I picked up the Rega mini phono recently for use on digitizing vinyl as well and gotta say for less than $200 it is pretty darn good. Also very well reviewed which is why I tried it first before sinking more $$$$$s into a new phono setup. Recommend trying the Inexpensive Rega phono preamps to start. Nothing to lose. Available from many vendors with very good return policies which is very important when trying out new gear.
Solid State Phono Stages
I used to be an all-tube guy, but I’ve now ventured into the realm of high-end solid state with T+A and no longer have any itch to go back heavily into tubes. Now, the only tubes I have left in my system are in my Modwright PH9.0X phono, and from what I’ve demoed against it, it seems to be a giant killer. I do love it, but I’m curious to try a higher end solid state phono stage to see what more noise and more music might sound like. Unfortunately T+A does not have a standalone phono stage, so I’m looking at other manufacturers and open to other opinions.
I currently have a Clearaudio Innovation Wood table and Air Tight PC-1s cartridge. i listen to a wide range of music, from Zeppelin to Vivaldi to Beck to Coltrane to Yello. The stage would ideally have between 65-74db of gain, maybe adjustable to 60db at minimum, and have variable impedance values. A balanced output stage would be ideal. I don’t ever really plan to have a second arm, but most stages that retail over $7K tend to have multiple inputs anyways.
My budget would be at tops ~$8K for a used unit. The unit that is sticking out to me from what I’m reading about is the Simaudio Moon 810LP. Another high on the list is the Esoteric E-02. I’ve also come across the Pass XP-27, the Gold Note PH-1000.
I’m looking for a stage with some personality in its character, not one that is overly refined. I’d love for it to be dynamic and bold when it should be, and also gentle and refined when it should be.
The only solid state stages I’ve ever owned and tried were the Pass Labs Xono, which was clean sounding but a little noisy and brittle sounding compared to a PS Audio Stellar Phono. I’ve liked all my tube phono stages better than both of those units.
I’ve also considered going further up the tube stage route, looking at Doshi 3.0, Aesthetix IO Eclipse, but I’m hesitant unless I can hear those in place.
What solid stage phono stages have you loved, and what have you compared them to?
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I own several turntables and cartridges, which I alternate with different phono stages and step-up; I have been using both a Pass Xono as my main phono preamp for many years and I have not noticed the characteristics exhibited by the opener both a Camtech Phono and an Audio Analogue Aria rev. and I must say that both the Xono and the Camtech have slightly different sonic characteristics and that I appreciate both, I do not feel the need to change for now because I am satisfied. I might suggest that the opener try listening to FM Acoustics if he gets the chance. |
So just to update this thread, I’ve made a few decisions and settling on two phono stages actually. The first is on the Audionet PAM G2 with outboard EPC power supply. Should go perfectly with my cartridge, and the engineering of the unit fascinates me. 260,000uF of capacitance reservoir is more than my power amp’s separate power supply. The second one will be the BMC MCCI Signature ULN, which will be coming from Germany likely in mid-to-late May. This is a “transimpedance” / current injection stage as some have pointed me to in this thread. I likely won’t be able to post impressions on the Audionet for another week or so, but excited to compare against the Modwright PH 9.0X. Thanks all, for being a great community to enrichen my audio journey. And stay tuned! |
I used to have an Xono before moving to the XP-15. I currently have the XP-17. While I loved the Xono, the later Pass phono stages are head and shoulders above it. I don't think you can get an XP-27 for $8K, but if you can find it at that price I would jump all over it. An alternative would be to get the XP-17 and put the rest of your dollars into a good/better interconnect and power cord. (And/or upgrade your phono cable.) Those improvements will yield a significant improvement as well. |
@jpan The following statement is valuable advice and one that has been experienced by myself today whilst visiting a friend whose designs for HiFi equipment has won much favour. "An alternative would be to get the XP-17 and put the rest of your dollars into a good/better interconnect and power cord. (And/or upgrade your phono cable.) Those improvements will yield a significant improvement as well". My friend has adopted the use of cables using PC Triple C Wire since my introducing these to the system they own. This friend has also assisted me in my request to have a Tonearm Produced using PC Triple C Internal wiring. There is now after a few attempts and some extended trials a Tonearm produced into its final guise using PC Triple C Internal Wiring. Today was about using my owned PC Triple C wire as a DIN>RCA Cable and as a RCA>RCA Cable and the system owners acquired cables with the same wire in the system with the new internal tonearm wire. To add a curve ball, I also brought along a Power cord / lead made form the same wire and other RCA >RCA Interconnects that are produced using D.U.C.C wire. We both have the same TT's and Tonearms and a selection of Cart's attached to same material headshells. My friend had a 'Old friend cartridge' that he has not owned or used the model for a very long time, but had recently acquired as a model with a sale description that it has close to a 1000 hours of usage on it, and it was purchased as a Cart' to be a donor to go for a overhaul, to give more expensive owned Cart's a break from usage. The Cart' in question is a Ortofon Kontrapunkt B (Kb), I own good condition spares of these Cart's, as well as a model that has been completely rebuilt. The idea was to work our way through trialling Cables and exchanging Cart's up to the Ortofon Windfeld. The Plan did not quite go as organised, after a couple of cable configurations, the so called worn out Kb, was superb with a couple of Cable configurations and not quite the same match with other configurations. The suggestion was made to add the Power Cord / Lead to the Phonostage, which when done was quite something, there was a noticeable change for the better and the Power Cord was agreed to be kept in place. The Cable of the day in my view was a RCA > RCA SAEC SL-5000, when in use with the Internal Arm Wire and the Power Cord, the SL-5000 delivered in a way that was quite unimaginable, bearing in mind the Cart' in use was supposed to be a donor for a refurb, not one of the attendees wanted the Cart' to be changed, the want was strong to see what was on offer from it from all the LP's brought along . I have a very little use Kb' that is un-mounted and stored, it has been agreed this Cart' will be brought along for the next session arranged for June and will be compared to the Cart' used today, if it still has wind in its sails, my suspicion is it has been a Lazarus today and has many hours of usage left to go. Do I regret not trying out different Cartridges, not at all, and as far as I can tell no one else is feeling something was missed either. The Cables selected allowed a Cart' that was expected to be underwhelming experience to shine and be a Cart' that generated a very positive impression.
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