Are you happy with your phono stage?

[reignofchaos]

Question for all analogphiles here - what do you think of your phono stage? What phono are you using? Have you experimented with any others? How happy are you?

Photos of your phono stages will be nice too.

 

[bhooshaniyer]

I am happy to report that i cast the first stone.

 

[Dr.Bass]

Good phonostage is an oxymoron

 

[rrunner]

I like my Ear 834p clone phono. Just it is a tad bit sensitive to external influences.

 

[moktan]

I don’t have much fancy gear . However I have the luxury of a largish room — exclusive for two channel listening — which allows me to place the speakers as per the following :
Room Dimensions

• Width: 184.1 inches (15.34 ft)
• Depth: 219.2 inches (18.27 ft)
• Height: 95 inches (7.92 ft)
• Volume: ~2212 cubic feet

Speaker Details

• Model: Omega Super 8 Alnico
• Center-to-center spacing: 80 inches (6.67 ft)
• Distance from front wall: 72 inches (6.0 ft)
• Distance from side walls: 52.05 inches (4.34 ft)
• Toe in about 5 degrees

Listener Position

• Distance from speaker line (perpendicular bisector): 68 inches (5.67 ft)
• Distance to each speaker: ~79 inches (6.58 ft)

The above remains constant for both analog and digital sources. I just listen to jazz on cds or lp , so no streaming , at least not in this room.
My analog cannot hold a candle to the digital . The advantage of the analog is just the immediacy of the sound and the more tactile bass I get. And the wow factor from friends who visit to listen sometimes. They are not much into the nuances of listening but many revel in the chance to listen to a record player , which they have either only read about somewhere or have experienced somewhat in an unfulfilling way in their childhood .
I think the culprit is the phono. When I briefly replaced my current phono ( musica pho30 , a Japanese boutique phono with a small tube buffer , bought from Mr Sridhar Reddy ) with one made by a forum member , the detail retrieval by the DIY phono was better . Unfortunately that device died and I haven’t got around to getting that checked by mechanic . The turntable though very old spins dead quiet.
My cd player was bought in 2009 and it’s still playing well . I don’t remember ever cleaning the lens . The room is relatively dust free. I don’t know if I should invest in a better cd player ( though this player might still play for another 5 years and who knows if cd players would have got obsolete by then ) or a better phono. I don’t have the output impedance values of the musica phono , but I don’t think it’s low enough for it to have good synergy , with the amp.

 

[G401fan]

iFi iPhono2 with Garrard 401/ SME3 /V15VxMR

iFi iPhono3 with Garrard 301/SME V / Benz-Micro ACE

Couldn't be happier.

 

[Naturelover]

Trigon Advance.
Definitely happy.

Was happy with Sachu's CNC also earlier but was only battery when I got it.
Less convenient but huge VFM.

 

[sbg]

just the usual Shit and happy with it

 

[rrunner]

just the usual Shit and happy with it

Schitt Magni phono?

 

[bhooshaniyer]

In the world of analog playback, there is an interesting observation. There has been tremendous innovation in the field of
Turntable - Direct, Idler, Belt
Cartridge - MM, MC, MI
Tonearm - Gimbal, Unipivot, Linear Tracking

For all of the above designs we find some of the best reference components designed in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Most of the modern products are inspired from these extraordinary products of the past. But when it comes to phono stage, there is hardly any "reference component" from that era. They just standardized RIAA curve for sanity and left it. Manufacturers made large preamps and amps and allocated a puny 5% space for a small phono circuit even in their reference models, like a necessary evil. They didn’t bother about making it better.

The result? It came down to the modern designers post 2000 after vinyl resurgence to come up with serious phono stages for high end systems. Unfortunately they don’t have any past reference grade designs to copy or get inspired from. Effectively, just like DACs, reference phono stages is also an evolving concept, and we don’t have too many choices when we want a really good one which is high-res and natural sounding. Very few in the world have figured out a proper high end design so far. And most of the decent ones have been designed in the past couple of decades. The best of the breed are probably yet to come.

It is a tragedy that our legendary audio engineers from the golden era didn’t focus on the most sensitive and impactful component, "the phono stage"

 

[Sean de Silva]

Question for all analogphiles here - what do you think of your phono stage? What phono are you using? Have you experimented with any others? How happy are you?

Photos of your phono stages will be nice too.

Cambridge Audio Azur 651P

Ifi Zen Phono 3

Couldn't be happier with these loyal workhorses!

 

[sbg]

Schitt Magni phono?

Indeed, the same shit .

 

[Dr.Bass]

I don’t have much fancy gear . However I have the luxury of a largish room — exclusive for two channel listening — which allows me to place the speakers as per the following :
Room Dimensions

• Width: 184.1 inches (15.34 ft)
• Depth: 219.2 inches (18.27 ft)
• Height: 95 inches (7.92 ft)
• Volume: ~2212 cubic feet

Speaker Details

• Model: Omega Super 8 Alnico
• Center-to-center spacing: 80 inches (6.67 ft)
• Distance from front wall: 72 inches (6.0 ft)
• Distance from side walls: 52.05 inches (4.34 ft)
• Toe in about 5 degrees

Listener Position

• Distance from speaker line (perpendicular bisector): 68 inches (5.67 ft)
• Distance to each speaker: ~79 inches (6.58 ft)

The above remains constant for both analog and digital sources. I just listen to jazz on cds or lp , so no streaming , at least not in this room.
My analog cannot hold a candle to the digital . The advantage of the analog is just the immediacy of the sound and the more tactile bass I get. And the wow factor from friends who visit to listen sometimes. They are not much into the nuances of listening but many revel in the chance to listen to a record player , which they have either only read about somewhere or have experienced somewhat in an unfulfilling way in their childhood .
I think the culprit is the phono. When I briefly replaced my current phono ( musica pho30 , a Japanese boutique phono with a small tube buffer , bought from Mr Sridhar Reddy ) with one made by a forum member , the detail retrieval by the DIY phono was better . Unfortunately that device died and I haven’t got around to getting that checked by mechanic . The turntable though very old spins dead quiet.
My cd player was bought in 2009 and it’s still playing well . I don’t remember ever cleaning the lens . The room is relatively dust free. I don’t know if I should invest in a better cd player ( though this player might still play for another 5 years and who knows if cd players would have got obsolete by then ) or a better phono. I don’t have the output impedance values of the musica phono , but I don’t think it’s low enough for it to have good synergy , with the amp.

Let’s work on this. What’s your analog setup now ?

 

[Hari Iyer]

I am very happy with my phono stage. It use a 12ax7 tubes with a mosfet stage for coupling. RIAA is in bypass path. I am planning to add bypass capacitors to the tubes this month.

 

[moktan]

Let’s work on this. What’s your analog setup now ?

The turntable is thorens td150 mk2 .i bought it from
mr Jacob here in this forum … he said this particular model was made by emt in their factory in Germany . it was quite beat up by the time it reached here ..( DTDC) .. so I got a new plinth and arm board made ( just my carpenter and I ) and got some help from some veteran local mechanics to put the things back .. I don’t think the turntable has it’s stock tonearm .. the cart is nagaoka mp110H which I got just a month back ..I was quite happy when I sent a photo of the TT to the gentleman from EBI , he said it looks good so don’t do anything to it , or something to that effect .. I just play 33 rpm records and don’t fiddle around much with rpm control for the other speed ( as I have very few such records anyway ) .. inspired by some posts here I have ordered a new phono ( iFi iphono Zen 3 ) .. so let’s see how that one will work ..

 

[moktan]

“The phono stage did it.”

• The speaker was innocent — just doing its job.
• The amp had alibis — clean, dynamic, no prior offenses.
• The cartridge tracked beautifully.
• The turntable spun faithfully, even under interrogation.
• The cables held their tongues — not flashy, but cooperative.

But the phono stage — the quiet, unassuming one — was altering the truth all along. Once replaced with the iFi iPhono Zen 3, the fog lifted, voices returned to the room, bass found its footing, and the treble stopped whispering.


“The system didn’t betray you… the phono did.”

— Detective Sonique, after lifting the stylus for the last time

 

[reubensm]

I have been a NAD user for many years and have mostly used their phono stages on both integrated and component preamplifiers. Just as how I am a NAD-only user, I also happen to be a Shure-only user (old habits die hard) and hence my comments are going to be biased . I have used many NADs over the years with various MM cartridges from Shure and found them to be really good sounding. Among the integrateds, the phono stage of the NAD 3020 (original series 20, mark-1 and mark-2, also the A and B versions) is quite good and so is the NAD 306. I have been through quite a few NAD component preamplifiers and zeroed down to my top-3. These are the NAD C160, the NAD 1300 (monitor series) and the NAD 106 (monitor series). Of the lot, I have always preferred the NAD 106 as it is the closest one can get to very high quality audiophile sound. On the other hand, the NAD 1300 has a lot of bells and whistles which help one to tinker with the sound stage, especially good for playing average quality presses. The NAD C160 features a smooth (neutral) sounding phono stage, not exotic but it just sounds so nice. All of them are silent with MMs (I haven't tried MCs).

My favourite Shure carts are as follows:

• V15-III for pristine records and for non-Indian pressings
• M44-7 for records in rough condition (and for Indian pressings)
• M75-6s for my father's collection, just to recreate the sound I remember since my kiddy days (It is a really underrated especially as it is clipped on to the head shell, but the cart itself sounds great)
• M70B for loud records, its a very laid back and soft sounding cartridge which seems to neutralize the harshness
• M3D for older records, it has this high-frequency roll off which just sounds so nice, brings out the music, cuts down on the noise

Turntables I have used:

• Garrard 301, Garrard 401, Garrard SP25 Mk1, Garrard RC210
• Lenco G99, G88, L75
• Technics SP10 MK2, SP10 MK1, SP20, SP15, SP25, SL1210 MK2, SL3200
• Thorens TD135, TD150
• Kenwood-Trio PC 400U

Tonearms I have used:

• SME 3012, 3009
• Sedco S220
• Garrard TP10, TP12
• Shure M236, M232
• Jelco SA750, SA250
• OEM tonearms of Technics, Thorens, Trio, Garrard, etc

 

[DilipPune]

Bought audio technica AT LP 70X turntable for my denon pma900hne which has built in phono stage. Found something missing sound wise. Tried with project phono preamp, sound improved. Still wanted some further improvement in sound quality, so bought a low budget fosi audio box x2 tube phono preamp. Sound was surprisingly good. So now stuck with it now for the moment. Speakers are Dali Oberon 5.