A friend of mine had borrowed an PH-7 for home audition. He currently uses the ASR Basis Exclusive w/ ARC Ref 3. And had a Rhea before switching over the the ASR. The Rhea was just too sensitive to tube noise, that he dumped it for the ASR.
I brought my PH-3SE (with white label Amperex 7308s) over to do a comparsion. The PH-7 wins in every category, fair and square. But I did not think the differences were night and day, and can justify the $4000 to $5000 that I would have to pluck down (after selling the PH-3 SE). For that money, I would really like to see a higher gain...
There's a review online that has some comparison betwen the PH7 and the Ref Phono:
http://www.drhifihousecalls.com.au/Reviews/ARC%20PH7%20Review/ARC%20PH7%20Review.htm
FrankC
I brought my PH-3SE (with white label Amperex 7308s) over to do a comparsion. The PH-7 wins in every category, fair and square. But I did not think the differences were night and day, and can justify the $4000 to $5000 that I would have to pluck down (after selling the PH-3 SE). For that money, I would really like to see a higher gain...
There's a review online that has some comparison betwen the PH7 and the Ref Phono:
http://www.drhifihousecalls.com.au/Reviews/ARC%20PH7%20Review/ARC%20PH7%20Review.htm
FrankC