Next upgrade for my analog source

Jperry, that is true and it is an extremely easy thing to disconnect chassis ground from the signal wires. With a warm soldering Iron it might take me 10 minutes. It is unfortunate that something like this should scare an audiophile. To disregard what might be the absolute best value in a phono amp for that reason is rather silly. IMHO the minimum audiophile kit is a set of small screwdrivers,  set of metric Allen wrenches. small diagonal cutters, small needle nose pliers a soldering iron and some solder. Shrink wrap of various sizes is a nice add on.  Not having this is like a cyclist who can't work on his bike so for every little adjustment he has to go back to the bike store? Helpless. 

Maybe he doesn’t want to screw around with it, I wouldn’t.

By the way, did you hear the phono preamp you were touting, or just read the review?

Have a great day.

I hope it came through that one absolutely cannot use a current Drive phono stage with a moving magnet cartridge. Only a select few moving coil cartridges that have particularly low internal resistance and low voltage output can be used advantageously with a current Drive phono  stage. So if you upgrade to a current drive phono  stage, de facto you will have to get a new cartridge.

 Being a contrarian and unlikely to please those with the
gear upgrade bug, look at your room and see what acoustic
treatments might help.

Once the room is improved  {assuming you already haven't}
you can make changes from a reasonable acoustic foundation.

Otherwise it's like chasing one's tail.

Or, you can subconsciously select speakers that compensate for your room problems.  That isn't so crazy, because no room is ever perfect, and even if you have a good room, you eventually will have selected speakers that work well in it. That said, I agree that some people live with glaring room problems that are ignored in favor of decor.