lewm, no such inference should be made from my comments. big apologies! there are no hard and fast rules to defining a music lover. although, i would suggest that if your budget on equipment and music isn't in the stratosphere (90% of audiophiles), then choosing say, a $10K phonostage is choosing the path of the audiophile and not the music lover. additionally, one's system will also have to be comprised of similar statosphere products to achieve full benefit such a costly phono stage. without going the DIY route. and as Atmasphere pointed out, the more resolving your system is, the easier it is to hear the colorations of the transformer. logic would indicate that in most real world yet audiophile based systems, transformer less designs are not a priority. i would also say that $10K for a phonostage is not prohibitive to some. it is prohibitive to most.
i don't know original poster Viper, his/her price range, and whether his/her system is appropriate for one of those stages. did anyone ask?
thanks, I will check out that diy site.
btw, i have no allegiance to transformer less phono stages. in fact, quite the opposite. i have tried three highly regarded stages priced at what I would call the affordable range (less than $3K) and they all were sterile compared to the tubes & transformer sound. The Klyne was the best of them and I could easily live with that one. The others were ASR and Pass. Really nice equipment but not my preference. Both methods can bring great sound. i can't deny the experience of others with very pricey transormerless phono stages. i don't have that experience.
PS. i'm starting to think that if a tree falls and nobody hears it, it didn't fall. and if very few heard said tree fall, the sound it made isn't all that relevant or important.
