Plinius M16 Phono vs. Plinius M14 Separate Phono


New to vinyl. Any benefits to going to a separate phono stage ?? Will the M14 make a significant difference in the musical reproduction of my records compared to the M16 pre w/built in phono stage ??

Associated equipment:
Plinius 250 MKIV
Plinius M16
Amazon Ref.TT
Tri-Planar Tonearm
ZYX UNIverse Cart
Totem Shaman Loudspeakers
XLO L.E.Speaker/Interconnects

Thx in advance,

Trevor.
tfjm
Trevor,
If you're new to vinyl, the built in phono card can be a good start. It will allow you to spend your finances on turntable/arm/cartridge first and foremost. I started with a Clase CP-60 w/ built in phono stage, it served me nicely for a couple years. As you get further in, you may wish to go with seperates, as I eventually did. I see you already have seperate amp/preamp. Seperating the phono stage from the preamp should bring about equal sonic value as going with seperate preamp/amp, IMHO.

Cheers,
John
Hi Jmcgrogan2. My analogue rig is already pushing 20k, I don't think I will be upgrading those components anytime soon. Currently I'm having to turn the volume on my pre up past the 12:00 position to get any substantial sound out of the speakers ?? Will a separate phono stage remedy this problem ??

Thx.Trevor.
In my experience different quality phonostages make a big difference. I have the Plinius M14 today which works very nicely in my system with a LAMM LL2 preamp and was a substantial improvement over a previous system (Sonic Frontiers Signature phonstage and Conrad Johnson PV10 preamp) and an even bigger improvement over just using the phono stage in the PV10 preamp. It seems to me that you have an excellent analog front end, possibly beyond the ability of your phonostage to realize all its potential.