Another "kinda-newbie" head scratcher

You could try cleaning your connections, worked for me.

It is RFI. In addition to other suggested cures, buy some female RCA jack plugs and block all unused inputs and outputs on your phono and linestage. They’re cheap. To be more clear, you need to buy male plugs to block the open female in and out jacks.

No matter what Phonostage I use, no matter which cartridge or cables

so the only constant is your amp?

Amps are not the usual culprits because they operate on a high level audio signal and don’t add much gain as a rule, but yeah, a reasonable thought.

@parkergetdean ​​​​​​

@lewm

But analog cables from my dac to pre should exhibit same behavior if it's the pre or aamp. Right, I've switched cables all around different inputs, different cables. It's only the phonostage. And the turntable is off. Still noise. It must be rf. Or emi. I'm going to try the Waxwing optical into my dac.