The upgrade bug has bitten again, and I’m contemplating trading in my beloved MAGI Phonomenal for a new phono preamp.
At the top of the list (and the top of my budget) is the Herron VTPH-2A. Of course, there’s nowhere in my area to audition, so I’m going on the universally glowing reviews here and elsewhere about this phono stage. My one reservation… The dreaded impedance matching issues between the Herron and my LFD NCSE MkII.
LFD doesn’t publish input impedance specs for this integrated, but an email to its designer yielded the following response: “Since the NCSE … uses a passive preamplifier section, the input impedance is around 16k ohms”
The Herron’s output impedance is 400ohms. In speaking with Keith Herron, he agreed that though this wasn’t the worst match, there might be some compromise in overall dynamics with this combination. In all I’ve read, it seems that this would result in an attenuation of the deepest lows. Frequencies that my Harbeth SHL5+ at 40Hz may not attain in the first place.
Second up would be the Manley Chinook, also glowingly reviewed and which lists its output impedance at 91 ohms. Clearly a much better ratio and as a bonus, the Chinook is more readily available used and would be a slightly smaller bite in the wallet. But I hate to think that I'm missing out on a very good thing.
The persistent question: Which would be the greater compromise?
