would you use to drive it ?
 
ARJohn said:
Canadian music retailer L&M show them in stock , have to head over this weekend and have a peak maybe .I have an old Teac phono pre that doesn't compete with my int amp's phono section .Would be nice to see what the ART would do ?

What power source would you use to drive it ?
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Believe it or not, it comes with a power supply much beefier than necessary, unlike most of the pricier competition (9 volts, 1000 mA AC). It sounds fine stock, although I have been wondering how it might sound on battery power. It can use 7-12 volts DC or 9-12 volts AC and it draws 150 mA.
 
ssmith3046 said:
The ART is a 40 dollar wonder IMO.
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I don't even like to list the phono stages I compared it to and it beat hands down. A lot of people here probably paid good money for those others and like them... However, I have not tried a Cambridge, Musical Fidelity V-LPS or the Bugle as of yet. Those seem to be the most likely candidates for beating the ART at a reasonable price. I can tell you a couple phono stages selling for $300.00 did not sound as good as the ART. The difference was more than I would consider a matter of taste or opinion.
 
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OK, I just had a brief listening session, and these are my initial impressions.

Compared to my $150 Rega Fono Mini, the ART's sound quality is not better. The soundstage is more 2D and overall it is less detailed. The ART has more pronounced bass than the Rega, but it is also a bit flabbier. The Rega has more air on top.

Interestingly, despite the gain control, it has less output than the Rega (before the clipping light comes on).

So, my initial judgment is the ART may not be the giant killer that some may be expecting, but it still represents a fine value for its price. Either that, or the Rega Fono Mini is a REALLY good value for ITS price!
 
That gain control can be kind of tweaky. You may not hear the best it can do until you've messed with it a day or two. Oh yeah... The Rega Mini is another popular one I haven't tried in my system. Those rips you posted did sound very nice, but the Rega is nearly 4 times the price...
 
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