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Phono Preamp Recommendation

I recently sold my ARC SP-16 and went to an LS-26 linestage. One goal of the upgrade was to improve my vinyl playback which was then suffering in comparison to my Esoteric X-03SE. Now it's time to add a phonostage and I could use some suggestions. Parameters: $2-3K, leaning toward solid state (lower noise, no tubes to swap), low profile (3" high or less). I doubt I'll need gain enough for really low output moving coils nor do I need tons of loading and capacitance adjustments, though some ability to adapt to different cartridges would be nice. Right now I'm running a Dynavector 20XM (medium output coil with 1mv output) in a VPI Scout. I don't see this as my last phonostage but rather one to take me a few years down the road until I can upgrade my table/arm/cartridge in a big way. Basically, I'd like to end up with vinyl playback as good (or better) than what I'm getting on the digital side right now. If I can do this for less than $2K great but I'll go to $3K if the jump in performance is appreciable. Bottom line: performance and reliability are key, features less so. Anything you might suggest should be as good or better than my fallback which is an ARC PH-5 (I know, tubes and taller than 3"!).

Thanks for your assistance.
dodgealum
gslone
274 posts
 
Audiofeil:
Yes, you are right the Aleph Ono is almost 5 inches tall... My mistake.
But, it is a good choice, don't you think?
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
I owned the Pass Aleph Ono and upgraded it to the Xono. The latter is quieter (seperate power supply) with deeper, tighter bass and can resolve details slightly better. It is very neutral and has huge gain and very adjustable loading. It is also less tall than the Ono. Maybe 4 inches. It can be found for about $2000 used and is an excellent value.

Perhaps Audiofeil can tell you about the new Pass XP15 which will be less expensive than the now discontinued Xono was when new and perhaps even better.
schonezukunft7
3 posts
 
As for solidstate, I would vote for Sutherland PhD. Really dead quiet and detailed. But, I would like to recommend you a well-made very musical phono section within a tube preamplifier like CAT UL-1 mk2. Then I believe you can invest more on catridges which are the key for capturing extremely small signals from vinyl surfaces and building pleasure of analogs.
dodgealum OP
1,399 posts
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. While the Heed Audio unit looks interesting, in this economy I am going to lean toward established manufacturers who will (hopefully) still be around five years from now. I probably should have included this preference in my original post. With this in mind the new Pass Labs unit looks interesting--anyone know what the retail will be on XP15?

What are some key design elements common to all really good phonostages that I should look out for? It is interesting that some models look like toys (Dynavector, JLTI) compared to others which are more substantially built (Pass, ARC). The idea of using a Wallwort seems rather bush league on a fairly pricy piece of high end audio gear. Am I off base here?

Again, thanks for the advice.
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