Z phono or PP 2

I had the NAD PP2 paired with a rebuilt Philips GA312 TT with a Grado Blue cart and the music I played from it sounded kind of sterile and bland to me. Later I tried a Cambridge Audio 640P in place of the NAD PP2 and was a lot happier. You can find the 640P for under $200 easily new.

Thanks guys. I just wanted to add that my funds have gone up for this project. I forgot I had a refund from my FSA coming my way in the next couple of days. I can go to $600 new or used. As always, i'm looking for sonics and high value.

Jolida JD-9A. List price $450. Nice big power supply (unlike the wall warts of all the lower cost phono preamps) and tubed buffer stage. Highly configurable for gain, output, capacitance and resistance. Also easy to modify to improve the sound further by upgrading the power cord and putting in better tubes, op amps, and/or capacitors.

I upgraded from a Cambridge 640P about a year ago. I swapped in better tubes, power cord, and Vibrapod isolators. I'm ver happy with the sound--smooth, detailed, linear, no hint of midrange glare, better dynamics.

I agree with Johnny. The Jolida JD-9A is a best buy in this price range. In my system, and IMO, it was significantly better than a Parasound Zphono, Musical Fidelity X-LPS, Bellari VP129, and Cambridge Audio 640P. It was much quieter, had better midrange bloom, and presented a more three dimensional soundstage.

But all this begs the question... what cartridge are you planning to use? Is it high or low output?

01-20-12: Mingles
I agree with Johnny. The Jolida JD-9A is a best buy in this price range....

But all this begs the question... what cartridge are you planning to use? Is it high or low output?

All the more reason to recommend the JD-9A. It has low, medium, and high gain settings plus separate standard and higher gain outputs. It also has DIP switches to match capacitance to just about any MM cart you'd have and resistance settings for just about any MC cart. I have little doubt that the big improvement in sound I got with the JD-9A is a combination of its serious power supply and its ability to match just about any cartridge you plug in.

One thing very cool about this phono stage (at this price) is that you can even optimize it for a high output moving coil cart, which is often too low in output for the MM input and too high for the MC input on <$200 wall wart phono stages.