Solid state or Tubes preamp phono stage.

@bigmac1963 Here's something to try:

Put both preamps side by side. Do not use any loading on the cartridge other than the stock 47KOhms.

Use the same LP and listen to both. Does one of them seem to play more surface noise than the other or sound brighter? Don't get that one.

The surface noise is high frequency overload that manifests as ticks and pops. The brightness is distortion caused by high frequency overload.

FWIW its far easier to design a tube phono section that does not have this problem. With semiconductors the circuit you want to avoid overloading (the input) might be outside of the feedback loop.

I would like to thank blisshifi for your opinion and the information you gave me on choosing a amplifier. I decided to purchase the musical fidelity m6x vinyl I think it will be a good match with my turntable and cartridge thanks bigmac1963.

I would like to thank blisshifi for your opinion and the information you gave me on choosing a amplifier. I decided to purchase the musical fidelity m6x vinyl I think it will be a good match with my turntable and cartridge thanks bigmac1963.

@blisshifi 

Again, I have the Trumpet, and that Fremer review was terrible. It’s almost as if he rushed through it and didn’t seem to understand how to set it up, nor really cared to understand it fully. Which should be unusual for someone with his experience. I didn’t have the ‘issues’ he seemed to have even when mine was purely stock. Reading that review when it came out, he seemed to have had his selection options all wrong.

I really didn’t get it, and was actually surprised when Jim linked the review to his site.

Personally, I have the Hagerman Violin which is a cousin of the Trumpet (similar execution level, but has EQ selection capability). Also, have heard several Trumpet versions, both in stock, tube rolled, and modified forms, in various systems and rooms.

I've also known Jim (Jim Hagerman) for 20 years, so, briefly, I can safely say I know the Trumpet quite well and how the comparisons went against different brands. (The Trumpet has the most natural, non-mechanical   Also, I myself build phono stages, so I can also comment on more aspects than most users can, knowing what is under the hood.

For those who like reviews, I can recommend Mike Fremer's stereophile review on the Trumpet - Fremer basically says flat out it's the highest level musical phono stage he tried (at the time he wrote the review), and the issues he has with its sound that it's not clinical enough for his taste, but in all fairness he says that it portrays several (high level) recordings better than his 20K$+ phono he uses in his home system. Fremers verdict is that if you want the highest level phono that does not intrude on the sound with mechanical aspects, then the Trumpet is for you. If you like uber-clinical sound it's not your ticket. 

My observations: it has a neutral sound. In analytical systems it sounds cold and analytical, in colored systems it sounds colored, and in a neutral system it sounds neutral. Briefly, you can hear the record and the rest of the system, it's not editing it. The warmth or clinicalness will be 98% dependent on the cartridge you use.

Of course, when you use premium tubes instead of new production Russian tubes, it's not a surprise that it sounds darn much better! (Lesson 101 for tube users, should not be a surprise...) Basically, with stock tubes it's a darn good phono, and with pimped out tubes you need a custom phono stage to get any better.

I have no experience on the m6x. What I can say if you want equal to Trumpet you need to look in the 20-50K$ price range. (I judge based on classical, unprocessed music, orchestral and chamber.)

Also, if you want to build an ultimate rig, it can perform as a phono stage in that system. Not sure how the m6x would scale up. The Trumpet holds place from mid level to rarest ultra-fi... don;t let the low price tag fool you. This ain't in the level of the 1-2K$ phono stages. Its sound belongs to the 10-30K$ range, but not its price.