I have a sony 500ES and just put it up on the bench,noisy selector and phono switch.I looked real close and got some deoxit faderlube and gold sprayed in,trouble gone,nice and quiet.As for sound quality according to mine you would do better getting another amp,that's comparing it to my yamaha 3090 and bryston B100.But my 500ES has MC and MM phono input and a lot of cool features.I've been using it on my economy rack.My bryston is a whole new world but the price.I really don't need my Es anymore and am thinking of selling it,it's a well built unit.