How much difference does a phono preamp really make?

I have experienced many phono stages, and in general they are extremely important in the system as a whole. They are far up the signal path and dealing with a minuet signal, they must be very quiet and high quality to do it well. However, also the basic rule of thumb applies to Phonostage… “you need to double the cost of a component to get a solid very noticeable improvement” (its just a rule of thumb… but typically after you get into components over a couple grand it works pretty well).

For me, there was a rather massive improvement in going from a Schiit Mani to a Rega Aria Mk3.  

@audionoobie - I had budget phono stages for many years and the improvement from one to another was marginal - even when I tweaked power supplies - the improvements were incremental.

I then decided to invest in the analogue side of my system and purchased an LFD phono stage, but it was not a good match to my system or to my cartridge.

Fortunately I was able to switch at no cost to a Simaudio Moon LP5.3 RS and boy - what an improvement.

So much so that when I had my Denon 103 re-tipped by Soundsmith the improvements were immediately apparent.

Since then I have upgraded power cables and interconnects several times and the MOON has kept pace with all those changes by conveying far more details than I thought were possible.

So

• your choice of phono stage choice is critical
• matching the phono stage to your system is recommended
• matching the phono too your cartridge is is recommended
• and matching your cables to your components is recommended
• i.e. if you want to get the very best out of your analogue components.

BUT - I consider the most important cable, is from the cartridge to the phono stage - I switched to a one piece harness many years ago - i.e. basically 4 single wires from the cartridge to the phono stage - within no RCA’s or joins.in the wires

Cardas makes a very nice one piece harness.

Once you get the cables sorted, the difference between phono stages should be more noticeable

Just another opinion - Steve

@williewonka

+1

yep, my experience has been wading around the shallow end is pretty much the same. But once you get into the deep (high) end, the difference is profound.

Cartridge and its stylus profile, cantilever, coil wire, overall design is the most important in analog chain, even with very cheap preamp the difference is huge and everyone can hear it immediately (I played records with different cartridges for my non audiophile friends, everyone can hear the difference)!

In your situation it can be a difference between average cartridge and great cartridge, when you are comparing average cartridges they are all the same (aka nothing special).

I have many different cartridges (MC, MM, MI) and 4 different phono stages including Gold Note PH-10 (mentioned by you). Discovering a new cartridge is a pleasure, I do not change phono stages that often (it would be crazy) !

Better phono stage will not make your average cartridges any better. You have to start with a cartridge.

And BTW you can’t even change the stylus on your cartridges by yourself when they are worn, so you’d better think about better cartridges. Once yours are worn after 500-700 hrs, you’re done with them. Your new phono stage can’t help you with worn stylus. Sell your cartridges (before it’s too late) and buy much better cartridge.

My advice is to start your upgrade path with a cartridge (MM or MI with user replaceable stylus with advanced profile and better cantilever than aluminum), you will upgrade your phono stage later anyway.

When I bought my first serious MM cartridges for Technics turntable my phono stage was $500 Grado PH-1 and my average cartridge was Grado. My better cartridge was Technics EPC-205c mk4 and the difference between Grado MI and Technics MM was HUGE on my old Grado PH-1 phono stage, then I upgraded load resistors to Vishay Naked Foil (100k Ohm) and it was another upgrade! Later over the years I bought more turntables, cartridges and more phono stages (headamps, SUTs etc).