Zesto vs K & K phono stages

John,

I bought my K&K phono stage in 2003. In 2005 I sent it back to Kevin for the Cardas cap upgrade. A couple of weeks ago I sent it back for the full maxed out upgrade to bring it to current specs. I should have it back this week and am looking forward to the improvement. You are right about Kevin and his extremely reasonable parts/labor charges. No one else would provide upgrades for what he charges, it's almost ridiculous.

Shakey

Another vote for K&K and the support Kevin gives to his customers. My phono stage is about 7 years aold and has given no maintenance problems, ever. I have upgraded twice, the last time to near the current Maxxed out stage. I believe older models can not be made into maxxed out ones, the construction is not compatible, but to near the maxxed out one. Not a very scientific description. The latest upgrade was a very big improvement.

I have compared mine to a number of stages, including an attempted blind testing in my house, they are'nt easy to do. The only one to better it, was a Tron phono stage in an all Tron system and that was'nt by much.

Franklin,

I have owned the original Zesto Andros. After trying several phono stages I settled on the Zesto. The only other one that I listened to that I like better thean the Zesto Andros is the Allnic H3000; which I now own instead of the Zesto. Funny, just this weekend I had some friends over for listening and I was asked about the Zesto. I said it is the only other phono stage I would get if I were to sell the Allnic H3000. No JOKE!!! I really like that phono stage. I did not experience any noise; but I did experience a ground loop caused by another equipment (a ventage QE)in my system. I would advise you to buy it from a trusted dealer where you can try it first or you can return it. I even did tube rolling with soild results.

My $0.02 worth.

David, although not all the upgrades in the current Maxed Out are officially supported for older units it is possible to do (with cavets). I was the owner of the very first complete phono pre kit sold. When I acquired a beta Venice I sold "Old #1" to a buddy and have kept him up with all the latest upgrades including a current source fed, shunt regulated B+ supply (this was an alpha test of the idea). I was floored by that change. So was Kevin. He felt, quite rightly, that this would be too difficult to migrate backwards to all previous K&K phono pre's. That said: if you happen to have one of the older units with separate L/R Chn. boards and separate PS board; there is room to do this. The maxed out with the PS and L/R channels all on one board just do not have the room. As for bettering the Maxed Out, unfortunately the Sonus Veritas Venice, Kevin's all out 3 stage fully differential, series feed, transformer coupled, $25K phono stage never really had a chance to be heard by very many vinyl fans which is too bad.
http://www.analogplanet.com/content/my-beta-venice-phono-pre
This is a photo of my beta Venice taken before adding a CCS fed shunt reg. to the input stage.

For the record, I had what is probably the latest K&K design since I got it around 2011. I agree, Kevin is a real pleasure to work with and very responsive to questions.