Preamp Phono Stage v Standalone + Linestage

Lester ears,

Since you haven't provided a budget I'll just give my suggestion for a preamp you'd probably keep forever. The Supratek Syrah is just the piece. Very affordable at $2500 and a remote option is available for another $150. The phono section will handle any cartridge. It's a real world class performer that bests a lot of competition at multiples of its price point.

There are pros and cons for each. In my experience, there are some very nice phono amps integrated in line amps, this also means the signal doesn't need to travel through an extraneous, longish run of a potentially expensive interconnect. Some people prefer the flexibility of a seperate phono amp, however, as it allows you to use different amps for different applications. That gets pretty exensive ;)

I have been seriously enjoying my JJ Electronic 243 integrated 12ax7 tube preamp. The phono section is driven by four tubes and sounds wonderful. The 243 is very affordable; got mine at $1550 and I prefer to some preamps costing twice as much or more. It's really a very good, overacheiving preamp IMHO and I'd recommend it.

Lester,

There are good internal and external phono stages ranging from a few hundred dollars to over $10,000.

What is your budget? What is the rest of your system? Help us out a little.

I sometimes wish my vintage Yamaha A-1 dual mono integrated could be hotrodded to 2003 spec's and forget about all them interconnects, outboard power supplies, electronic crossover, line pre amp, DAC + phono stage & corresponding outboard power supplies, power amps, filters, power cords, subwoofers...

Point taken.

But hard to answer. everything is in transition. But I live in a world of mostly $500-2000 pcs of equipment.
A $2500 phone preamp is probably not my world
One system is mostly Linn.. LP12, amps are LK240s, preamp changing weekly.. a YBA, Classe , BAT VK3i or a Linn Kairn.
In the other room, offline right now, is the BAT VK60 and the BAT pre will go back with its mate.
Speakers are also passing in and out..
Do I see a trend from your postings?.. importance of primary phono amplification is not to be underestimated?
Am I seeing a correlation being made to the CD's DAC?

Lester ears,

My system is an all Linn Aktiv system. Inserting the Supratek Syrah was like putting a blower and nitrous on my system. Seriously, it was so good it's difficult to convey. The improvement was way beyond the price of admission. There is a thread entitled "worlds best buy in a preamp" or some such. It's about the Syrah and has approximately 600 posts. I urge you to find it. The revolving door of preamps in your system will come to an end.