I need help regarding tube phono preamplifiers


To the Audiogon community. I am currently considering one of three possible all tube phono preamps to incorporate in my two channel system. The three phono stages are 1.Aesthetix Rhea phono preamp 2.Zesto Andros Deluxe II phono stage and 3. Vac Renaissance phono preamp. I will incorporate the stand alone phono preamp into my McIntosh C48 preamp and utilize a Clearaudio Performance DC turntable with a Clearaudio Universal tonearm and Kiseki Purple Heart phono cartridge. If anyone has experience to help me compare the differences between these phono stages I would greatly appreciate the input. Thanks.

andyhifiman

Showing 1 response by mglik

I almost bought the Zesto Andros Deluxe II. I heard the original Andros at RMAF.

Even in a modest system it was my favorite sound at the show. I kept going back to that room and ended the show there.

I would definitely go for the Deluxe II. It has all the features of the twice expensive top line Zesto two box phono just only in one chassis and only able to take two cartridges not four. They both use very high end SUTs built in.

My ultimate decision was to buy the great Atma-Sphere MP 1. It is an amazing full function preamp that was designed with a built in phono stage that bests very pricy outboard phono stages including the ones you are considering and those twice the price. It is also a big one plus that I now don’t need another pricy IC and PC. Its line stage is also much more transparent than your Mac. But you may like the Mac house sound.