What will beat ear 834p by a margin

it looks to me like you wanna try'em all dude...
not an easy task i recon...

Hey guys you are great, especially since you understand what I'm after. Again I agree with what everyone is saying especially that it's about synergy and taste, and that I'll know for sure after I have the phono preamp in my system. But what I was hoping to hear is that there is one preamp or two that approach the excellence of aesthetix or even boulder and cost a fraction, wishful thinking, no. Well I own the sim p-5 pre and w-5 power amp, and I 'm bringing my vpi tnt to hr-x level with a 12.5 arm. The speakers are merlin and the cartridge is up for grabs. So are there any suggestions as to which phono stage would mate well to this set up? Music by the way is: classical, jazz, opera, vocal and rock. thanks again

I've owned the fully modified (Mitch) 834P and Rhea. I did not think the Rhea was noisier than the 834P. In comparison, the 834P isn't really all that quiet. The Rhea was more dynamic across the frequency range. Much more bass extension. However, I think the 834P was more even in the presentation of the frenquency range it does support. The mid-market Aesthetix gear tends to push out, or emphasize the mid-range which can work very well depending on what music you listen to and the rest of your system. I could be wrong, but I don't think battery powered pre and phono stages will be fast enough to respond to really dynamic passages. Maybe with enough capacitive storage.

I would venture to guess that the K&K is better than the 834P (even modified), but it is just a educated guess based on Kevin's work. The only way your will ever answer your questions for yourself is to get some of these into your system.

I'd like to comment some on the Sutherland PHD, as I own one. It was an upgrade from a McCormack Micro Phono Drive. Before I continue about the Sutherland, I'd like to say that the McCormack was a nice little Unit, felt is was very good for the cash outlay, was dead quiet, was musical, had good dynamics, and good clean bass response. Certainly a Unit one could easily live with, but also certainly no doubt there's better, and much much better out there if you want to drop the $$$.

When I got the Sutherland PHD (Used, but like new-mint)
I did not notice any loss of dynamics, so if you're referring to Michael Fremer's review of the Unit, it may not be a wise decision to take stock in just one man's opinion on the Sutherland, and if you can, audition the Unit yourself.

Please don't get me wrong, no, I'm not being insulting to Mr. Fremer, as I'm sure he knows mucho more than I do in evaluating Phono Stages, and when he commented about the Sutherland (Yes, I read the review too) was specifically comparing the Sutherland to other world class, Stereophile Class A no holds (or cost) barred Units.

The immediate differences I noticed in comparison versus the McCormack (with my own HW-19jr w/MK-IV Platter Upgrade AQ PT-8 Arm-Benz Hi-Output Glider)
were better separation of instruments, and vocals, each seeming to have better individuality, dynamics were much improved, giving Bass, and Mid Bass more slam, definition, articulation, coming very near to my CD set-up as far as dynamical sound, the Mids, and Highs did not lack in any way, but definitely were smoother, purer, with less grain. The Sutherland also prooved as others have noted, and absolute dead silent background.

I believe this one characteristic quality of the Sutherland definitely helped contribute to much better analog playback. My take is, no matter how good a phonopre-amp sounds, if you can audibly hear background noise, it's going to cloud, an unfavorably influence the presentation-recording. Many in RFI infested areas claim to finally be free of these maladies with the Sutherland (Such as my own personal freind Thomas Back who's done a mini-review of it on the Acoustic Sounds Site)

I personally love tubes, and I know many do, and swear by tube driven gear, particularly Phono Stages, but I'm also glad of one fact, and that is I'm not ever going to be tied down to the hassle, and expense of Tube Rolling, or ever have to be at the mercy of the Tube Dealers, with their exhorbitant prices.

Just the other day, I saw an ebay auction end that I was eyeing myself for a pair of Sylvania 5751 3-Mica BlackPlates for my CAL Alpha DAC. The auction ended at what I feel is an absolutely ridiculous price of $179.02 for two tubes. Geesh! Mark

Pedrillo sez:

(a phono)... is about synergy and taste

I don't think so (well, taste, maybe).

A phono has to equalise and strongly amplify a small signal with as little loss as possible, as wide-bandwidth as possible and in as linear a manner as possible with as few phase anomalies as possible.

The "synergy" with the source is achieved by playing with the phono's input (the "loading").

It's a tool: an equaliser with powerful amplification. It's a somewhat complicated tool, at that:)