Atma-Sphere vs. Supratek

The linestage in the Mp-1 i would say is excellent, very dynamic and transparent, one of the best that i have encountered in a preamp.  The built quality i wouldn’t say is top notch,  the chassis is cheaply made and the silk screen lettering are poorly put on, would fade after usages.  The phono section with 8 12at7 can be extremely noisy,  even at medium output say .5mv. still noisy As Hell,  finding tubes to match the phono can be a nightmare!!  Overall Linestage Excellent but the phonostage Is Junk! 

My Phono Stage in the MP-1 is dead quiet, if you use noisy tubes you’re gonna get more noise.

Nos Tubes dont work in the Phono Stage they are just too noisy. The Phono Stage runs fully balanced, i have balanced cable going into it. It is by far one of the best sounding phono stages i have owned. The Phono Stage alone has outclassed other standlone units that cost north of 20K so having both a Line Stage and Phono In one unit is a big plus.

If you’re encountering noise in the phono section try to use cheaper quieter tubes this has worked very well for me.

I agree on the Chassis its cheapy looking compared to others. However im paying for Sonics and Reliability not bling bling so it never bothers me much.

You can ask Ralph to build better Chassis for you thicker plates or what ever but be prepaired it will raise the cost much higher. Im more bothered about Chasis but i appreciate the Tech/Circuit Design and the SQ

Was it Ralph Karsten who built the first ever Fully balanced Phono Stage?

I think it is Ralph who designed the first, and still one of the very few, truly balanced phono stages. I run a balanced line from my TT.

It is very true that there are noise and microphonic problems with the stock Chinese tubes. Ralph weeds through a lot of tubes to find the most quiet. But they are junk compared to good NOS. But you have to find a horder of the good NOS.

I was lucky enough to get NOS Mullard military grade 12AT7s that transformed the phono. Incredible difference. And dead quiet. And really great Sylvania NOS 6SN7s for the line stage. Another terrific improvement in SQ. 
This was about a grand but grab them if you can find them. And, yes, you need to buy more then needed to weed out any noisy ones. And, yes, it is a bit of a nightmare to sort out and bad tubes but not that hard. Just takes some time and effort. Just go two at a time and see if the noise moves to the other channel.

Yes, the chassis is basic and simple. Clearly, the money is put into the innards.

However, I paid extra for the factory anti vibration treatment and use it with the top off. 

Thanks again for all you enlightening comments: this is a great community. Just to let you know: I revised my order and asked Mick Maloney to build me one of his new Grange preamps with the option to switch between 6NS7 AND DHT circuits, which will allow me to go euphonic whenever the mood strikes. The production will take a long time but I hope I will be able to open a box from Down-Under before Christmas. Meanwhile I will keep listening to my The Truth preamp from South Carolina.

Again, thanks for this lively discussion.