Shannon Parks Puffin. Lifetime firmware upgrades.
Looking for a new phono preamp
Hi,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Here's the deal. I'd like to find a new phono preamp. I'd prefer solid state, tubes get noisy too fast. My latest cartridge is an AT-ART9XA. I'm currently running thru a sut into a cj pv10a with phono stage, but I have just got my hands on a Bel Canto pre5 that the new phono pre will be paired with.
I've got a hard upper limit of $2.5k, less is OK for the right unit. I'm looking to buy new. Dealers around me aren't really set up to demo vinyl, so I'm hoping the collective experience in here can at least point me in the right direction. Hopefully, it would have a one month return policy so I can try out the preamp.
TIA.
PsychoicReaction
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Here's the deal. I'd like to find a new phono preamp. I'd prefer solid state, tubes get noisy too fast. My latest cartridge is an AT-ART9XA. I'm currently running thru a sut into a cj pv10a with phono stage, but I have just got my hands on a Bel Canto pre5 that the new phono pre will be paired with.
I've got a hard upper limit of $2.5k, less is OK for the right unit. I'm looking to buy new. Dealers around me aren't really set up to demo vinyl, so I'm hoping the collective experience in here can at least point me in the right direction. Hopefully, it would have a one month return policy so I can try out the preamp.
TIA.
PsychoicReaction
- ...
- 83 posts total
Go for the win and get a new Luxman E-250. No tubes but has that beautiful and detailed sound that will honor your vinyl collection. Luxman just has a way of delivering the goods with no downside. Because of its robust power supply, pops, ticks and basic vinyl noise is diminished significantly. Built like a, well, tank! PS. It highlights a moving coil demagnetizer called the “articulator”. |
It is the best until you get to much more expensive phono stages like the CH or the Channel D L20. Also current mode units. Current mode phono stages are more dynamic and have a gain of about 80 dB. Yes, you have to use a cartridge with a low impedance which happen to be among the best moving coil cartridges out there like the Lyra's, the Air Tights, many Ortofons, My Sonic Labs, Koetsu and so forth. The performance exceeds anything you will get from a normal voltage mode phono stage. You get the dynamics of a good moving magnet cartridge and the sparkle of a moving coil and because a current mode phono stage electrically dampens the cartridge they track even better. Read the reviews and other people's comments. If you do not want the best sound you can get even if you have the money to do so....I find that odd but it is a free country. I do not have a Lino 2.0 but I have my eye on the L20 which stands a good chance of being the best phono stage made. It is certainly the quietest. I do not have to listen to all the phone stages mentioned above and I do not care what other people except trusted friends hear. It does not take a genius to now that a modern jet liner is a much better and safer plane than an old DC 4. Occasionally people smarter than I am come up with a better way of doing things. This is one of those instances. |
Vertere Acoustics Phono-1. Versatile and punches way above its weight. Hardly anyone in North America has heard of Vertere Acoustics. https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/vertere-acoustics-phono-1-mkii |
- 83 posts total