Phono Stage upgrade to complement Dohmann Helix One Mk 2

@drbond

I currently own the following,  DSA II, Boulder 2008, and Nagra classic with dual MC and external power supply.   The Nagra , in my system is better than the other two.  I have had the Ypsilon SE in my room for extended periods,  and preferred the Nagra.   A dear friend has both Ypsilon line stage and phono SE, together they sound sublime.  I highly recommend both Ypsilon and Nagra.  I have never listened to the FM.  Good luck. 

Jose

I own the DSA Phono2. My previous phono preamp was a VAC so they are both excellent but different. The DSA phono preamps have 3 inputs (both RCA and XLR) and each will remember the setting for that input. I have two tonearms on my table one with a Miyajima Madake and the other with an Ortofon Windfeld Ti. The Phono3 has added circuit improvements and a remote enabling adjustment of loading while seated and listening. There is adequate amplification to handle almost any cartridge and many loading options. The Phono2 starts at 25ohms and can be increased in 25 ohm increments up to 1575 ohms. The Phono3 may have ever small incremental increases available. The Phono3 I have listened to is improved over the Phono2 IMO. Micheal Fremer has done a preliminary review on the original DSA Phono3 unit and Greg Weaver from TAS (I think) and Positive Feedback owns and uses the DSA Phono2 as his reference in many reviews. There is also a review of the DSA Phono2 on the Mono and Stereo site.

Allnic H-7000V has 2 MC inputs

@drbond I have some experience with some of the phonostages you are considering (not all though). I used to own a EMIA CR phonostage and still have the EMIA SUT in my system. I have extensively heard the FM 122Mk2 in couple of my friend's systems. I have also heard the Boulder. But I have no experience with Steelhead and Ypsilon. As you might have already figured out, there are 2 ways of doing LOMC amplification. With SUT & without SUT (all electronic). Both camps have strong followings. IME, an all electronic phonostage with high dynamic range, low noise, low electronic artefacts is not an easy act. Very difficult in fact. Even a Pass Labs XP25 sounds better when paired with a well matched SUT into its MM input than its direct MC input. So even Nelson Pass struggles with it. Hence one should be very careful of choosing a high gain all electronic MC phono. There are many one-man brands which I call "designer" audiophile brands who make such exotic designs bypassing conventional methods. I stay away from them at least when choosing such sophisticated engineering hardware.

The EMIA CR that I had was good but had some dynamic compression which bothered me. Tonally too, it was not exactly neutral. The FM 122 Mk2 is very good. It has a solid state presentation but still one of the more complete sounding SS phonos I have heard. DSA phono was outright SS sounding, bam bam thank you mam types, lacked subtlety. The really good ones which are lifetime keepers are Kondo GE-10, Technical Brain TEQ-Zero, Silbatone SQ-107 & EMT JPA66 Mk3. These are my personal all time best phonostages to buy. Incidentally they all use SUTs.

BTW, I have also heard the FM 222 Mk2 extensively in an all FM system. It is very expensive and overall very good sounding too. Neutral and dynamic. But it lacks a bit of that final finesse in flow which allows you to melt into the musical piece. It is a weak complain though.