Who uses a stepup transformer and does it make a big difference? I have a Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cart going into my Mark Levinson no.526 preamps phono stage. Thanks for your help.
But I don’t think the Grail lacks sufficient gain for the cartridges listed. The motivation toward a SUT appears to be purely to enhance SQ. Although mating a 40 ohm cartridge to the Grail may be a source of dissatisfaction to begin with.
Yes, you definitely would need a conventional voltage driven phono with MM capability in order to insert a SUT into your system. But the VdH Grail is reputed to be superb, so I don’t know why you’d even consider it. On the other hand, I personally have never heard the Grail or your system.
FWIW, all phono stages ever made, whether solid state or tube, operate in class A. When manufacturers brag about that, it’s hype.
I read the S’phile review of the ML 526. That is a very high end very expensive preamp that tested very well according to John Atkinson. It offers phono gain choices from 53db (MM) to 83db (high gain MC) in 10db increments. There’s no way you need a SUT with that unit for any real world cartridge ever made.
This is just my personal preference, but if I find that the sound from a good LOMC is too rich or too lean or whatever, to the point that I can’t tolerate it, my course of action would be to change either the cartridge or the phono, rather then to introduce a SUT as a bandaid for SQ. I’d use a SUT if I wanted to mate a suitable LOMC to a great MM phono stage. In other words, to increase total gain.
What do you mean by “a big difference “? What is the output of your cartridge, and what is the max gain of your phono stage? That’s how to begin to think about whether a SUT might be beneficial.
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