2. analog
  3. 167680-93252

How much difference does a phono preamp really make?

Sorry for the noob question...

I have a Technics SL1200-GR turntable with two cartridges; a Denon DL110 and a Clearaudio Performer. I also have two phono stages; a Consonance PM6 and the internal phono stage in my Belles Aria integrated. 

To my ears, there is no discernable difference in sound between the two phono stages. 

I'm just wondering, if I went up to say a Clearaudio Smart Phono, or a Rogue, or even a GoldNote PH-10; would I be able to tell? How critical is a quality phono pre in analog sound reproduction?

Thanks,
Joe
audionoobie

Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
7,543 posts
 
@williewonka

+1

yep, my experience has been wading around the shallow end is pretty much the same. But once you get into the deep (high) end, the difference is profound.
ghdprentice
7,543 posts
 
I have experienced many phono stages, and in general they are extremely important in the system as a whole. They are far up the signal path and dealing with a minuet signal, they must be very quiet and high quality to do it well. However, also the basic rule of thumb applies to Phonostage… “you need to double the cost of a component to get a solid very noticeable improvement” (its just a rule of thumb… but typically after you get into components over a couple grand it works pretty well).
More to discover