There are a ton of phono preamps that offer 70db and above. Project, Moon, Chord, Musical Fidelity, Dynavector, Elac. Sutherland, Clearaudio...all of them have offerings over 70db of gain. Trending up over the past few years..gain is all the rage..
Phono Stage
I am getting near the end of my current system journey. I have my digital (streaming) side set (for now). It sounds glorious to my old hearing aid assisted ears. And streaming is where I spend the vast majority of my listening.
Regardless, I am now focusing on vinyl, with the recent addition of a P8.
My analog side: Rega P8 w/ Hana ML > Rega Aria > Kimber KS1018 > BHK pre > Zavfino Fusion mk2 > Moon 330A > Transparent + > KEF Ref 3’s. If do a weak link analysis both chatGPT & Gemini say it my phono stage.
So looking for potential replacements. As always I am very space constrained, (half wides are perfect) no tubes and looking to stay under $3,000 used. I like accuracy, clarity & cleanliness.
My current candidates:
Rega AOS
Gold Note PH10
Sutherland 20/20 w/LPS
Sutherland Little Loco
The Sutherland’s work because they are thin and con fit under my raised center channel speaker. The duo stack is too high
Please let me know your thoughts and/or recommendations. Thanks!
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@smodking1 DS Audio makes only optical cartridges and their phono equalizers only support optical cartridges. Extremely cool tech, great sound. @goodlistening64 yep I’m current on phono stages. My Whest has up to 70db gain. Sutherland 20/20 Mk2 I had maxed out at 64db. Important to check loading and gain with a phono stage you buy to make sure it works with your cartridge. @signaforce I’m glad to report the Umami Blue has been improving steadily. Now at about 8-10hr of play it is filling in nicely. Stressful for the first 5hrs for sure. :) |
@audphile1 I would have to really change my listening habits to get a new cart burned in. Yikes. @mdalton thanks! @sls883 Thanks! |
- 96 posts total