Best phono stage?

Atmasphere said:

The phono cartridge is a balanced source.

So if you have a balanced input the cable can have less influence on the sound- perhaps none at all.

If the internal circuitry is fully differential and balanced, you have more immunity to the power supply. You also have in theory 6dB less noise per stage of gain.

The statement highlighted above is false and is a common myth about balanced operation. We have only two stages of gain in our fully differential balanced phono section, which is zero feedback with passive EQ (executed in the differential domain, so no issues with tube drift and the same number of parts as you see in a single-ended passive EQ circuit) and it works fine with LOMC cartridges straight in. There is not 'double the parts' nor 'double the number of active stages' because to execute a differential amplifier you do not need twice as many parts as the same gain stage executed single-ended.

What you get instead is a simpler signal path; most phono sections that can work with LOMC cartridges require three stages of gain or two stages with an SUT; either way more frequency poles (especially if an SUT is used) than in a fully differential circuit.

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G T Audio said:

When you get to this level, the customer should have some understanding of the design/implementation to know what is good and what is bad, in order to make sure the system is coherent so that every piece of electronics complements each other. Its not uncommon these days for Audiophiles to buy blind based on a review that someone has written, especially due to the scarcity of HiFi dealers and the availability of equipment these days.

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sbo6 said:

Wrong answer, the consumer PC industry figured this out many moons ago. Noone cares about the fastest, most memory, the processor frequency, SSD size and speed, cooling solution design / capability, material density and durability, and / or how it all works together - the vast majority simply want it to work flawlessly.

In audio, the vast majority of customers care about the looks and the sound (e.g.: WAF). Tech details are superfluous other than for the small minority of us on forums like this. Know your customer base.

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G T Audio said:

My answer is correct, as I am on this high end forum where I would have expected audiophiles to want to know about the tech and design and what they are buying with their hard earned money. Most of my customers take a great deal of interest in the design and the technology. The consumer PC Industry are selling digital products by the millions to all and sundry and it is all based on numbers and price. This is not the case in the High-end Audio industry. I note that a number of articles and interviews with industry experts and manufacturers on this forum delve quite deeply into the products and the tech. So being on here would indicate that I do know my customer base!

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sbo6 said:

Sorry, wrong answer, the consumer PC industry figured this out many moons ago. Noone cares about the fastest, most memory, the processor frequency, SSD size and speed, cooling solution design / capability, material density and durability, and / or how it all works together - the vast majority simply want it to work flawlessly.

In audio, the vast majority of customers care about the looks and the sound (e.g.: WAF). Tech details are superfluous other than for the small minority of us on forums like this. Know your customer base.

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hongkongfoufou said:

I don't know the price of the C47 in USA.
In Europe, it is around 10.000 euros and the Air Tight ATE 3011is around 30000 euros...

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G T Audio said:

Indeed, but in the two balanced stages of gain there will be 4 active devices. A single ended 2 stage design will only have 2 active devices, so half the number of active devices of the balanced stage. Plus there will be the extra components required for the 4 active devices over the 2. Then you have to make sure the active devices in each stage are absolutely identical, which is not a requirement for the single-ended design. I still maintain that there will be more parts involved in a balanced design then in a single-ended design including the ones in the signal path.

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dminches said:

No one cares about what’s inside the box? I do. Any gamer does. Many people build their own PCs. Those people actually define the specs.

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sbo6 said:

And that % is minimal compared to those that don't. Also "many" is relative.

Define the specs? The industry defines the specs based on business cases and technological capabilities.

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dminches said:

I agree most do not design their own computers but even the major computer sellers allow you do customize your build and choose different CPUs, memory amounts, video cards, hard drives sizes, etc.

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bonzo75 said:

thought Allnic DHT was your favourite?

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Salectric said:

My feelings exactly. I don’t discuss my electronics very often in this forum since they are all DIY but you just described my phono stage—-two tube stages per channel (D3a and 5687) with nickel output transformer, no loop feedback, outboard power supply with tube rectifier, all parts selected for best sound quality including all BlackGate WKZ caps in the power supply. And no switches—just one set of inputs and one set of outputs—-and absolutely no screens, microprocessors or other nonsense.

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sbo6 said:

Noone cares about the fastest, most memory, the processor frequency, SSD size and speed, cooling solution design / capability, material density and durability, and / or how it all works together - the vast majority simply want it to work flawlessly.

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airbearing said:

Yes, DHT 5000 and EMT JPA 66. but the new Air Tight might be a good contender in this group.
best

www.audiocirc.com

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Salectric said:

Here are two other important design elements that are easy to spot from just a peek inside the chassis. First, no toroid transformers. Second, if the tube heater supply is DC, as most are, there should be a separate power transformer for the heater supply. Feeding the heater rectifiers from the same power transformer as the B+ plate voltage adversely affects the sound quality. Few companies use a separate transformer for the heaters but it is an easy and cheap way to improve the sound of any tube device whether phono stage, line stage, DAC or power amp.

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tima said:

Of course everyone wants their computer to work.

But there is a very active DIY segment of the market that builds their own and definitely cares about the individual components and their mutual compatibility. Effectively being forced off Windows 7, I just built a new PC and selected and put together each part: case, power supply, CPU, motherboard, SSD, disk drives, video card, fans, cpu cooler, etc. I am not a gamer, I built for speed and long term reliability. There are quite a few Web sites dedicated to DIY activity.

Phono stage? For me it's the Lamm LP1 Signature.

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Atmasphere said:

For example make sure there's a DC blocker to prevent the core being saturated. If you understand the care an

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analogsa said:

DC blockers are another can of worms, never liked what they do to the sound.

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Sunny said:

We have the Jeff Rowland Phono stage, the CH Precision phono stages both the P1 and P10. At different pricepoints these are my favorites.

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