Product Previews

Parks Audio Puffin Phono DSP Preamplifier Preview

“Analog sound.” “Vinyl.” “Phono preamplification.” One rarely encounters those words with “digital” or “DAC” or “software” nearby.

And for a lot of analog enthusiasts, adding digital circuitry to an analog signal path is downright heresy. But the thing is, the analog playback experience can be greatly enhanced with what digital signal processing (DSP) and software can provide. It’s just that, to the best of my knowledge, not a lot of companies are providing this functionality right now.

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But Shannon Parks of Parks Audio is providing this functionality with his compact and clever Puffin DSP phono preamplifier. The Puffin will play the output of essentially any kind of phono cartridge, whatever its power output or load requirements are. The Puffin will let you equalize its output for a very wide variety of vinyl EQ settings, such as those found on Columbia 78rpm records, Teldec/DGG LPs, or the standard RCA RIAA curves. And if you happen to have an album that was mastered out of phase, the Puffin will let you correct that as well.

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And, believe it or not, that’s just a few of the functions the Puffin is capable of. You can EQ the output for your room, play mono records with a mono cart, grade the quality of a record, and even keep track of the playing hours of your cartridge. And, as if that weren’t enough, you can buy a version of the Puffin that will send a 24-bit/96kHz output signal to a DAC through a digital coax or Toslink cable.

All of this functionality comes from a single black box with two buttons, one adjustment knob, an LCD screen, and one RCA input. And the price starts at $489 (the unit I am reviewing, with Toslink output, sells for $639). But how does it sound? How easy is it to use a Puffin when you have multiple turntables and cartridges? Be sure to check back later for a review!

Gene Hopstetter

Gene Hopstetter has been collecting records since 1981, when he walked into a record store and spent all of his allowance money on every AC/DC album he could find. In the mid-1980s he worked as a stock-boy in a neighborhood hi-fi emporium, which is when his obsession with sound quality began. He has always had a record player and vinyl in his life. Gene was born and raised in New Orleans, where music and food were invented. In the 1980s and 1990s he was active with two university radio stations, KLSU in Baton Rouge, and WTUL in New Orleans, where he got involved with local music promotion and album production. He earned degrees in Creative Writing and Journalism from LSU, which he somehow manages to use in his current career as an IT professional. When he is not listening to music, reviewing components, or updating his collection on Discogs, Gene enjoys restoring vintage Garrard turntables and cleaning LPs with his ultrasonic cleaner. His most prized vintage hi-fi components are a pair of McIntosh MC30 tube amps, a Garrard 301 cream grease bearing turntable with two tonearms, and a Thorens TD124 turntable. Gene is also interested in contemporary developments in hi-fi, such as Raspberry Pi DACs and streamers, amplifiers with Gallium Nitride transistors, and phono preamplifiers with digital output.