Curl or Pass

For the price point your using, there are other phono stage designs that you might find a little better.  One might be a Herron VTPH-2A.  Maybe a few dollars more, but not significantly so on the used market, if you can find one.  

@dougthebiker wrote:

On another note, I’ve never heard of Herron or Tom Evans.  Where could I find some reviews of those?

Dougthebiker


Wow.  You're planning to spend a couple thousand dollars and you haven't even done any basic research into alternatives?  

Do a basic search on "Herron Audio" and "Herron Audio reviews" to get a little background.  Herron Phono stages are legend in the vinyl community.

@wspohn wrote:

"I like both, but IMHO neither attains the level of Curl's older Vendetta design (I don't believe that the parts are available to replicate those, although a variant was used in the CTC Blowtorch preamp."  

Completely agree.  JC's Vendetta series are very good.  Might be his life's very best work. 

Some of the FET-based designs suffer from short-cuts in the modern FET manufacturing process.