Exciting Parks Audio "Puffin" news

[Chris]

Parks Audio, famous for their innovative DSP Phono Preamp, the Puffin, has unwrapped their successor to the Puffin.

Introducing the Waxwing.




Building on the Puffin's DSP phono circuit, the Waxwing comes in a brand-new box and form factor while adding a phone/bluetooth based application to allow all parameters to be adjusted on the fly. The app streamlines the UI and allows saving and sharing of settings. All of the much loved features of the Puffin are present such as the Magic Filter and infinite adjustability of EQ and load settings which can now be done from the comfort of your listening chair.



See all the features and background here. The app is already in the Play store.

Early beta units will be sold starting September 29th. A full ramp up of units for sale will follow during the fall.

You can bet I will try to get one as soon as possible.

You can interact with Shannon Parks on the Parks Audio Facebook page.

[Chris]

I was able to score one of the early beta slots so I will have the unit in a week or so. I'll report my experience. Possibly a video.

[Chris]

I received my Waxwing and was able to set it up yesterday. I believe I am one of twenty people that have this right now. I am kind of an owner/beta tester for the final release.

Installing was quite easy and the Android App immediately connected via Bluetooth. There is also an iOS app for those users.

By separating the UI from the hardware and running it as an app on your phone, Shannon has made a tremendous step forward. This should pay dividends with quicker updates and new enhancements down the road.

It was so easy to dial in the settings for my cartridge and save them to a file for instant recall. I think you can have 20 saved files for your cartridge collection. Settings I really like are the logging function (which automatically tracks play time for your cartridge) and the Grading feature which attempts to grade the quality of your disc. Of course, the Magic function which filters out typical LP noise in a very subtle way is amazing.

There is one brand new feature since the Puffin which is called PEQ as in Parametric Equalization. This allows you to set very tight or broad EQ parameters to solve issues like hum, etc.

I found two very minor bugs that Shannon has already addressed for the next firmware.

I'll keep reporting as I come across things of interest.

As I have said many times about the Puffin, the Waxwing is a very innovative product that is a big step forward in maximizing your vinyl playback enjoyment.