Jasmine vs Musical Surroundings Nova Phono Pre-Amp

I agree with Linus and Bobsdevices. I bought the Jasmine
mkII for my second system and was stunned by its price
quality relationship. The manufacturer is very reliable and
kind. While I thought that the main unit was defective and
asked for a new one the fault was actualy in my tonearm
(left channel). I got the new unit within two weeks and needed
to pay only for the postage. So I don't believe that damaged units
(by delivery) will cause more problems than what is involved
by exchanging the units.

I think that the Nova Series of phono stages are truly wonderful for their price point, like all Michael Yee designed audio products. The trick is to set them up properly for your cartridge.

Speaking of which, you will probably resent me saying this but IMO you will never wring the best performance out of either your DL-103 or Well Tempered tonearm when used together - this is simply not a good match. The DL-103 family is an extremely low-compliance cartridge that was designed for heavy, rigid, high mass tonearm. Simply weighting the headshell is not enough - that will not significantly change the tonearm resonance.

I speak from experience here, but YMMV. Good luck.

I'm very happy with my Vincent PHO-8 phono preamp. Similar design to the Jasmine, but slightly cheaper.

I have the Jasmine phono stage, with the upgrade of the output capacitors. I don't even give a thought to upgrading. The sound reproduction is refined and open. I use it with a Denon DL-S1.

Hi Redglobe, The units are not easy to open. I opened the
main unit to see if the left channel wiring was loose because I thought that the fault was there. But I noticed that the capacitors are from an unknown producer and think
that they can be easily substituted for some 'exotic'kind. When I got the new unit and discovered that the fault was in my tonearm I had no inclination to mess with the capacitors. However the other may want to try so you should mention the capacitors you used and their value.