Levinson 320S Phono Module vs. Klyne 7PX

I have a No. 32 with the built-in phono stage. I bet it is the same stage as that in the 320. While it is certainly an ergonomic wonder (lots of practical adjustments done by remote control), it is not the best sounding stage to me. It presents a somewhat flat soundstage and has a bit of the mechanical, artificial sound to the leading edge of transients that is common to transistor gear. It is not "bad," but I don't think it is quite up to the standards of the linestage itself. I have not heard the Klyne in my own system, but I've heard it elsewhere and I think it is quite good for a solid state stage.

By the way, I currently use an Emotive Audio Epifania linestage with a Viva Fono phono stage (both use tubes). This is not as quiet as the No. 32, but they are astonishingly more natural sounding.

Its a no brainer. Klyne is established as a great phono stage whereas Levinson? It is merely an accomodation

Thanks for your responses. I went ahead and purchased/installed a brand new 320S phono module and ran it with signal for about 12 hours. I also hooked up the Klyne to the aux line input of the 320 and did an A/B. The Klyne outperforms the 320 module in terms of warmth and neutrality. The 320 module sounds bright and tinny compared to the Klyne, but seems to have more dynamics.

I'm not sure if it's a break in issue as the 320 module only has a tad over 12 hours of use whereas the Klyne has over 200 hours. Anyone know how many hours of break in it would take to obtain optimum sound from a Levinson phono stage? TIA.

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Ca2284,
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If you are able to put more hours on the Levinson (200 plus would be logical), please do another A/B between the Levinson and the Klyne and let us your impressions after the Levinson has had time to break in.
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The comments of bright and tinny are consistent with a SS unit lacking sufficient break-in although it might just be the sound of the Levinson.
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Rgds,
Larry
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Sure thing, Larry. My gut feel is that the Levinson will get better but probably not to the level of the Klyne. It'll take me a while to log 200 analog hours though. Oh -- one more thing I forgot to mention is that the Levinson has 2 selectable resistive settings 200 ohms and 47 kohms. However, you are able to customize load settings by installing a resistor of the desired value (no soldering required as there are screw on provisions). My unit is set at 200 ohms although the recommended setting for my cartridge (ZYX Airy3 Lo), is 100 ohms. I believe other ZYX owners prefer a 1kohm load.

Would using a 200 ohm setting versus 100 ohms make a huge impact in sound?