I own the Zesto Andros Deluxe II phono stage. It's the best phono stage I've ever owned. I have not compared it to the two other phono stages you're considering.
Best of luck. It appears you won't go wrong with any of those choices.
I need help regarding tube phono preamplifiers
To the Audiogon community. I am currently considering one of three possible all tube phono preamps to incorporate in my two channel system. The three phono stages are 1.Aesthetix Rhea phono preamp 2.Zesto Andros Deluxe II phono stage and 3. Vac Renaissance phono preamp. I will incorporate the stand alone phono preamp into my McIntosh C48 preamp and utilize a Clearaudio Performance DC turntable with a Clearaudio Universal tonearm and Kiseki Purple Heart phono cartridge. If anyone has experience to help me compare the differences between these phono stages I would greatly appreciate the input. Thanks.
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@andyhifiman A few demo's will be very advantageous to your investigation. Do try and achieve a Home Demo' if one is discovered that is attractive and felt worthy of further pursuit. |
Seems like the OP did a bit of shopping before compiling his list of 3. Evidently the Herron did not make the cut, possibly because it is out of production, or possibly for other good reasons. But let's not get crazy about the Herron; it most certainly is not the best phono stage ever made. For one reason because no two of us could agree on any one single "best". By all accounts, it is excellent. That's a nice category to be in. |
I'm watching this thread closely as well. I'm not trying to sidetrack either, but wouldn't it be ideal to run a tube rectified solid state Phone stage? Or just go SS phono like the Pearl 2 into a tube PRE. Just playing a bit of devils advocate here. I personally have had a lot of issues running down microphonic problems with tubes. Cost me hours of troubleshooting to find out it's the new gold lions I purchased. Vinyl is hard enough to get right. We like tubes for the H2 harmonics. On occasion our systems with these harmonics run them at the negative and positive phase depending on our setup. My point is to explore and see if you like +/- phase H2 harmonics or more 3rd order in your gear. It will help eliminate a lot of guess work. Have you tried another full tube phono stage or added tubes anywhere else in the system? It can change your negative phase to positive phase harmonics. I'm not trying to open some crazy can of worms either.... I run a Klyne Audio Arts phono/pre btw. Nate |
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