Phono Stage: Cornet3 vs Eros 2 vs Parasound Hint6


Hi Everyone,The bottlehead sale as me thinking about a phono stage upgrade. 

 

My signal chain so far:

Fully upgraded KAB Technics 1200 

Mogami Wire

Kef LS50

Parasound Hint6 

 

The stock parasound is very good and I'm quite happy with it.  I wouldn't be thinking about an upgrade unless the sale was on.  I've built the Hagermann Bugle in the past and was really happy with it, so i threw the Cornet3 in the mix.  The circuit board is $60 and you source your own components -- not a bad deal. My end goal is a fully built out DIY audio signal path to the extent that makes sense.  

128x128martinman

Have you looked into modding the Bugle at all?  Op amps, power supply, key resistors and caps can make quite an improvement.  The Cornet 3 is actually on my radar if I ever build another phono stage, but honestly the modded Bugle 3  sings quite nicely with my FrankenNag 500. 

What cart are you running?

 

I have the at440mla.  I’m generally happy with the hint6 stock phono stage.  Bottle head is appealing though - I built a crack headphone amp and was impressed.  
 

The EAR seems interesting. I could find any links to the board.  Seems like you source the board from eBay?

I built and use the Eros 2 from Bottlehead with a Rega P6 with Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridge. I have been very happy with this setup. I really like Bottlehead gear. Bottlehead provides extremely good instructions for building their kits and help with troubleshooting is amply available through their forums. Most of all, I like how Bottlehead equipment sounds. Count me a Bottlehead fan boy. Most of my main system is Bottlehead. 

I built a Bottlehead Eros 2 with Sowter 1990 mounted on the chassis. I've built many Bottlehead kits over the past 20+ years. I like the great support a Mom and Pop shop like Bottlehead provides. Plus, as you know, having built the kit it's much easier to tweek it yourself. I use the Eros 2 with a VPI prime with a Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC Star. If this tells you anything, the turntable, arm and cartridge cost a lot more than the Eros 2 does.

 

@martinman 
The complete tutorial is here:

 

Parts list is on her website and you can find the board on eBay just search EAR 834 clone.  Use the black board.