Mitch Singerman EAR 834p mod

I am a fan of this phono stage, and have used one for a few years. IMO, it sounds more like what real live music sounds like than anything else remotely in this price range. It is smooth, detailed, stages well, and most importantly (for me) is that the music moves (prat) in a coherent (realistic) way. I had it modified by Mitch a couple of years ago.

The improvements wrought by the mods of course affect the MC section as well as the MM. The best way I would describe the post-mods sound is to imagine that with the stock unit you were listening to your system with a thin scrim thrown over your speakers. The mods remove the scrim. In other words, the basic character of the unit has not changed, but now there is substantially more clarity, with resulting better sound staging. Individual images may seem smaller at first, until you realize that it's because there is less fuzz around them (more clarity). The overall sound my also seem slightly brighter and less tubey (especially before break-in/yes, 100 hours is about right), but again it's because there is less grunge and fuzz around images. Dynamically, it is even more lively than before, but very natural. All worth the cost of the mods. Yes, Level 2 is definitely worth the money. And if your unit has the older style phono jack which are prone to breaking, get better ones installed.

Is there a website describing the mods?

the retail cost of an 834P plus full Singerman mods is over $3300, and that doesn't even include excellent NOS tubes. The sound may be pleasant, even euphonious, but no one claims the 834P is accurate or detailed. There are far better phono preamps available at that level.

Frogman, Thanks for the description. That is the info I was looking for. Question, was that description for level 1 or level 2 or both or beyond? I was looking at the level 1 which is quoted at $250 and maybe the level 2, which is another $125, according to the website.

Lloydc, with all due respect, what does your response have to do with the OP's question? For someone who already owns the 834P as the OP does, and likes the basic character of the unit, an additional $375 investment for mods that have received an awful lot of attention, and substantially improve an already very good unit is a no-brainer IMO. But regardless, I'll play: I think a realistic RESALE price for an 834P (non-deluxe) is probably around $900 + $375 or so for the mods. For that kind of money (not $3300), I can't think of anything that I would rather listen to. As to the EAR's sound, I don't know what you consider to be accurate or euphonious, but clearly we have very different notions of what those are

Frano, you are welcome. I had the Level 2 mods done; well worth the extra $125.