Phono Preamp Reviews

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Analog CornerPhono Preamp ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #263: Zesto Andros Téssera phono preamp & Acoustic Signature Ascona turntable and TA-9000 tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 02, 2022  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2017  | 
Maybe you've seen the widely circulated New Yorker cartoon: Two guys stand in front of a nicely drawn, tubed audio system, under which are shelves full of LPs. One guy says, "The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience."
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Brilliant CornersPhono Preamp Reviews
Brilliant Corners #1: Auditorium 23, EMIA, Murasakino, and Sound Tradition Live! phono step-ups
Alex Halberstadt  |  Oct 25, 2022  | 
The first audiophile I met lived near a sewage treatment plant on the outskirts of Moscow. It was a few months after the Soviet Union collapsed, in 1992, when I was a college senior, and I recall walking with my father to his home past block after block of the identical dingy white tenements that encircle most Eastern European cities.
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Gramophone DreamsPhono Preamp Reviews
Gramophone Dreams #65: Music Hall Analogue A3 phono preamplifier
Herb Reichert  |  Sep 20, 2022  | 
If I hear it, is it real?

If your ears see,
And your eyes hear,
Not a doubt you'll cherish—How naturally the rain drips
From the eyes!—Bujutsu Sosho

The more audio gear I review, the more fascinated I become by the fact that as I listen to recorded music, I can close my eyes and see musicians on the stage at Carnegie Hall, or djembe drummers in a desert by a tent, or a bass note penetrating the Milky Way. What a gift of consciousness. And what a great hobby it is that focuses my attentions in this manner.

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Analog CornerPhono Cartridge ReviewsPhono Preamp ReviewsPowerline Accessory Reviews
Analog Corner #324: Phono Cartridge Standards, SW1X LPU III Balanced phono preamplifier, Sumiko Wellfleet phono cartridge
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 26, 2022  | 
Whenever I do turntable-setup seminars, I complain to the participants about the lack of cartridge-pin diameter and clip-opening standards. Anyone who does their own setup has experienced it: The connection is too tight or too loose. Forcing the clip onto the pin usually results in a broken-off clip that most end users don't have the soldering skills needed to repair; in the worst case, it can even result in damage to the cartridge when you try to remove the clip from the pin.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Lejonklou Entity phono preamplifier
Alex Halberstadt  |  Jun 22, 2022  | 
Sometime around 483 BCE, in Kushinagar, the capital of the Malla Republic in what today is the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an aristocrat named Siddhārtha Gautama—known better to us as the Buddha, or the Awakened One—passed away. For 45 years, he had wandered the North Indian River Plain teaching a method of overcoming ignorance, craving, and the cycle of death and rebirth to a growing community of followers.
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Digital Processor ReviewsPhono Preamp ReviewsSolid State Preamp Reviews
Three Recent FollowUp Reviews
John Atkinson  |  Jun 20, 2022  | 
Three high-performance products were subjected to second opinions and/or measurements in recent issues: Channel D's Lino C 3.3 phono preamplifier, Mola Mola's Tambaqui D/A processor, and Pass Labs' XP-32 line preamplifier.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Channel D Lino C 3.3 phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  May 26, 2022  | 
Years ago, at a San Francisco Audiophile Society gathering, I was lucky enough to spend time with the late, brilliant electrical engineer Roger Modjeski, whose Music Reference RM-200 Mk.II hybrid stereo tube amp is among my most prized hi-fi treasures. I asked him what he knew about transimpedance phono preamplifiers. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and drew a detailed transimpedance phono preamp circuit, quipping, "These have been around forever, but until recently no one has paid much attention to them."
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Phono Preamp Reviews
EMT 128 phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 19, 2022  | 
In 2018, Micha Huber's HiFiction AG, manufacturer of Thales tonearms and turntables, assumed control of EMT Tontechnik, taking over EMT's cartridge business including development, production, repair, and international distribution—with the exception of the EMT broadcast cartridge line for the EU market, which is still distributed by EMT Studiotechnik out of the company's original Black Forest home in Mahlberg, Germany.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsPhono Preamp ReviewsStand Loudspeaker Reviews
Three May Issue FollowUp Reviews
John Atkinson  |  Apr 11, 2022  | 
Michael Fremer wrote about the Paradox phono preamplifier in the March 2022 Analog Corner, Jim Austin reviewed the CH Precision D1.5 CD/SACD player/transport in March 2022, and Herb Reichert included the EJ Jordan Marlow standmount speaker in his April 2022 Gramophone Dreams column. All three products get further coverage in Stereophile's May 2022 issue.
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Analog CornerPhono Preamp Reviews
Analog Corner #319: Paradox Phono 70 Signature phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 22, 2022  | 
One privilege of being a Stereophile columnist is the opportunity to cover products from smaller, less well-known manufacturers, including those that don't have wide enough distribution to qualify for a full review. One such company is Victorville, California–based Paradox. I'd never heard of them until I received an email from Terence Robinson, the company's owner. The email included a description of a phono preamplifier that so intrigued me that I asked for a review sample.
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Digital Processor ReviewsFloor Loudspeaker ReviewsHeadphone ReviewsPhono Preamp Reviews
Three March 2022 FollowUps: iFi, Pro-Ject, Canton
John Atkinson  |  Feb 21, 2022  | 
One reason Stereophile publishes a FollowUp is when the original review leaves an issue unresolved or where further thoughts would be useful. Such was the case with the magazine's March 2022 issue, which had followup reviews on the iFi ZEN CAN headphone amplifier and ZEN DAC Signature V2 D/A processor ($599/pair). the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS2 phono preamplifier ($1999), and the Canton Reference 7K loudspeaker ($6995/pair).
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Gold Note PH-1000 phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 18, 2022  | 
Gold Note's $11,999 PH-1000 is by a considerable margin the most sophisticated, most configurable phono preamplifier that any audio manufacturer has ever produced, at least that I know of. Remarkably, considering all that flexibility and sophistication, using and adjusting the PH-1000 is straightforward.
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Digital Processor ReviewsPhono Preamp ReviewsSolid State Preamp Reviews
Three New Year's FollowUps
John Atkinson  |  Jan 03, 2022  | 
The January and February 2022 issues of Stereophile feature followup reviews of three products: the darTZeel NHB-18NS Mk.2 preamplifier; the Sutherland Little Loco Mk.2 phono preamplifier; and the Mola Mola Tambaqui D/A processor.
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Analog CornerPhono Accessory ReviewsPhono Cartridge ReviewsPhono Preamp Reviews
Analog Corner #316: Analog Relax EX1000 phono cartridge, Luminous Audio Technology Arion Mk.II phono preamplifier, WallyTools cartridge inspection service
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 30, 2021  | 
So glad to be back in business with superclean electricity! Especially having spent the last few weeks listening to the remarkably pure-sounding Analog Relax EX1000 cartridge ($16,000).

The brochure asks, "Have you heard of YAKUSUGI Cedar?" No. I had never heard of Analog Relax, either. If you have heard of it, you're at least one step ahead of me.

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Analog CornerPhono Cartridge ReviewsPhono Preamp Reviews
Analog Corner #276: van den Hul The Grail phono preamplifier & Colibri Signature Stradivarius phono cartridge
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 12, 2021  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2018  | 
Among the electrically connected, the phrase short circuit induces panic and horrific images of tripped breakers, blown fuses, acrid blue smoke, and melted circuit boards. Nonetheless, near short circuits are becoming popular among the analog set. Moving-coil cartridges of an inductance and impedance so low they're nearly short circuits are now more common, thanks to powerful neodymium magnets that help produce more and more electrical output from fewer and fewer turns of coil wire. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is the Haniwa HCTR01 Mk.II cartridge, which has an internal impedance of 0.4 ohm and an inductance of 0.3µH.
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