Gold Note PH10, Bryston BP2, Clear Audio Smart V2


As listed in the title, I am very interested in hearing views on the above phono preamps in terms of a comparison.
I have been using the Clear Audio Smart V2 preamp for a couple of years with my VPI Ares3 TT, SME Series lV tonearm and vintage Audio Technica AT15ss, now an AT20ss with a NOS stylus I found after 12 years of searching...!    The system sounds extraordinary and why I like the Clear Audio Smart is that it has adjustable capacitive loading which is an absolute necessity for MM cartridges.

I have read a lot of amazing reports on how nice the PH 10 plays, however it has a fixed capacitance on MM at 200 pf, which is pretty close to where I have mine set at; I think I am around 250 pf., so it will most likely work fairly well until the new model comes out next year with variable capacitance settings.  The Bryston BP2 with the outboard power supply is another option, and it has variable capacitance in 100 pf settings from 100 to 400 pf.  I'd have to find out if 200 or 300 pf works best as I found anything too low or too high really alters the sound from the AT20ss.

I'd like to hear what anyone has to say about any of the above units and how they compare against each other.  I had one sales guy at one of the big online retailer tell me that the Bryston was too forward and detailed for his liking... he likes warmer.  

I also found out that the PH 10 will be released in an upgraded version in a month with new op-amps which reduce the noise floor by 12 db at the same price as the current model... now that would be great; however it is only in the MC circuits, not the MM.  So for me, it would make no difference and perhaps I can find a deal on a used PH 10 from a MC guy who wants to get into the new design.

Anyway, I am all ears now ......???
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I have read a lot of amazing reports on how nice the PH 10 plays, however it has a fixed capacitance on MM at 200 pf, which is pretty close to where I have mine set at; I think I am around 250 pf., so it will most likely work fairly well until the new model comes out next year with variable capacitance settings.

In my opinion capacitance must be tuned naturally by phono cable only, not by the phono stage.

Gold note is the best for MC cartridges in my opinion, i’m using it with two MC inputs. Can be used with external SUT as an option.

For MM cartridges loading is much more inportant, if you can’t change 47k Ohm to 100k Ohm then you can’t use various amazing cartridges at full potential, for example Grage recommended 100k Ohm for their MM.

JLTi phono stage manufacturer can change internal resistors by request, i asked him to use 500k Ohm. And i can load it down to whatever value i need by adding parallel RCA plug resistors on the backside. In this configuration 100k Ohm for MM is not a problem and i’m happy about it, because most of the MM cartridges are much better at 100k Ohm (instead of 47k Ohm).

When i tried in my system the iPhono 2 with all those cap switches it was a garbage compared to the JLTi phono stage for MM cartridges. For the MC IPhono was much better than for MM.


I am not sure that I can agree with the opinion that variable capacitance is not useful or not as useful as the cables being used. 
I have done many capacitance changes via dip switch settings and it makes a world of difference in performance.  I made an error above when I said I the PH10 has a default setting of 200 pf, I found a spec they published and it's at 220 pf.  I am running 250 pf on my Clear Audio therefore I'll assume that it's close enough to the PH10 for comparable performance in that respect.

Then you have to try 100k Ohm for MM to see if you like it better than 47k Ohm. 

Cap switches on iPhono 2 does not make any improvement for me, it was hard to detect any difference. JLTi if the most versatile MM phono stage for me (also nice for MC with many loading options).  They are selling mk5 version now for higher price, but that version has brand new PSU.