Phono preamp for Dynavector XX2mkII

How did the Sim and Nagra compare to the Ayre? Have been considering all three of those units.

I didn't like the BPS - warm balance, not adequate macro dynamics due to inadequate power supply, soft micro dynamics, rendering choruses too far into the hall so as to not to be challenged - overall, tube simulation using solid state. I suspect if I were to measure its frequency response I would see wild variations.

The Simaudio was dynamic, but I just didn't find it very musical and wasn't tapping my foot.

The Ayre is very neutral, dynamic, with an incredibly palpable presentation - live, with great rhythm, which makes you want to tap your feet; just a tad noisier than the BPS, but nothing I worry about; full of premium parts. A bit congested with choruses, but this could partly be the cartridge (did not put the other phono stages through these tests).

In the end, I picked the one that outperformed the Alpha with the same recordings (of which I have at least 10 or 12). But the Alpha kills my analog with HDCD Reference Recordings CDs, because of the superior technology and recordings.

Make sure you listen for yourself.

In my system I had a little different results with the Ayre and Sim phonos. Using the Ayre K-1xe preamp and Ayre amp with Thiel speakers. I found the Ayre to be on the dry side and a little thin compared to the Sim. It also was not as quiet.

Tom, I think they are both excellent phono stages; in my case, I really wanted XLR-in which does reduce noise by a small but easily audible 4-5 dB margin. Although I have some hiss, I no longer have hum. Eliminating hum was a bear for me, and had to also replace the power cable and others around it with shielded type. The results have been extremely rewarding.

I never could get rid of the noise problem with the Arye, but at the time was only able to run it SE in and balanced out. The noise more than the sonics was the reason for selling it. I have now moved to the BAT VK-P10 and i am running it balanced both in and out.