The Darlington Labs thread (New 2024 models!)

krichard2496 said:
We've never charged (yet) for any service on any product regardless of the product's age (with the oldest commercially-sold products now approaching 4 years old, and beta units of 7 years). This is true even in a few cases where the client damaged the unit in installation or unauthorized modification. These events have been very rare no matter the cause - being typically confined to a small number of failed power cubes and a few jack panels, usually where we could not duplicate the problem but we still proactively replaced or updated. Regarding the customer in question, we've attempted to make contact with him multiple times, yesterday and today, with no response thus far.
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Hi Keith,

Been a busy week between work and preparing my house for family coming to visit for the holiday weekend. I saw that you responded yesterday, and I was planning to respond today once I got some time to do the troubleshooting steps you recommend. Please know, this was far from an attempt to publicly shame the product or your work. This wasn't a frustrated buyer who sends out a tweet or makes a Reddit post unfairly maligning a company. This is a fairly small group on here. Plus -- I wouldn't rule out some level of user error on my part. There are folks on these forums that are far more knowledgeable than me when it comes to gear and troubleshooting connection/component issues. There are also many on here that have a long history of using your products.

I understand that any kind of public sharing about anything negative with your product line is going to cause you a bit of trepidation, especially with being a small, independent business. There could very well be a simple explanation/fix for the issue I'm experiencing, and I want to reiterate that my intentions were not malicious. Appreciate your understanding, and we'll talk privately about addressing my particular issue.
 
Going strictly by my experience with Darlington Labs on several occasions, I can assure you, @MattHasIdeas, that your problem will be resolved well beyond your satisfaction. Dealing with Keith is one of those rare customer/vendor experiences that larger companies can only dream about.

I'm not defending Darlington Labs. Just allaying any fears you might have with regard to your equipment. You're in great hands. I know I'm treading into fanboi territory, so don't just take my word for it. Feel free to ask around.
 
krichard2496 said:
I personally delivered a new MP7B unit to a UPS driver today for this client, sent via 2nd-Day Air. Carriers were closed yesterday for July 4th. I don't intend to spam this thread but thought it was worth closing the loop; we'll see how it turns out with the client.
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You're a welcome voice here. Thanks for posting. I've had 0 issues with my, now 2 year old, MM-6. Appreciate you joining and hope you enjoy the rest of the forum beyond this thread.
 
Wanted to provide an update here to say that the replacement MP7B arrived, and it is working without issue. As Keith had stated on one of his earlier posts, Darlington Labs has experienced a very low percentage of device defects ("being typically confined to a small number of failed power cubes and a few jack panels"). There is no evidence to suggest that my experience is anything other than an isolated issue, essentially.

@krichard2496 went above and beyond - first recommending troubleshooting steps. He then, promptly and without question, sent out a replacement unit - personally delivering it to the UPS driver. This kind of customer service experience is a rarity and truly sets Darlington Labs apart from competitors in this space. Not to mention, you've got an incredible quality product for the price.

Thanks again, Keith. Really appreciate you.
 
Figured something like this would be on here! Just got my MM5A (eBay model) from Keith and wow is it great. I’m playing a LP120 with the preamp removed to the MM5A through a Yamaha A-S801. AT-VM540ML cart. The MM5A stomps the internal phono preamp that comes with the A-S801. It’s not horrible but has always been a little dark and not the best separation. Can’t imagine how good the MM5A is going to sound after it burns in a bit. Thanks @krichard2496!
 
mitchwagz said:
Figured something like this would be on here! Just got my MM5A (eBay model) from Keith and wow is it great. I’m playing a LP120 with the preamp removed to the MM5A through a Yamaha A-S801. AT-VM540ML cart. The MM5A stomps the internal phono preamp that comes with the A-S801. It’s not horrible but has always been a little dark and not the best separation. Can’t imagine how good the MM5A is going to sound after it burns in a bit. Thanks @krichard2496!
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A quality phono preamp is one of the best audio upgrades you can make. Enjoy!
 
Just wanted to provide little bit of an update. After having some troubles with my first MP7B, Keith ended up sending me a replacement and threw in a free mono switch upgrade. Honestly, I had nearly forgotten that I had the mono switch on there. However, I recently broke out my Beatles in Mono box set. Figured it was the perfect testing ground. Threw on the exquisite sounding Rubber Soul mono pressing.

First - I was able to switch it on the fly to do real-time comparisons of on/off. It was perfectly silent when switching between mono and stereo. These albums are already fantastic sounding without the mono switch, but I do think I noticed some increased clarity and reduced surface noise with it switched on (could be placebo effect).

Anyone have any experience using the mono switch on their DL preamps?

From the Darlington Labs FAQ:

How is your mono switch configured electrically?​

Our mono switch places the positive inputs from the cartridge in direct parallel (this parallel junction is accomplished in series with a 1 ohm resistor intended to damp any possible parasitic effects in the input leads). No additional circuitry is added. When not in use I.e., ’normal stereo”, there are no additional circuit elements including switches are in the signal path.

It is the equivalent of wiring a stereo cartridge to mono right at the headshell.

Ours is completely silent in its sonic operation and can be switched while listening to a record, without muting your system or worrying about transient “pops” like some of our competitors.

Step-Up Transformers are completely unaffected and our mono switch works perfectly.

What about loading effects? Not to worry. The resistive input load with our channels in parallel declines to 23.5K and capacitance increases to 200pF, but now the cartridge has its’ own coils effectively “in parallel”, meaning that the source impedance is exactly halved.

Therefore, the cartridge high-end resonance point and frequency response is unaffected and no changes to loading are necessary nor desirable.

If a user is operating an active MC Head Amp ahead of our MM-5, MM-6 or MP-7, they should use any mono switch available on the MC head amp itself.

The Mono switch is physically configured as “Mono=Up”, “Stereo=Down”.
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kvetcha said:
The Mono switch should reduce apparent noise since it's summing the outputs, meaning that asymmetrical surface noise drops in relative amplitude compared to the rest of the signal.
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This makes sense. The perceived noise reduction was minor, but it’s still a very neat feature. Cost effective too since I definitely don't have enough mono records to warrant a dedicated cartridge.
 
Mather said:
I googled the manual, found it didn't exist. Then googled pictures and phoned people. You wouldn't think that VPI is run like a "small" company but dear lord, they are. Forward facing customer service is non-existent.
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I think the company has about a dozen employees in total. So yeah, they are a small business.
 
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