PHONO PREAMP

Based on your system description thread it appears that the outputs of the phono stage would be driving the analog inputs of a Benchmark DAC2 HGC. The analog inputs of the Benchmark (which are only provided as unbalanced RCAs) have a specified impedance of only 20K, which will be marginal (or worse) for use with many tube-based phono stages, including some of those that have been suggested.

For example, the Lamm LP2.1 has a specified nominal output impedance of "typically 2.3K," which I suspect is significantly higher at deep bass frequencies, and even 2.3K does not meet the rule of thumb guideline of a 10x minimum ratio. Also, the ARC Ref Phono 2SE has a recommended load of "50K-100K ohms and 100pF (10K ohms minimum and 2000pF maximum)," which would seem to imply that a 20K load is not ideal.

Regards,
-- Al

Manley Steelhead may work for the load

Out of curiosity, why would you want to run the output of a phono preamp, specially a very high end model, into a DAC? Do you have a digital amplifier downstream of the Benchmark??

@kalali the HGC has a pair of analog inputs that are analog input to output. However it certainly seems like an unbalanced pairing of a super high end phono pre into a relatively speaking budget preamp.

Thanks for the help all. Need  more research. Might the Sutherland phonoblock be more compatible with the benchmark DAC 2 HGC and stay with solid state units only?