PS Audio new Stellar Phono PreAmp?

smoorenc:

Hello, I was a beta tester for PS Audio on this device. I thought it sounded exceptional. It was very very good right out of the box. I burned it with a tuner and attenuating reverse RIAA cables and a dummy loads for about 125 hours before I did any serious listening. They certainly gave it the right name. The unit is dynamic, great timing and just has a hint of tube sound, not bloated or rolled off, just that easy musical quality that I sometimes associate moreso with tubes. I did put one of my Audio Magic Bees Wax Ultimate SHD fuses in the unit and that took it further on down the road.

All in allPS Audio should be proud, it is one of the best sounding SS stages I’ve heard and that includes some in the $30k range. 

I would say at 50 hours it started to show  It’s stride. I think it is a monumental value for the sound it creates. It’s not good for $2.5k it is just plain good. If you are in the market for a SS phono stage you owe it to yourself to audition this unit regardless of what your were looking at be it $5k or more in price. 

If I were you I would try to demo one first. I had at least 6 phono pre's in the last 2 1/2 years and the one I settled on is the Modwright PH9.0 if you like tubes in the phono stage going solid state you might be disappointed you will loose mainly sound staging. Yes I also had a Rogue Ares Magnum at the same time the PH9.0 is better less noisy. The best 2 solid state ones I liked were the Parasound JC3 JR and the Musical Fidelity Nu Vista Vinyl

Just ordered the Stellar Phono to compliment the Stellar GCD preamp and M700 mono blocks which replaced a more expensive setup but gave spectacular performance both with analogue and digital sources. 

Currently, the sound stage is very good, and I think this is the result of balanced circuits + good balanced interconnects + class A circuitry in the GCD + class A input stage in the M700s   

The Stellar Phono preamp will be used with two tt setups: Rega Apheta II + Rega RP8; Sumiko Blackbird + Technics SL 1200.  The Stellar Phono has a balanced circuit with class A circuitry. So, I am all hopes I to gain on details and keep or improve the soundstage.

serhan621    Looking forward to your thoughts,  Scott

Good day @ smoorenc
@ Audiofun thanks for sharing your views. Valid and true indeed.

Phono pre-amp arrived yesterday with DirectStream DAC with Bridge II pre-installed, but that will have to be discussed in a different forum. 

I kept all the existing cables unchanged (balanced Van Den Hul 2nd  hybrid) which I have been using for more than 2 decades.  I also decided to assess the phono pre-amp with Rega Apheta II / RP8 low gain setup which would be more challenging for the pre-amp.

Straight from the box, I got hooked.  This is by no means an ordinary piece of hi-fi gear. I could not stop listening until I fell asleep in my chair around midnight!  

I cannot go into tech talk. However, after just 4 hours with the Stellar Phono Premap I realised it sounds nothing like hi-fi.  It brings my LPs to life, especially orchestral and symphonic works that I use to evaluate my analogue setup for instrumental space segregation, instrumental realism as well as sound stage breadth and depth.  Moreover, as many people say, the Stellar has a black background (low noise floor).  I enjoyed   fatigue-free time with the music!  As with other PS units that I have, I expect this to improve within the coming days.