Voltage mode vs current mode phono stages

Mr Fremer would argue with that, but he has better hearing than I have. 

Really? I spoke to him at Axpona and he could hardly hear me, had to repeat myself like 10 times. 😉

Fremer by and large has better equipment than most of us have, not necessarily better hearing.  He's old, like we are.  Like I said before, what is the big deal about SMD components?  Good for op amps in circuits with very very wide bandwidth but not necessarily an audible upgrade with a phono stage.  That said, the quality of construction of the Seta circuit does appear to be very high, judging only from photos.  I've not seen the innards of a BMC. I'm not buying any time soon, or maybe ever.

Dear @lewm ​@mijostyn   : " what is the big deal about SMD components?  Good for op amps in circuits with very very wide bandwidth but not necessarily an audible upgrade with a phono stage.   "

Really? because it's precesily where the SMD can helps especiaLLY IN THE riaa CIRCUIT WHERE NORMALLY IS NOT DEVELOPED HIGH TEMPERATURE. wITH smd parts THE SIGNAL " RUNS " a way shorter path and in a phono circuit that's important.

Several months now I told you to change the attenuators in your phonolinepreamp for attenuators with the same Swiss mechanism but with SMD parts. I don't know if you did it and if not then do it and latter on come back with muyjost to comment about. Till you try it and almost as always everything belongs to your " imagination " that's wider than mine because I always try and make tests.

Regard and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

IMO, informed by imagination and. some high ( as in orbital and beyond ) end electronics fabrication experience, you want a designer fluent in: point to point, boards, multi-layer boards..and SMD and integrated circuits. Helps if they have ears also. 

Carry on…..

Raul, are you thinking of the Goldpoint series attenuators for your and my Phonolinepreamp? Yes, you did advise me to replace the originals with those Goldpoints that use SMDs. Can you tell me what value, in terms of Kohms? One thing I noted is that Goldpoint claim they no longer need to sell ladder type attenuators (one resistor in circuit per position both in series and in parallel with the signal) because the SMD resistors raise the quality of the series type to that of a ladder type. (For others, series attenuator will have a string of resistors soldered end to end, with resistors added as you go increasingly attenuate the signal. This is usually inferior to a ladder type attenuator, if you are seeking Nirvana. Since there are so many solder joints in a series type attenuator circuit, it is no wonder at all that SMDs will work better.) I probably should look into doing the mod but when I did, I also considered using Khozmo shunt type attenuators and got stuck on the decision between the two. I use the Khozmo stereo balanced shunt attenuator in my MP1 and they are excellent. A shunt type places only one resistor in the circuit in parallel with the signal per setting. What I tried to convey to Mijostyn is that I would not choose between two components based ONLY on the fact that one uses SMDs and one does not or that one uses fiberglass PCBs and one does not.