This is especially important if the user wants to transfer records into a digital format. For example, the preamp’s gain may not be adequate for the cartridge output. In some cases, however, the end user would be unsatisfied with such a design. The purist approach would be to design a tube or solid-state phono preamplifier with components specified to reproduce a flat frequency response with low noise and distortion and good matching of impedance for cartridge loading and output. The Puffin is basically a phono preamp designed to provide gain and equalization for any phono cartridge plugged into it, whether moving magnet, moving iron, or moving coil (see Photo 1). There were six additional controls added and several improvements to the 16 previous ones.īut let’s start at the beginning. But I was surprised at how drastically the function and performance of this device could change with a single firmware update. I knew that this was a possibility when I purchased this phono preamp last year.
The business model for Shannon Parks, founder and chief engineer at Parks Audio LLC states: “Buy my phono stage, and it will be updated and improved constantly with simple firmware updates.” However, the upgrades were substantial, so I felt it best to start from scratch and re-evaluate the Puffin. And any future updates will be just as easy and with no investment in hardware required. A firmware update, which took about 10 minutes, was all it took to do the trick. Did I get a new, improved device from the manufacturer? Nope. I had already completed this article on the Puffin Phono DSP when I found out that it was almost completely obsolete. Photo 1: The Puffin is a next-generation phono preamp with a programmable DSP to allow a wide range of gain settings.