Skypunk got it right. I also now use a Stellar phono pre and I was actually shocked at the improvement over my Lamm LP2.1 Deluxe, costing 4 times as much. First, it has XLR and RCA, and the PSA designer cared less about measurements and more about listener involvement and SQ and it very much shows. Not sure how the Stellar will pair with the Ayre, but I do know that right now in the phone preamp market, it is the best value and best sounding phono preamp (at least to my ears in my system) under $10-$15K.