Is RIAA equalisation enough for Phono Stages?

interesting question. FYI, very few offer this option, far fewer than you suggest. In fact the EAR and Manley don't. The Graham Slee Jazz Club model, Zanden and FM acoustics are the only ones that come to mind.

ELdartford,

It is not a matter of "conveniently forgetting about the RIAA process." In a high resolution system, additional equalization circuitry, or any other ancillary circuitry for that matter, will definitely represent a degradation. Whether whatever benefit is gained is worth that degradation is a matter of priorities. It seems to me that if one is concerned about the issue, having it built into the phono stage as an alternate routing to the RIAA standard circuit is far superior sonically to having additional EQ either built in or, worse yet, outboard, where it would necessitate another pair of interconnects. If you find yourself getting impatient with this sort of thinking, then by all means, forgo on the finer points of quality in deference to convenience and tonal control.

BTW, I have never found the noise on reel to reel or that of a quality vinyl playback system, assuming high quality records, to be worth the degradation of either DBX or Dolby.

cool idea, for, as you say, DYI.

re: tape hiss: agreed, but a high rez system does help you hear what you're missing, hiss be damned, by using noise reduction. It's possible that listening habits, in terms of volume, may contribute to how annoying hiss ends up being; just a thought. Of course, what gets on one's nerves is very subjective.

It appears that some definitive research is in order as to what different curves would be appropriate for the different eras of the different companies.