Phono preamp or SUT for low output moving coil

It is important to understand the subjective factor in the sound of these things.  I have a PS Audio Stellar that I use in one of my systems that I bought in large part of the basis of Mikey Fremer's review.  It is excellent in every way and I am happy to own it.  Is it as good as my Conrad-Johnson ART Phono no, but it costs maybe 1/10 the price too.  It is not as good as my friend's CH either, but it cost almost almost twice what the C-J did.  Another friend has a Sutherland that sounds excellent too, as it should at ~$4K.  Each of these is different, each has a place.  These is no such thing as the best one.

First you have to figure out how much gain you want/need.

Both your phono stages run around 60db which is good for most MC carts.

I run a cart with 0.2mv and run at about 75db (1:15, 30ohm) which is a lot for me.  If I need more volume, I just turn it up.  I'm a bit wary of sending to much to my phono stage since it's already high gain.

I run Hashimoto HM-7 adjustable 1:15/30.  I'm thinking of going non adjustable 1:20.

The Fidelity Research FR4 above might be a good starting place.  Fidelity Research has some Ikeda roots.

For a high gain phono stage, the Modwright PH9.0 is 52/64db, 58/70db with the X upgrade, which I did.

In practice it is impossible to achieve, but the practical outcome is, IMHO, the same, the lower the internal impedance of the cartridge, the greater the transfer of current to the phono stage. And that is because the internal impedance of a cartridge will likely be well above the input impedance of a transimpedance phono stage.

Agree. Jim Hagerman has posted that his Piccolo Zero’s input measures 0.02 Ohms at 1kHz, noting this value is frequency dependent. Even if its input rises a bit from that within the audible band, it should still be negligible compared to the very lowest commercially available MC coils at 1 ohm. The amount of current flow should be inversely proportional to the sum of these ohm figures (coils and input), so "Close enough to zero" is what matters for these stages. If a "transimpedance" stage had an input of (say) 2 - 4 ohm, that would be a problem.

Though I haven’t attempted to measure / quantify, the 2 ohm, 0.2mV SPU Classic GM E gets a bit more net gain from the Zero versus a 5 ohm, 0.3mV Koetsu Blue Lace (and that always felt like a "strong" 0.3mV). Both pair very nicely; the Zero amplifies these cartridges very "efficiently" and subjectively sounds GREAT with them. The SPU pairing in particular is quite special. I’ve been running both of these at 1 step down from the Zero’s max gain setting (4 total levels).

Meanwhile, a 0.38mV Colibri pairing was just not good; its coil impedance is necessarily high due to its less efficient monopole design, and though the Zero can be adjusted to give enough gain / volume (at its highest setting), the subjective result was not as good compared to SUT or JFET MC stage.

If a "transimpedance" stage had an input of (say) 2 - 4 ohm, that would be a problem.

The one thing that is always ignored in the whole transZ discussions is the DCR of the tonearm cable often approaches or exceeds 1Ω.  This DCR adds directly to the load seen by the cartridge and can prevent true transZ operation from the lowest Z cartridges

dave

well, look what popped up

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/5-cartridges-cello-vdh-benz-zu-hana-what-stays-and-what-goes

did you master mounting/aligning your cartridges yourself?

do you still have 2 TT's?

A SUT with two inputs, 1 out to your MM phono stage  solves that!