Phono Preamps with "balls" ?


taking the cue from another thread about speakers with "balls" - what are some phono preamps that you have found to be the most powerful, dynamic and yet still sound clean.  
i turn on my digital sources and they are often much more robust sounding and would like to know if there are phono preamps that can deliver.  thanks in advance  
avanti1960

Showing 6 responses by jollytinker

Doshi Alaap phono stage. "Balls" to spare. Also "bells" at times. But "bills" will be hard to pay after you buy one.  
... well not to hijack the thread, but now you've got me interested in the Violectrics @czarivey and @fsonicsmith. I checked out their website. The PPA 600 ticks off a lot of boxes for me. Anyone know how it compares to the PP1?  Google seems to know about that one only in German. 
Thank @atmasphere for a very informed and informative set of posts (and on-topic too).
If you're considering an SUT in conjunction with a MM phono stage, then you might also consider the Zyx Cryo Pre-preamp. It is definitely ballsy. The latest update (v.2) increased the gain over the previous version.  It's a marvelous step up device in my opinion and doesn't have some of the drawbacks of transformers (less fussy about cables for instance). Not cheap again, but compared to a good SUT I think it's actually fairly reasonable.  
@chakster  yes I've been really impressed with the Zyx CPP-1. It's my understanding that the increase in gain in the second version was actually driven mainly by customers. So the first version may be closer to Mr nakatsuka's original vision.  Also I seem to recall that the input impedance on mine is 100ohm (not 125) so perhaps he lowered it when he increased the gain?