I remember getting my first "highly rated" phono-stage at that price point long ago. It was truly terrible. Unfortunately phono-stages are not good at that price point. Typically they are only ok at ten times that. I would save up and then buy used. I would think Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, of course Luxman makes one that is not very expensive.
How to Improve Gain for RCA on Preamp. Can it be done?
I own a Schiit Freya+ which I use as a preamp to my active speakers. I use the balanced XLR from my Freya+ to my actives (which have balanced XLR).
The Freya+ has XLR inputs and RCA inputs but I have noticed a large difference in gain between the two. Specifically, I have looked at the following two scenarios:
A) source > balanced XLR in Freya+ > balanced XLR out > actives
B) source > RCA in Freya+ > balanced XLR out > actives
I observe a large difference in gain between (A) and (B) even when using the tube stage of the Freya+ (I almost always use the tube stage as it sounds the best and gives best gain).
For source, I have used my ADI-2 DAC FS which has both XLR and RCA out.
The problem comes with my TT. When I connect the phono stage by RCA to the Freya+, I have to turn the Freya+ all the way nearly to the limit to get satisfactory dB. But directly connecting my phono stage to the actives (which also support RCA) gives excellent dB.
The problem is I am purchasing new actives (Genelec 8351B) which support XLR but not RCA. Therefore, my question is as follows:
Is there a way to improve gain on a preamp using RCA? Is this problem that I am experiencing specific to the Freya+ or is this a general loss of gain (I am guessing 15 dB) that always accompanies RCA. Are there preamps that would mitigate this? I am willing to buy another preamp if so. Let's say 3K for a new preamp as a round number.