Phono Preamp Reviews

Sort By: Post Date Title Publish Date

PS Audio GCPH phono preamplifier

Robert Deutsch Jan 22, 2006 First Published: Jan 22, 2006 0 comments

PS Audio's first product, back in 1973, was a standalone phono stage; more recently, their PCA-2 preamp had an optional phono board. The GCC-100http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/106ps">GCC-100; integrated amplifier that I review this month has no room inside for a phono board, so they've gone back to producing a separate phono stage: the GCPH ($995). Like the other products in PS Audio's current line, this one is based on the Gain Cell, one module on the input side connecting to the cartridge, followed by a passive RIAA curve (with a claimed accuracy of 0.1dB over the 40dB range of the curve), and another Gain Cell on the output side.

Phono Preamp Reviews

Whest PhonoStage.20 phono preamplifier

Brian Damkroger, Michael Fremer Dec 24, 2005 First Published: Mar 24, 2005 0 comments

Like the $29,000 Boulder">http://www.stereophile.com/phonopreamps/621">Boulder 2008 phono preamplifier, the new Whest PhonoStage.20 with its MsU.20 power supply costs as much as a car. Fortunately for you, that car happens to be my first new Saab, which cost exactly $2737 back in 1972. The solid-state Whest costs $2595, so it's a few hundred dollars cheaper. But at only a tenth the cost, it comes closer to the Boulder 2008's performance than it has any right to. That it's good enough to be mentioned in the same paragraph should tell you something about how good I think it is. Nor did it come to me hyped by the manufacturer—it took me by surprise from the minute I first heard it. I began my listening right away, before reading anything about the circuit design.

Budget Component Reviews Phono Preamp Reviews

Graham Audio Era Gold Mk.V phono stage

Robert J. Reina, Michael Fremer Jan 30, 2004 First Published: Jan 30, 2005 0 comments

I don't know Gram Slee from Gram Parsons, or which House he was in at Harry Potter's Hogwarts School, but let me tell you: If you'd just been listening to a bunch of budget phono preamps, as I had, then came upon the GSP Audio Era Gold Mk.V, you'd think someone had switched out not just the phono preamp but your entire system. You might think you were listening to a different pressing or a different cartridge. How can this be?

Phono Preamp Reviews

EAR 324 phono preamplifier

Art Dudley Jul 18, 2004 First Published: Jul 01, 2004 0 comments

When we last heard from Englishman Tim">http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/990paravicini">Tim de Paravicini, whose EAR">http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/404ear">EAR 890 amp I reviewed in Stereophile's April 2004 issue, the veteran audio designer suggested that he could make a transistor amplifier equal in performance to any of his successful tube designs. Whatever else it may be, the new EAR 324 is my first chance to test that claim: a stereo phono preamplifier without a single tube in sight. It isn't TdP's first all-solid-state product: That would be the line-plus-phono EAR 312 preamplifier, introduced to no small fanfare a little over three years ago. For all intents and purposes, the 324 is a standalone version of the phono section of that $18,000 flagship: The designs are virtually identical—excepting, of course, their casework and power supplies.

Phono Preamp Reviews

Sutherland PhD MC phono preamplifier

Michael Fremer, Brian Damkroger May 15, 2005 First Published: Jan 15, 2004 0 comments

The $3000 moving-coil (MC) PhD, available from Chad Kassem's Acoustic Sounds operation, is a monumental achievement that, for me, sets new standards for the cleanness and transparency possible in a phono preamp—and I've had a lot of experience with phono preamps.

Phono Preamp Reviews

ASR Basis Exclusive phono preamplifier

Michael Fremer Jan 05, 2007 First Published: Oct 05, 2003 0 comments

"Everybody's gotta get into the act!" Jimmy Durante used to say. That's what's happening with phono preamplifiers—they just keep being built, and I keep getting them for review. Up for evaluation in next month's column are new models from Perreaux, Musical Fidelity, Graham Slee, and a Chinese one, Ming Da. You can bet there'll be more.

Phono Preamp Reviews

Aesthetix Rhea phono preamplifier

Paul Bolin Sep 21, 2003 First Published: Sep 21, 2003 0 comments

Trickle-down technology is a grand thing. It's comparatively easy to build an exceptional audio component when there are no constraints on technology, cost, user-friendliness, or lack thereof, but top designers are now packing more and more of the excellence of damn-the-torpedoes components into more affordable and accessible packages. Which brings us to the Aesthetix Rhea, a tubed phono preamplifier of exceptionally distinguished lineage.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews Solid State Preamp Reviews Phono Preamp Reviews

Final Laboratory Music-4 phono preamplifier, Music-5 line preamplifier, & Music-6 power amplifier

Art Dudley Jan 26, 2003 First Published: Jan 26, 2003 0 comments

Modern hi-fi is little more than a way of getting electricity to pretend that it's music. Of course, good source components remain all-important, and even if loudspeakers are imperfect, most of us can find one or two that suit our tastes, if not our rooms and the rest of our gear.

Audacious Audio Phono Preamp Reviews

Lamm LP2 Deluxe phono preamplifier

Art Dudley, Michael Fremer Sep 18, 2009 First Published: Dec 18, 2002 0 comments

In an ideal world, I'd have every phono section I've reviewed in the past 16 years on hand to compare with these three and with all that arrive in the future. But because I have a life, I don't, and I wouldn't even if I could, though some readers (and one retailer) have insisted that that's the only way that I could possibly be of any use to them. Ha! And for those who are concerned that I've neglected the Manley Steelhead, not so! It's still my reference.

Solid State Preamp Reviews Audacious Audio Phono Preamp Reviews

Boulder 2008 phono preamplifier & 2010 preamplifier

Michael Fremer Jul 14, 2002 First Published: Jul 14, 2002 0 comments

It's not every Consumer Electronics Show that someone introduces a $29,000 solid-state phono preamplifier—and I miss it. The 2002 CES was one. My show report in the April issue made it seem as if I'd found out about it there, but the fact is, someone clued me in after I'd returned home. I needed to come clean on that.