Lewm, please do not get me wrong. A hybrid casode phono input stage is favored by many and for good reason. Technically seen it looks like the best of both worlds and addresses many important technical aspects and solutions in a very smart and tempting manner.
But - as always in life (sic...) there is a price to pay.
That price is NOT high, it is not anything really worth mention, but in the end it is the very tiniest point which keeps the doors of (sonic ...) heaven closed for the demanding listener.
There are sonic trade-offs (as in ALL designs) in ANY hybrid cascode phono input stage. Its open, airy, fast, dynamic and direct sounding. It gives you gain to burn the house and rock the street.
Yes.
But regardless of the tube or FET/J-FET/Bipolar etc. in use - you loose on color, you loose on 3-dimensionality, you loose on micro detail.
The picture is clear, in bright light and alive if a little bit artificial - but less convincing, less like the real thing.
I have favored hybrid cascode (and all-tube cascode...) phono-inputs for a long time and years before they showed up in custom gear in high-end showrooms.
Similar as with my earlier years preference for active phono input stages, I have gone a long way to find out that this is not yet the end of the road.
One should always remember, that the sonic impression is never a lonely one - its the impression we get from a certain set-up and is always depending on the periphery.
You do favor the hybrid cascode phono input now - in the set-up you have put together and listen to with joy.
This is fine and correct.
This may however change (as preferences, individual parts of the set-up or room conditions may change) and you may go back to the original or an input-stage with a different tube one day and may find it suits you better.
Maybe - not necessarily.
