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I used the Simaudio LP5.3 with and without the PSX5.3 power supply with the XX2 MKII for over two years. Tried several others during that time but seemed to always keep (prefer) the Sim. Lots of detail with slight warmth. Big soundstage Lots of options, quiet, XLR & RCA outputs. Used you should be able to get both the phonostage and upgraded power supply in your budget. |
Mine sounds good with the Whest 2.0. Though I've never tried any other phono stages with it, but given that I am happy with the sound. |
You might get a used Rhea near that money...love mine with the XV1s. Adjustable gain and load from your seat...can't beat that and an upgrade path down the road to Signature level. |
I see some Sims and Rheas out there and they're tempting. Heard my rig for a few days w/a Sutherland Hubble and it was outstanding, but just a little more than I'm willing to spend at this point. Rest of my system is ARC tubes btw -- Ref 5/210 monos. Wish I could audition several in my system, but that's difficult these days.
Appreciate the suggestions so far, thx. |
Btw, anyone have experience with the Graham Slee stuff and Dynavector? |
Rblnr,
My system is similar to yours. Audio research Ref 3, Audio research VM220 Mono's, Wilson Audio Sophias.
My table is the TW Acustic Raven One and I use the Dynavector XX2MkII.
My phono pre is the Modwright SWP 9.0 se. It's a terrific piece. Dynamic, touch of warmth with good frequency extremes. Great soundstage. Quiet.
They appear occasionally for slightly less than 2K depending on tubes and upgrades. |
Sutherland PH-1 (Battery), Heed, Lehmann Black cube, Aqvox |
I use the Ayre P-5xe with this cartridge balanced-in-and-out, and the combo outperforms my Berkeley Alpha DAC with the same recordings, in an otherwise all-Spectral system. So far, this phono stage holds very well its own within the much more expensive electronics. Although the manual says that for this cartridge's output voltage I should use the high gain, I opted for medium gain which sounds much more linear and quieter, plus the balanced operation helps to reduce noise a little further.
The only other phono preamps I tried were the Simaudio and Narga BPS. |
How did the Sim and Nagra compare to the Ayre? Have been considering all three of those units. |
I didn't like the BPS - warm balance, not adequate macro dynamics due to inadequate power supply, soft micro dynamics, rendering choruses too far into the hall so as to not to be challenged - overall, tube simulation using solid state. I suspect if I were to measure its frequency response I would see wild variations.
The Simaudio was dynamic, but I just didn't find it very musical and wasn't tapping my foot.
The Ayre is very neutral, dynamic, with an incredibly palpable presentation - live, with great rhythm, which makes you want to tap your feet; just a tad noisier than the BPS, but nothing I worry about; full of premium parts. A bit congested with choruses, but this could partly be the cartridge (did not put the other phono stages through these tests).
In the end, I picked the one that outperformed the Alpha with the same recordings (of which I have at least 10 or 12). But the Alpha kills my analog with HDCD Reference Recordings CDs, because of the superior technology and recordings.
Make sure you listen for yourself. |
In my system I had a little different results with the Ayre and Sim phonos. Using the Ayre K-1xe preamp and Ayre amp with Thiel speakers. I found the Ayre to be on the dry side and a little thin compared to the Sim. It also was not as quiet. |
Tom, I think they are both excellent phono stages; in my case, I really wanted XLR-in which does reduce noise by a small but easily audible 4-5 dB margin. Although I have some hiss, I no longer have hum. Eliminating hum was a bear for me, and had to also replace the power cable and others around it with shielded type. The results have been extremely rewarding. |
I never could get rid of the noise problem with the Arye, but at the time was only able to run it SE in and balanced out. The noise more than the sonics was the reason for selling it. I have now moved to the BAT VK-P10 and i am running it balanced both in and out. |
I had a Sutherland Hubble w/AC on loan for a few days SE in/out an dead quiet. Cannot get rid of some hum with my Dynavector p-75, among the reasons I want to move on. The Sutherlan is more than I want to spend.
Thanks for all the great info guys. |
I am using a BAT VK-P10 (balanced) with a Dyna DV-20XL on a VPI Aries 3, and love it. I got it used for under $2k. |
I'm using an Aqvox 2Ci MkII. I wanted all XLR as well. Changing the power cord, adding a HiFi Tuning fuse and turning off (make sure you have input caps downstream) the coupling caps made a big improvement to the sound. |
