Current injection (amplification) phono stages

@hdm Don’t believe the Goldnote is a current mode stage.

Dr. Noburu Tominari of Dynavector was the first to propose using the MC cartridge as a current source and amplify the current from it. This is the current that a cartridge can deliver into a dead short. According to Tominari, all cartridges produce magnetic distortion caused by the nonlinear characteristics within the magnetic materials of the cartridge. These distortions have an adverse effect on the signal produced by the cartridge.  When using current amplification, the magnetic distortion of the cartridge is significantly reduced resulting in better linearity across the whole frequency range."

"Current amplification, also called Current Injection, or CI, is of course the same as a current to voltage (I/V) converter for DACs, except with DACs the source resistances and current levels are higher. Current outputs of moving coil cartridges vary considerably depending on the coil windings of the cartridge. In general, the lower the internal resistance of the cartridge (10 ohms or less), the better the cartridge tolerates the short and produces a usable current output. Many of the higher internal resistance cartridges sound constrained by the shorted output and do not benefit from current injection. However, with the right low internal resistance cartridges, listening to a current injection phono preamp opens the listener to a beautiful new experience of vinyl music without magnetic distortion.

It seems like my WLM Phonata is using same principle, definitely not for all cartridges, but i've got spectacular sound with FR-7F and FR-7Fz LOMC cartridges with WLM current phono stage. My old ART-2000 was also great with that phono stage. Not to mention that my First Watt amp is also current amp (not voltage amp) for cross over less full range speakers.