Ray Samuels Nighthawk F117 MM/MC

I realized that this is an old thread but I just want to comment real quickly because I had bought a Nighthawk a few years back (mainly as a backup to my primary phono stage in case it ever had problems, an EAR 834p, which has never had a problem in 10+ years of ownership).  Although I had listened to the Nighthawk for a few days after I first bought it, and liked it, I put it in the closet and more or less forgot about it.

Flash forward to this evening where I was cleaning out the closet and decided to throw it in the system just for a laugh.  No laughter whatsoever.  Dead serious actually.  This thing kills for the price.  I still prefer my EAR 834p, but you could do a LOT worse than the Nighthawk...and end up spending quite a bit more money in the process.

There are 3 things I really like about this (and they are the primary reasons I bought it):

1.  Adjustable gain - so you can get really creative in any number of system configurations

2.  Battery powered - quiet as the grave

3.  Adjustable loading - Ok, this is a nice-to-have option that is not a common feature on phono stages.  I never mess with loading too much, but if given the option, I will tinker with it a little

Summary: if you are on a sub-$900 budget for a solid-state phono stage, I think this is one definitely worth trying.

Thanks :)  , I currently have a Sutherland KC Vibe which sounds quite nice. I just don't care for the internal jumper set-up gain/load.

I owned one a while back for the $$ was well worth it. I initiaaly had some grounding issues but solved them Now use a GoldNote PH10 and couldn't be happier.

I used to have one. Thought it sounded great and a great performer for the price. Very quiet.