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How much difference will a phono stage upgrade make?

For the past couple of years I’ve slowly been upgrading my audio equipment. I currently have a Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP integrated amplifier, an EAT C-Sharp TT with an Ortofon Quintet Black MC cartridge, and Tannoy Revolution XT 8F speakers. The weak link at this point, it would seem, is my phono stage, which is a Pro-Ject Tube Box DS. All things considered, my system sounds really good to my ears, but I can’t help but wonder what a phono stage upgrade would bring to the table. I’m looking at the Manley Chinook Special Edition MK II, which is a big step up in terms of cost, but I wonder how much better it will actually sound. Has anybody made a similar upgrade, and was there a marked uptick in sound quality?
12hz

Showing 2 responses by photon46

photon46
1,076 posts
 
I've made several phono stage upgrades in the past. The last upgrade was the most difficult to get right. I tried several well reviewed phono stages listing above $2000 and was disappointed in the sound quality for the money spent compared to my previous ~$600 phono stage. Then I acquired an RCM Sensor Prelude and that one knocked it out of the park, exactly the sort of sound quality I wanted. It was a very serious upgrade in fidelity. Vinyl reproduction has more links in the component chain, so it's more likely to take experimentation to get what one seeks in my experience.
photon46
1,076 posts
 
The RCM is not tube based but as is the case with most quality components these days, the sonic differences between tubes vs. solid state is less than in the past. One thing I considered when debating tubes vs. non-tubed phono stages was the necessity for very low noise tubes in phono stages (and the expense of procuring/replacing them.) My experiences with tubes aging and getting noisier with the passage of time led me to prefer using tubes in preamps and amplifiers instead of phono stages. Perhaps those with more experience than I can weigh in on whether they have more noise issues with tubes in their phono stages vs. other components that amplify voltages to a lesser degree.
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