McCormack's phono stage for the RLD is same as the standalone micro phono box which is a very good value based phono pre. I used to have one & would recommend doing the addon. Your desired level of analog involvement would determine your front end choice according to $ investment. Rega or Music Hall if you're only testing the waters, VPI, Basis or Clearaudio are certainly all candidates if you're getting in deeper. Just stick with something that will hold a stable setup once it's dialed in. Various opinions on this are available in the forum archives both here & on the Vinyl Asylum, which has a lot of good info available as well.
Is it really the Champion?
I'm jumping back into vinyl. Considering Clearaudio Champion or Champion Level II with Rega, VPI Aries, or Music Hall 7 (the value option). Kuzma has also been highly recommended. At this point, I'm probably adding the McCormack phono stage module to my preamp rather than going with a separate box and thus the need for another IC. This is all quite new to me after 20 years away from vinyl. Suggestions and opinions?
I have read several of the recent threads in this forum, including "Analog newby question."
System is: McCormack DNA225, McC RLD-1 (no phono stage yet), Magnepan 1.6QR, Rotel CD971 (to upgrade). MacWire ICs, Kimber 8TC speaker wire.
I have read several of the recent threads in this forum, including "Analog newby question."
System is: McCormack DNA225, McC RLD-1 (no phono stage yet), Magnepan 1.6QR, Rotel CD971 (to upgrade). MacWire ICs, Kimber 8TC speaker wire.