Vintage Phono Stage? pros and cons

Dear Musichead: IMHO there is no single Pros on the subject if we are talking of excellence in the quality performance of a phono cartridge.

Exist only Cons and Lewm point out about.

IMHO the worst audio area where vintage electronics must be forgetable is on the phono stage audio link, read again what Syntax posted that I'm agree with.

Musichead, you can't know how good is your XV-1 till you mate it with a better phonolinepreamp: that's the importance critical importance that that stage has and that many of us don't understand in deep.

There are other audio areas where vintage products are welcome but not this one.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

i agree with Myles; current SOTA phono stages are much quieter than vintage. and with phono stages, it's almost all about the noise floor.

almost every sonic aspect of performance is improved with lower noise. and whether we like it or not, the best cartridges are LOMC's which are optimized with the lowest noise phono stages. i especially like how a very very low noise phono can reveal the micro dynamics from those grooves that some of the less current phono stages gloss over.

this is another one of those areas where until you hear a phono stage with a lower noise floor, you might assume that yours is very quiet.....or even as quiet as they come.

Mike,
Where do you think the difference comes from? Is it only in parts selection? Or is it a difference in physical implementation of the design, or is there a fundamental difference in circuit design which makes them quieter?

Dear Mikelavigne: +++++ " i agree with Myles; current SOTA phono stages are much quieter than vintage. and with phono stages, it's almost all about the noise floor. " +++++

well IMHO that could be true on tube electronics, with SS designs the noise in vintage phono stages was/is no issue.

In the other side, if it is true that noise level is very important on audio electronics and especially when we are talking of phono stages this noise factor/parameter IMHO it is not " almost all on phono stages " but only one factor/parameter in the phono stage quality performance.

First we need accurate RIAA performance, second low very low distortions and third/fourth enough gain with out noise.
In Phono Stages RIAA accuracy is the name of the game, phono stages exist because the needs of an inverse RIAA eq. not because " low noise ": accuracy is IMHO the most and critical subject in Phono Stage designs.
Now, if noise is so important to you I can't understand why you show on your virtual system a tube phono stage that certainly is not the best/a peer on that subject:????? and certainly not even accurate.

Btw, T_bone what define a phono stage quality performance ( including low noise. ) are in this order: circuit design, circuit boards layout, parts selection and quality level implementation.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

For those who know?? Is it more important to have a SOTA phono section if you are using a mc rather than a mm cartridge? I purchased a Rhea and almost immediately started using mm cartridges. Do I really need the Rhea?