Comparing Sony TT preamp & Behringer's

I had to get a new TT to get my LPs into digital. Picked up a inexpensive Sony PS-LX 250H in addition to the UFO 202 I got earlier.

I wanted to determine which had the better pre-amp. I did a 1 minute recording of my 60s, Bob Dylan The Times They are A-Changin’.

Since I’m brand new at this, I can only guess at the result. Using the Sony’s, the recording came in at several dBs higher then using the 202. To my mind that makes the Sony the one to use, right???

To back that opinion up, I did a Frequency Analysis of both…the problem being I have no idea what it’s telling me. Would someone please explain what these graphs are in fact saying & if in fact the Sony’s pre-amp is the one to use.
Left- tt preamp - OFF, ufo - ON ---- Right- TT pa- ON, ufo- OFF.jpg

The spectrum plot shows that the Sony turntable has about +6 dB more gain than the Behringer pre-amp below 1000 Hz. It also shows a lot more “stuff” above 15 kHz, but it does not show whether that “stuff” has musical content or is just noise (hiss). I would guess from those plots that the Sony probably sounds a bit “brighter” than the Behringer and the Behringer a bit “warmer” than the Sony but which is “better” is something that you will need to decide by listening.

Danm…I wanted a simple answer! :smiling_imp: …thanks.

The simple answer is: use whichever sounds best to you :wink:

And the slightly more complicated answer is that your ears may prefer different devices for different types of music … :nerd:

WC



No way I’m picking Door #2…staying with steve’s answer. :wink:

Listened to 2 songs (did simple Audacity tweaks so the wave forms looked similar & exported to waves) on the puter. ALC888 audio chip & M-Audio speakers…couldn’t hear any diff, so I’ll listen to them on better equipment & maybe do a couple more…if I still can’t tell any diff, I’ll go w/ the Sony’s preamp…my logic (it’s active a couple of hours each day) just kinda tells me that the TT’s is more efficient.

If you have no preference of one over the other, go with whichever is more convenient :wink: