I was able to take home my local dealer's demo about a week ago; bottom line, I was very impressed with the performance and I am going to purchase the Chinook. I would characterize this phono stage as very dynamic, just slightly on the warm side of neutral with a wide and deep soundstage. You get the richness of tubes while still retaining the speed and dynamics of some of the better SS phono stages. One thing of note that was icing on the cake for me was that it was the least susceptible to hum between 3 other phono stages I have tried in my system. Even in the MC mode with the gain at +60dB, I can turn my pre-amp pot up to the 12 o'clock position and it is very quiet; no hum and just the slightest bit of tube rush. Other phono stages I have had in my system started humming around the 9-10 o'clock position and in one phono stage, I could hear a local radio station coming through. The design/layout of the Chinook seems to have taken susceptibility to hum into account.
