EAR and Shindo

I owned Shindo's Monbrisson for a while and then moved-up to the Vosne-Romanee. The phono stages are very good alone but, as you have probably read or been told, a high quality step-up transformer really make the Shindo phono stages sing. The Auditorium 23 step-ups are made for Shindo preamps and they are truly excellent. For about $1k it is well worth it. The Steelhead is very good but doesn't have the refinement of the Shindo/AU 23 - its hard to explain until you have actually heard it.

I have no experience with the EAR but really like the phono stage in my Shindo Masetto. Prior to the Masetto I was using a Wyetech Opal (which is a very good line stage) and Artemis PH1 which I felt was one of the best sounding phonostages in the $3,000 - $4,000 price range. I have heard the Monbrison but in a different system so it is hard to say how much different it may be. It did though sound very good in the system I heard. I had doubts that the one box Shindo would improve the sound in my system but was pleasantly surprised that it did.