I have personal experience with the elex-r built in phonostage as well as a rega p2 with the exact. The exact in all honesty had more "attack" than when I moved up to my Clearaudio Concept Wood table and the entry level Concept MM cartridge. I will go ahead and call the concept MM cartridge junk. Detail was improved, but everything else it offered was a step backwards. I accidentally broke the cantilever after too many drinks one night, which lead me to the sub $500 Hana EH which is a high output MC cartridge and I could not be happier.
Also, the Elex-r phonostage isn’t great, but it is decent. I moved to the Musical Surroundings Nova III and this phonostage is superb. I almost went Lehmann Black Cube but no local dealers stocked it. Michael Yee and Musical Surroundings have phonemal phonostages and even offer the option to add a liner power supply. This added even more "Identity" to the phono. I can highly recommend even calling Musical Surroundings as they have someone named Ken (I believe?) That you can talk to and won’t BS you into buying their products.
All in all, get rid of the exact, avoid the entry level Clearaudio MM and pick up either the Phenomena or the Nova III and don’t look back. That’s what I did.
Also, the Elex-r phonostage isn’t great, but it is decent. I moved to the Musical Surroundings Nova III and this phonostage is superb. I almost went Lehmann Black Cube but no local dealers stocked it. Michael Yee and Musical Surroundings have phonemal phonostages and even offer the option to add a liner power supply. This added even more "Identity" to the phono. I can highly recommend even calling Musical Surroundings as they have someone named Ken (I believe?) That you can talk to and won’t BS you into buying their products.
All in all, get rid of the exact, avoid the entry level Clearaudio MM and pick up either the Phenomena or the Nova III and don’t look back. That’s what I did.