I own an 834P, which I use with a 1mV Grado Reference on a Well Tempered Reference table. Prior to that I used a Van den Hul Grasshopper with an output of .6mV. With both I've used the moving coil stage and this preamp is very quiet. Prior to the EAR I used a Sonic Frontiers SFP-1, which was also very quiet. I have heard tube phono stages that were a bit noisy and this is not one of them. Personally I would not give it a second thought. The EAR is one of the finest phono stages available and a bargain to boot. That said, I have not heard the Plinius so cannot comment on it. I have owned many solid state preamps over the years including Classe and Rowland and have found tubes to be generally more musical. Naturally, if there is a way for you to try each in your system that would be best. Everyone has different tastes and only you can be the judge of what you like best. All of this stuff is good, just different. I don't know about Plinius, but you can order the EAR from Audio Advisor and have 30 days to return it if not satisfied. It's a small item so shipping won't cost too much. I'm sure there is a Plinius dealer who will offer the same trial period for only shipping costs. If you can get them side by side that would be the way to go. Enjoy!
EAR 834P vs Plinius Jarrah anyone compare the two?
Trying to decide between the two. Has anyone auditioned both? Is it the usual difference between tube and solid state sound or are there other issues that make the choice more obvious? I prefer tube gear using the VTL tiny triodes and a ARC LS2B(highbred). I'm concerned about tube noise in a phono stage. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
John
John