MC phono stage without transformer?

The little known company Wavestream Kinetics makes a very nice transformerless tube phonostage with plenty of gain for MC carts. I own one myself and it's very quiet indeed. I use a low output Koetsu RSP with it.

Ralph, what's your opinion on Roy Gregory's writings / reviews on "alternative" LP equalizations and the supposed criticality of adjusting this EQ to fit the label?

He might be on to something, but I wonder if this compensates for EQ differences or just "bad" mastering? Can all DGs be that poorly mastered?

Another long discussion on the viability of step up transformers and what is the conclusion? Spend big bucks on a transformer less design if you want the best sound. What a surprise! Any transformerless carrots for people who don't want to spend $3K-$10K on a phonostage and would rather spend that sort of money on records (ie 90% of audiophiles and 100% of music lovers)?

Dear Plinko, Build it yourself, if you feel that strongly about expensive SUT-less phono stages. It can be done for far far less than $3K. There are schematics galore on-line. For example, check out the Vacuum State website. AW shows the schematics of many of his best designs there. But meantime, it's a bit unfair and very inaccurate to infer that those of us who use expensive phono stages cannot also be "music lovers".

There is so much more to it than just assembling the parts. I'm sure that Nick Doshi, Ralph, Jim Hagermann, Jose, etc., all started off as DIY'ers. So what are you really paying for (exclude any marketing for the sake of discussion) when you buy equipment from these folks? The answer is their invaluable experiences. I do agree that you can get very good results with DIY projects and kits. And, you can get very good results using quality SUTs. Maybe it won't be world class performance, but as long as the music it recreates sounds good to you what else matters?

Before we analogers get too busy wringing our hands over the cost of performance, take some time and read the digital forums about what is happening to CD transports. If you don't spend thousands all you get is a cheap, PC-style transport in a pretty box that may not be supported a few years after you buy it. I think that in comparison the future is very bright for vinyl.