my two cents
i recently got an opportunity to do a side by side demo of the cambridge 551p and the CNC Phono at Om Mishra's residence. Om was very kind to spare time late in the evening for same, i'm ever grateful.
the reason i had to do a comparison was, i had bought the CNC Phono (PCB populated by Sachin) long time back, but never got around completing it as im a complete novice in this area. as i had no choice i purchased the CA 551P.
comparison between two at Om's residence gave me some confidence to part with the 551P - was the 551P so bad? no, i dont think so.
Maybe Om could articulate it better but in simple terms what was clear was -
CA 551p had a very smooth, well rounded, slightly laid back sound, Om used the word muddy, but then felt the equalization would;ve been tuned in such way to retain the warm feel one associated with LP's
CNC Phono on the other hand sounds very forward, to an extent high's were sharper, bass was controlled, i could also hear some details which i probably missed out earlier, i would probably attribute this to the slightly controlled bass.
again, the demo was not done in ideal condition as Om has personalized/placed his setup in a very specific way in his bedroom. so i was seated next to left speaker, almost 2 feet away. but maybe this is good thing?
all said, 551P is a decent Phono, but i missed my earlier phono, which was in built in PULZ Pre Amp. the advantage Pulz had was, it had Eq controls, which sounds very beautiful with LP's, so that's one other contender.
