Phonostage Advice

There's a Pass Labs Aleph Ono for sale for $1400 on Agon right now. I have one and love it. Lot's of gain and very quiet.

There is another Aleph Ono on usaudiomart too. 

@millercarbon my cartridge is definitely not mistracking. i am familiar with that very specific sound. This kind of a flattening of the volume during peaks with "no distortion" lol.

OK so I demoed the PS Audio Stellar, the JC3+  against my LS100. Both were better. In terms pf preference I liked the Stellar the best. Brought out emotion in the music and incredible bass control. The LS100 was flatter and bass was not as defined.

Very cool - though not an unsurprising result for those of us who have done the endless mixing and matching of analog gear. It's clear you have a nice vinyl front-end which deserves better than that under-powered phono card. It's probably worthwhile to continue auditioning units as opportunity allows, but it's also nice to know you could just get that Stellar and be happy!