Phono Stage - The great analog tragedy

@jasonbourne71 The "reference standard" in High End is the same as it has always been: its resemblance to live music as heard in the concert hall. UNAMPLIFIED. It’s not as though that hasn’t always been the standard for, say, TAS. Can’t speak to Stereophile or the other mags, as they rarely referred to the live experience. 

So, for those of us who play instruments, whichever component renders instruments and vocalists the way they sound in real life is "the best." And that includes dynamics.  Knowing how an instrument sounds (specific brands, too) makes it easier. Unfortunately, many people have never had a music class in their lives, or had to take it in school, so their choices will be based on something other than "live" experiences.

And phonostages are not that hard to identify if someone is familiar with music. The Vendetta, so often referred to in here, had a distinct sound and not for an instant sounded like the phonostage of the Convergent or the Modulus or the Jadis. Their differences were all audible, especially with the Convergent, which had very little sound of its own (except in the midbass).

McLeod, how many among us can say he or she has heard unamplified music in a  concert hall? Most of us regularly hear live music in a small venue, amplified. Some of us do attend concert halls, always also amplified. Yet still one hall sounds different from another. Often I can get closer to verisimilitude at home. Not always of course. That was the flaw in the TAS thesis. A bit of snobbery.

In a great vinyl analogue system a great phono stage is the icing and cherry on the cake. Trouble is that a great phono stage will not correct deficiencies of turntable arm and cartridge. Given a great turntable, great arm and great cartridge, a great phono stage will fly into the stratosphere. A good but never great turntable with a mismatched good but never great arm and good but never great cartridge into a great phono stage will never sound great. 

The thing about a great phonostage is that it gives an unimpeded view onto the turntable arm and cartridge. All that is the full utilisation of a great turntable arm and cartidge. In that instance we have a great vinyl analogue front end. A balance of virtues across the vinyl front end will show the full benefit of a phono stage. The phono stage is a 'receiving component' not an originator. The end result of a phono stage is dependent upon what is fed into it as much as its own capability.

@theophile 

Well put. As I said four weeks ago early on in this thread, the turntable hierarchy is:

bearing > power supply > sub-chassis > tonearm > cartridge > phono amp

@lewm 

I agree that it is snobbery.

Speaking as someone who has played an unamplified acoustic instrument for several decades, I would never claim that this somehow gives me better judgement than anyone else on what constitutes excellent sound quality.

What we are trying to do is most faithfully render what is on the record regardless of genre.