Stand out phono stages

The M/C phonostage in my Hovland HP 100 is superb and a step above other phonostages that I have used in the past. (Musical Fidelity LP2, Mod Squad Phono Drive and Benz Micro) Unfortunately Hovland went out of business in 2008.

I use the ASR Basis Exclusive, very good but quite expensive if bought new. Also used the Musical Fidelity kW phono; good sound and built like a tank; like the ASR you can use 2 tables at once. Blue Circle is good at a lower price range; I had the 707; the same performance is available from their model built into PVC pipe. Short on looks but might be the most bang for buck out there; available with different size power supplies.

I would disagree I have an IO sig. I had major issues with it so sent it back to Aesthix and had it upgraded to the Eclipse spent another 5k on it just to make sure I got it back working perfect. It is horrible I can hear it from about 18' away it is super noisy and on occasion gets so many pops and noise I have to shut it down in fear it will blow a speaker. Also Aesthetix clames it does not pair well with my Aesthetix calypso sig pre and now wants to sell me tubes after they just had it for service and gave it the ok. Besides being excessively noisy it does sound good when running I just wish I could keep it running for 2 hours and listen to some music without the fear of burning up something in my system or blowing my speakers.

The Tom Evans Vibe Plus is amazing. Astounding clarity and precision while maintaining a tube (it is not) like warmth and presence.

Dear Programmergeek, I am sorry and surprised to learn of your frustration with the Io Eclipse. This is the sort of thing that causes end-users to abandon tubes in favor of solid state. Don't give up too easily. You might contact Albert Porter; he used an Io happily for many years, although lately I think he must have switched to Allnic H3000, since he is a dealer. But he may be able to give you some tips. Sounds to me like you have one or more bad tubes in there. If the issue is on one channel vs the other, you might identify the culprit by switching one tube at a time from one side to the other, until the noise shifts with one tube change. Or variations on that theme.

Never had any such issue with my Atma-sphere MP1.