Mainstream Phono Stages Incorporating Premium Branded PCB Parts - Do They Exist?

IMO, after decades of investigating the parts content of preamplifiers (including those that do and do not incorporate phono stages), I’ve come to believe that circuit design is far more important than the content of boutique (means expensive for a hobbyist) parts. Also, you do need to understand the circuit at least superficially in order to make a fair evaluation of parts quality. It makes no sense to use an expensive part in some locations. Also sometimes an expensive part simply won’t fit, e.g., almost any Dueland resistor or a film cap where a high value of capacitance is needed which is best achieved with a much smaller electrolytic. Finally, you mentioned PCBs. What about gear that features point to point wiring, and what about the quality of that wire and of tube sockets, etc? Two companies that pay a lot of attention to such details are Allnic and Atmasphere.

My friend of many years and Designer / Builder of my Power Amp's has not accepted on quite a few occasions my inquiries about swapping out certain Cap's and Resistors for different  types than those selected.

The EE, makes it known parts selected have been sent all over the world and used both by Professionals and Audio Enthusiasts, depending on the designs produced.

With no inquiries about Sound Quality Concerns and reports of failures in a circuit after different levels of exposure to usage, encouraging a change of thinking even when relatively local, i.e, a 100ish miles in comparison to 1000's of miles. It still remains a suggestion that is not entertained by the EE. 

Recently we have got to the place the Power Amp's will be converted to be both SE and Balanced as a Input / Output.  

Recently this EE had a old customer return who had been unimpressed with 300b Power Amp's having been demo'd, where certain models experienced were costing up to £60K.

The Old Customer placed his faith in the EE, and requested a Bespoke Build to meet the brief. For a considerable lesser cost than the bulk of the 300b' Power Amp's having been demo'd, the Customer recently took possession of an Amp' that has blown them away sonically, as for aesthetic Beauty that is always in the eye of the beholder, I have seen an image of the Amp' and it is in keeping with the finished products design styles on offer from this EE. 

This same EE is renowned within a small circle of individuals, for the quality of the Phonostages that are able to be produced.

Within this small group who have had commission built Phon's produced, there are a coupe who are not with limits in their spending on their interests. Phon's produced are not with Boutique Parts, but with extremely closely matched parts.

The EE has developed their own designs many years ago and kept close to these.

These designs when on occasion have been A/B compared to extremely expensive Phonostages offered in UK Dealerships and in other Systems have been recognised for their substantial qualities.

I usually have a little regret surface for not creating an off set of income to enable myself to buy into this Phonostage Club, I have never seen one for sale used in all my saved searches on sales Portals.

As this EE is now getting on in Years, I am tempted to ask them to see if a little of their magic can be sprinkled onto my most recent Phon' that I had commission built.

Nothing strange to me in that as a method, as I have a Valve DAC that has the input to the electronics from Two Established Eastern European EE's who's histories have both covered producing Bespoke Valve DAC designs that are known to be competitors to Lampi' designs, but not quite at Lampi' prices.

I appreciate the thoughtful, detailed replies received thus far.  The information is very helpful and facilitates my comprehension on the topic.  It gives me context as well as increased awareness of the cost/benefit analysis that must occur for any audiophile business trying to remain viable.  The comment about "point-to-point" wiring did trigger a thought in my mind about PrimaLuna products which are designed out of the Netherlands, I believe.  The new EVO 100 phono stage does feature point-to-point wiring, ceramic tube sockets, Nichicon and DuRoch capacitors, and gold-plated connectors.  With that said, using 6922 tubes to increase MC gain in lieu of Lundahl SUT is something to ponder.

"The new EVO 100 phono stage does feature point-to-point wiring, ceramic tube sockets, Nichicon and DuRoch capacitors, and gold-plated connectors. With that said, using 6922 tubes to increase MC gain in lieu of Lundahl SUT is something to ponder."

wescoman-

Evo 100 in my setup for 6 months. I don’t know of a comparable model-all tube dual mono under $4K? I was lucky to find an Ebay listing and negotiate a smokin deal-40% off MSRP. 

Circuit design/implementation are what legit audio tech heads seem to agree with.

The "boutique" component thing is just another subjective tweaky audio DIY excercise, like tube rolling?

I did replace the 6922’s with NOS and it doe’s seem to nudge the EVO 100 to more greatness.

Tube MC gain does create additional hiss. The PL however, is quiet at "reasonable levels" to my ears. Noticeably quieter than the 10+ year old all tube unit it replaced.

My most recent experiences of a Phono Cartridge Signal Path is one where Solid Copper Low Eddy RCA Connectors are use on both Cable and Chassis, along with a PC Triple C Wire used through out the signal path after the Carts Lead Out Pins.

This is subjective as an evaluation as already referred to, but in my case has been the most revelatory experience had in many many years in relation to assessing a Phono Performance. The experience has proved to be very cost effective for its capability to easily match an impression recollected through discovering an Audio Device capable of transforming a presentation to the point it is wanted to be kept in service in a system.

I would suggest the exchanging parts and adopting a continuous wire type in the Signal Path, could be a method that falls into the area of being Boutique as a selection.