New phono stage from SOTA


SOTA will soon be releasing a new phono stage that they debuted at CAF. I’ve gotten to know the designer who lives about 5 miles away and am currently using one of his prototypes that's been installed for about 9 months. My other equipment  - Miyjami Shilabe cartridge, VPI TNT turntable w/ ET 2.5 arm, Muse preamp, Son of Ampzilla MK II amp,  Audio Artistry Vivaldi speakers, HSU subwoofers.  I've owned three other dedicated other phono stages over the last 30 years, one retailing for over $3,000, and this unit far surpasses those. I have no financial interest, just thrilled with this piece and wanted to pass this along.  Looking forward to what the reviewers have to say. https://sotaturntables.com/company-news/sota-pyxi-phonostage/

128x128mkiser

What is this explicitly neutral you speak of?

The design is configured to be explicitly neutral. Your preferences are, frankly, inconsequential without some non-empirical basis to support them.

@rauliruegas ,

You are a hard man. While I agree that we do hear with other senses this occurs with the lowest frequencies. I have not seen any evidence that we can perceive higher frequencies. I will hold judgment on the Pyxi until I have use one in my system which I expect will happen shortly. The reviewers will be positive but they will treat it like the diminutive, inexpensive unit that it is. After all, we all know something like the Pyxi could never approach the megabuck CH Precision. As an owner of a Sota turntable I am fully aware that a relatively inexpensive turntable can outperform tables costing many times more, so why not a phono stage? 

@wynpalmer4 

What you need to do next is shove the Pyxi in a bigger box with a few more knobs and buttons. Then quadruple the price and it will sound better:-) 

Never mind, I read the article. Flat RIAA, low noise, no added colorations. How does the designer determine this last part? I went to the SOTA site and it seems the device is available but the shopping cart is throwing an error.

Things don’t appear to be working at the moment. Please try again later.

The Sota web site is being updated to allow for EU (and UK) purchases of the Pyxi.

How did I determine "no added colorations?’. Well, I didn’t that was SoTa’s conclusion.

I just followed a philosophy which amounts to,

1. Flat RIAA- variations over the audio band below the subjective threshold.

2.Extremely high power supply rejection, and extremely low power supply/ground interaction between stages.

3. Distortion which is below the acoustic threshold (-110dB FS) measured whatever way you choose to do it.

There are other aspects, but you get the gist, hence the designed to be explicitly neutral.

Finally in subjective testing. It actually sounds neutral, with a very high degree of clarity.

 

Oh. The Sota Acrux will be a bigger box with more functions (knobs and buttons) and even better specs and capabilities- all for 8x the price.