Transimpedance has too much gain?

@lewm 

I said Ideally. Output levels are still in play. The Spinplay has an input impedance "effectively Zero ohms" 
@gochurchgo 

I have a Channel D Seta L Plus and am very pleased with it. The coolest thing though is recording records with Channel D's Pure Vinyl program. The Channel D units all have pass through outputs, outputs without RIAA correction which is then done by the computer. It is like taking your photos in Raw format. I get to raid all my friend's record collections! Recorded in 192/24 digital you can not tell the difference between the recording and the original unless I kick in the pop and tic removal tool. This one really works. It removes the pop and fills in with the preceding 10th of a millisecond of music. 

@pinwa 

The only turntables that use a single wire ground are the Regas. Otherwise, all you have to do is is remove the RCAs and solder on XLRs leaving pin 1 blank. Pin #2 is positive and #3 is negative. Channel D will also sell you RCA to XLR adapters. I do not like any unnecessary contacts in the way of the cartridge, but if you do not have a soldering iron this is a viable option. 

@mijostyn @lewm Thanks for that info on converting a tonearm to balanced.  I also discovered VPI sells a somewhat overpriced junction box that you can use to replace the RCA box on their turntables.

@pinwa 

Key word is "overpriced." A pair of gold Neutrik male XLRs cost a whopping $10.00.  

pinwa

IF many LPs sound ’right’, you do NOT need to change the connectors on your Tonearm. No 1K prominence on many LPs, just some Rock, makes no logical sense.

I have that VPI junction box, mini-din in, RCA out. VAS rewired my tonearm. I like it a lot except it’s price, but over time ....

To use it, you need to change the connector on the tonearm wires (which evidently are NOT a problem now).

KISS, you could buy a returnable MC Phono EQ from Amazon, use it to ’prove’ it is the current phonostage, and to prove your cartridge/arm/cable are not the culprit.

This brand may not be respected, but it has variable settings, find answers, return it

Atmasphere described this. Most current drive phono stages use an op amp input stage which provides a “virtual ground” the impedance between the inputs and the virtual ground can be zero. But there is also a true ground, and the impedance between hot and real ground cannot be zero. Many manufacturers admit to a finite input impedance in their fine print. Up front they like to say”zero”. None of this means they can’t sound good, but because there is some input impedance the sound seems to vary more unpredictably with cartridges having different internal resistances, albeit the lower the better .