Gold Note PH-1000 Best Phono Preamp?

"Titles that read "Best" anything? categorically get skipped by me. "

And I.  Since I have one one the way, I will watch the OPs.

Y'all hang in there,

Robert

I had the gold note pH 10 for a while and was underwhelmed. It had a wonderful sound but it wasn't a sound that I really connected with. It just didn't have the presence of an lfd or a Hagerman in terms of similar price points. Still, having not heard the pH 1000 which seems to sell for 10 times the price, I would hope it sounds fantastic! And as always, best is completely subjective.

I don't mind the use of the word "best", but if you want to catch the interest of forum members here, it's "best" to follow up that adjective with some reasons why. Tell me what makes the PH1000 so special, in other words.

Best in the world would be a very presumptuous claim.  "Best I've ever heard" would be a better claim, but it would require listing the other phonostage one has heard.  This reviewer did not even list the other phono stages that he has heard that the Gold Note beat out.  That makes it an almost totally useless review.  A good review would involve many different cartridges and some context, such as the other high end phono stages that were heard under similar or identical conditions.  As a supposed contender for being among the best, this $16k phono stage is a quarter of the price of some others; has he heard any of these (e.g., Audio Note M9 or M10, FM Acoustics, Zanden)?

I just read Fremer's review of the PH1000 in S'phile published in 2022.  He spends most of the space saying why the multiple alternative compensation curves are unnecessary. He offers evidence that RIAA was the standard, almost immediately after the introduction of stereo.  (But the conversion from mono to stereo recording was not simultaneous in all countries where records were made, and he fails to provide dates.) He does not really say much about SQ, which is what we really care about.  This suggests to me he was not overwhelmed by the SQ.