Phono Preamp Reviews

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Tube Preamp ReviewsPhono Preamp Reviews
Herron Audio VTSP-1 preamplifier & VTPH-1MC phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 19, 2000  |  0 comments
This is an era in which products and websites are "launched," but in the past two years Herron Audio has sort of oozed its way into the public ear. With little visible promotion or splashy advertising, Herron is now spoken of within an ever-widening audiophile circle.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Audio Research Reference phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 03, 2005  |  First Published: Feb 03, 2000  |  0 comments
Audio Research's long-promised "final statement" phono preamplifier has finally arrived, and its price is $3500 less than the originally rumored $10,000. That's a pleasant deviation from the audiophile norm, but at $6495, the Reference phono still boasts a steep ticket. That's more than twice the price of the $2495 PH3 SE, AR's previous best—a class sonic act itself.
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Solid State Preamp ReviewsPhono Preamp Reviews
Jeff Rowland Design Group Coherence preamplifier & Cadence phono stage
Shannon Dickson  |  Jun 06, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1999  |  0 comments
The Jeff Rowland Design Group has long been renowned for the exquisite quality of its chassis. The company was one of the first to promote fully balanced topologies in preamplifiers and amplifiers in the high-end market, one of the first to offer a sonically acceptable remote control, and one of the few to offer a battery power option for their amplifier line.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Conrad-Johnson Premier 15 phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 03, 1999  |  0 comments
At a hi-fi show in Germany a few years ago, an audio club had set up a room filled with a dozen well-known turntable/tonearm combos. I recall seeing the Clearaudio/Souther, Immedia RPM-2 and arm, VPI TNT Mk.IV/JMW Memorial, Basis 2500/Graham 2.0, Oracle/Graham, Linn LP12/Ittok, SME Model 20/SME V, and some others I can't remember, including a few not exported from Germany.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Sonic Frontiers Phono One phono preamplifier
Brian Damkroger  |  Jul 01, 2007  |  First Published: May 01, 1999  |  0 comments
I've been in love with British sports cars ever since a visiting highway engineer brought a green MGB-GT to my tiny Nebraska town 30 years ago. Since then, there's been a steady stream of ferocious little cars in my life. Triumphs, MGs, Healeys, you name it—right up to my current crop, a Triumph TR6 and roughly two-and-a-half Jensen-Healeys.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Pass Aleph Ono phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 06, 2005  |  First Published: Jan 06, 1999  |  0 comments
If compact discs are so damned dynamic and vinyl is so dynamically limited, why do they sound just the opposite? Why do LPs sound so "live," so explosive, so "there," and CDs so dead? Even the best CDs usually sink to second-rate when you switch to their vinyl versions. I've heard it, you've heard it. Only those in deep denial, those who refuse to listen, don't. They'd rather read the published specs and consider the actual listening some kind of mass delusion among Luddite LP fans.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Linn Linto phono preamplifier
Wes Phillips  |  Jun 12, 1998  |  0 comments
Audiophiles with budget restrictions (most of us, I imagine) could be forgiven for feeling we're afterthoughts to most manufacturers. Even though we probably keep many companies in business by buying their "entry-" or mid-level products, we're always hearing about products designed "without compromise." Waiter, could you bring the reality check, please?
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Phono Preamp Reviews
AcousTech Electronics PH-1 phono preamplifier
Wes Phillips  |  Jun 05, 1998  |  0 comments
Audiophiles with budget restrictions (most of us, I imagine) could be forgiven for feeling we're afterthoughts to most manufacturers. Even though we probably keep most companies in business by buying their "entry-" or mid-level products, we're always hearing about products designed "without compromise." Waiter, could you bring the reality check, please?
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Plinius M14 phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 10, 2021  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1997  |  3 comments
You think Watergate was a momentous break-in? You should hear what a good electronic Rolfing does to the sound of this meticulously built, full-sized, full-featured, and full-priced ($3495) phono section imported from New Zealand by Fanfare International. Out of the box, the Plinius M14 sounds like what it looks like: all silvery, hard, and steely. Just leaving it powered up doesn't do the trick, nor does playing music through it—unless you're prepared for endless hours of truly bad sound before the sonic clouds begin to break.
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Budget Component ReviewsPhono Preamp Reviews
EAR 834P phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer, Robert J. Reina  |  Jul 10, 2005  |  First Published: Jul 10, 1997  |  0 comments
No, folks, vinyl is not dead. And even though my colleague Mikey Fremer is beginning to sound like a broken record, the little guy is right: when it comes to the sound on offer, CD still doesn't come close. There are more turntables, phono cartridges, and tonearms on the market today than ever before. Moreover, with companies like Classic Records, Analogue Productions, and Mosaic offering a steady stream of ultra-high-quality reissues, there seems to be an increasing supply of quality vinyl at reasonable prices.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Balanced Audio Technology VK-P10 phono preamplifier
Jonathan Scull  |  Jun 29, 1997  |  0 comments
Some of the most innovative thinking on hybrid circuit design these days seems to come from Russian designers. As a group, they are technically very well educated, pragmatic, and unfettered by American high-end didacticism.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Krell KPE & KPE Reference phono preamplifiers
Martin Colloms, Wes Phillips  |  Oct 28, 2007  |  First Published: Jun 28, 1994  |  0 comments
The Krell KRC-2 can be regarded as a remote-controlled successor to Krell's successful KSL preamplifier of a few years back. The outboard Krell Phono Equalizer (KPE) is a separate box powered from the KRC-2. Priced at $850, it contains a printed circuit board very similar, in fact, to the $499 unit that can be fitted within the KRC. The KPE and KRC phono stages are well-designed universal units; if someone has the need for a stand-alone phono equalizer of Krell KRC standard, a separate power supply may be purchased for the KPE. It is also an advantage to be able to locate the KPE head amplifier in a hum-free zone near the LP turntable.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
American Hybrid Technology phono preamplifier
Jonathan Scull  |  Aug 10, 2009  |  First Published: Dec 10, 1993  |  0 comments
Just as the Trappist Monks of Digital Audio are once again grabbing at the bellpulls to ring the death knell of analog, another fine piece of gear pops up dedicated exclusively to LP playback: the American Hybrid Technology Phono Stage. To one of the Analog Committed, this is good news. That the unit sounds as wonderful as it does is even better news. Anything else? Pull up a pew, Brother.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
Expressive Technologies SU-1 moving-coil step-up transformer
Robert Harley  |  Apr 09, 2008  |  First Published: Jun 09, 1992  |  0 comments
What's this? A review of a $3000 moving-coil step-up transformer in this digital day and age? Yep. Although the market for such a product is small, the fact that the Expressive Technologies SU-1 step-up transformer enters previously uncharted state-of-the-art territory warrants these pages of editorial space. Furthermore, LP playback appears to be alive and well at the upper end of the high-end spectrum, a market segment addressed by the SU-1 (footnote 1).
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Phono Preamp Reviews
The Mod Squad Phono Drive phono preamplifier
John Atkinson  |  Feb 06, 2009  |  First Published: Jan 06, 1989  |  0 comments
Thomas Alva Edison may have had a fully equipped laboratory, with a team of assistants slaving every day over ideas to be adopted when ripe as those of the great inventor, but the image of American ingenuity which rings true to me is of the lone tinkerer, working alone and mixing a generous dose of good ol' Yankee know-how with the sweat of his brow—a lot of it. These days, with the faithful PC and a hardworking CAD program at his side to do the math, the lone tinkerer seems to be thicker on the ground than ever, to judge by the humongous numbers of small companies selling high-end hi-fi components as revealed in Stereophile's readership survey (see p.5). Whether these loners will ever rise above their origins depends, among many other things, on their ideas being truly worthwhile.
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