Parasound JC3+ or Audia Flight Phono

For me, it really depended on the preamp.  On a Parasound it was very quiet and on the Audia Flight I mentioned above, it is dead silent. 

When I hooked it up to the Spectral, however, it was noisy.  When I used the Mute switch, it quieted down and the combination was really musical.  I didn't try lifting the ground because any noise disappeared when the needle hit the vinyl, it was good enough to make me forget all about any noise.

With the right system, it is a very good phono stage, especially for the money.  I would probably not look to make a change if the Audia Flight opportunity didn't present itself.

Thank you both for your valuable feedback.  I'll give it a try and see how it goes.  I'm really looking forward to trying it out if it's as good as advertised.

I haven't had the JC3+ in my system, but can attest to the superb quality and sonics of the Flight Phono. It can provide enough gain for even the lowest output cartridges without the use of a step up transformer. The sound is very fluid and dynamic with no typical 'transistor' sound.

That's interesting.  I found the JC3+ noisy when I ran it through my Spectral DMC-20.  I switched out to demo an Audia Flight FL2 (just used as a pre) and it's dead quiet.  I thought it was the Spectral, but I guess not.

I had a JC3+ and found it actually more noisy than several other tubed phono units. It was OK but nothing special IMO. Have not heard the Audia Flight but have heard good things about it. Worth a try.
Good luck.