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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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pindac's avatar
pindac
2,492 posts
 

@thiefoflight to discover a device that surpasses and supersedes a trusted device is usually a knock one out the ballpark experience, and only being their can really describe the impact that is made and good impression left.

I have had this twice with Two Phon's across a few years, one that was built for me by the designer who was initially offering it as a kit to be assembled, this was very special and won my favour and others who experienced it, following a Tube Rolling experience, I thought I was finished with the search for  Phon'.

A friend attended a Phonostage Bake Off with myself and demonstrated a Phon' he had produced, and when it was given its demonstration, it was a show stopper.

I was supplying parts and a critical ear during this Phon' design rethink.

The end product took on a few guises throughout a period of a year and the latest design produced solely by this individual is owned by myself.

It is a amazing piece of kit to use, and my search is I believe for now over, whilst my ears are functioning as they are at the present.

The designer is now involved with producing Phon' designs for a well known Company that specialises in ancillaries for TT's.

Enjoy the new information to be revealed from the groove and the wonderment that can follow.  

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,227 posts
 

Noise in the older ARC phono stages is almost entirely tube dependent. You really have to get now noise tubes then they are as quiet as a tube stage can get. They are also hybrid with a FET front end. 

The quietest phono stage made by a longshot is the Channel D Seta L20. It can be run either current or voltage mode. It is also something like $60,000 and out of my price range. But, Channel D's Seta L Plus is the second quietest phono stage made and can also be run either current or voltage mode. It has a battery power supply and an extremely accurate RIAA circuit. It also has a flat output if you care to try digital RIAA correction. At about $10,000 it is manageable. I find it intriguing enough to buy it sight unheard. Both Stereophile and Absolute Sound raved about it's little brother, the Lino C. 

@lewm, Schroder will only use captive cables. He will supply them RCA or XLR. It is a breeze to swap connectors, maybe 20 minutes with a soldering iron. Sota will be displaying their Nova and Cosmos tables with Schroder arms now. I wonder whose fault that was. Anyway, you know how I feel about unnecessary contacts in the way of a phonograph cartridge signal. 

jpan
110 posts
 

@pindac it's amazing what system synergy can do. it's right there with turntable set-up, speaker positioning etc. it's valuable to have a written, concrete example like you shared. it's also good to be surprised. 😁

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rauliruegas
12,852 posts
 

Dear @mijostyn : It’s true that the SETA L20 MK2 is an excellent phono stage but as nothing in audio is not perfect.

 

The unit I have in my system outperform it in some specs as the RIAA eq. measurements and the noise level of my unit is almost " there " as its frequency range and several other specs.

You can go to the Channel D site and its RIAA is not so accurated as should be for a unit of that caliber. Look there its " critical " performance from 50hz and down and compare against what I own:

 

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104284617601331669309/album/AF1QipMFuJ0YVzL64lrK46jDWyUx7h0SGhNyKWFEifag/AF1QipOKpGytlEsRi_miCPtIm-J7b45dCmz3bGV_Yb2f?authKey=CKaK_bnM-of_9AE

 

Of course that specs tell you many things but can’t explain perfectly what you are listening. I can tell you that my unit performs at very high quality levels. In the other side I never had the opportunity to listen the L20 MK2 that I’m sure is ( again ) excellent but overall the phonolinepreamp I own could compete with.

R.

herman
2,216 posts
 

As with any audio item almost always exist a " but " and in your unit is that’s weird that the RIAA deviation ( that’s the main critical characteristic along gain for a phono stage. ) has a swing of 0.4db !

 

rather silly to get excited about that small of a deviation. No , it is really, really silly. All else equal, flatter is of course better, but chasing ideal measurements is a fools game. You are lucky if you don’t have 10dB swings in response at the listening position due to speaker-room interactions. I couldn’t care less about 0.4 dB. It is certainly NOT the "main critical characteristic.. "

 

How does it sound? That is all that matters

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