SUT Advice - Which Ones Are The Best?

My own experience seems to suggest that things are not as simple as an active device being better than a passive one or vice versa. The interaction with the cartridge strongly determines the outcome.

This comes from extensive comparisons made with a Boulder 1008 phono amp. It has two inputs, so for this purpose one input was switched to MC and the other to MM, adding a SUT in the signal path. So basically I was comparing the MC gain stage of the 1008 with a SUT, all else equal. While the 1008 is not the best available, it's a competent solid state design without too many corners cut.

For me the outcome was undecided and simply depends on the cartridge. I've compared dozens of low impedance MC's with mixed results, but generally speaking Ortofon SPU, FR 7, Ikeda 9 and Miyabi seem to prefer a SUT in the signal path (with some preferring silver wire over copper wire and vice versa), while Ortofon A95, MC Anna and Transfiguration Proteus sounded much better with active amplification. Others were much less pronounced in their preference.

So what does this tell you? It all depends and you have to listen. That really helps, doesn't it?

"you have to listen"

. Halleluja! :-)

parts quality and construction matter (paraphrased)

halleluja!

beyond that, i have repeated said here that things like power supplies, coupling strategies, smart parts selection (don't get me going on boutique parts),layout etc. make a bigger difference than he basic device selection or circuit topology which get all the hype. I'm always amazed when i can do a tube and FET device, or an R2R vs PWM DAC, and can hardly tell them apart, if at all.

Seldom mentioned is the Jensen SUT. The mc-2rr-L @about $600 is a very good one. This version is a 1/10 ratio with an impedance of 430 ohms, which is what the cartridge will see. It is a great SUT for both the Hana el/sl or the denon 103. It is made in the USA. It is available in a 1/20 ratio as well.
https://www.jensen-transformers.com/product/mc-2rr-l/


https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/jensen-mc-2rr-iso-max-moving-coil-phono-cartr...

My phono stage came with a built in SUT, so I haven't fooled around much with different SUT.  I tried a super expensive Audio Note SUT feeding the phono stage in my preamp, but, I could never sufficiently ameliorate hum, so I haven't used that built-in phono stage.

A friend uses the Jensen SUT mentioned by audioguy85 in his homemade phono stage and this phono stage sounds very good.  I believe that Jensen SUT is also used in the quite pricey Zanden phono stages as well.  It certainly is worth consideration.

Dear @itsjustme : " You think a gain stage, amplifying a 0.05-0.5mV signal by another 10-20X has no distortion? Do you realize how lower the power supply noise must be? "

To your first question I don’t posted " has no distortion " and for the second question yes " I realize " because I have first hand experience in the overall/whole design and manufacture of a top phonolinepreamp that today can compete bis a bis  CH, Vitus, SimAudio, Gryphon, Dan D’Agostino, Dartzeel, etc, etc and where no all tube unit including Lamm can't touch it.

"" also not convinced that the active stage is a no brainer. ""

As I said it depends of the whole design. Our phonolinepreamp is an active high gain SS fully balanced/differential true dual mono input to output, inverse RIAA eq. with measured deviation of 0.015db both channels ( includes a switchable Neumann corner. ), class A amp, non-feedback, four layers circuit boards, all input/output connectors soldered directly to the circuit boards ( no single wire here. ), external dual mono power supply and a third for the logic card, bipolar devices for the dedicated MC stages and FET for the dedicated MM stages, matched and hand selected active/passive parts, very wide overload margin, true low noise, a stand alone logic card with its own power supply, etc, etc, etc.

R.