Don’t be afraid of dip switches. I just purchased a new phono stage. I too wanted to go the no dip switch route. For me it was because they looked tricky to use and I did not understand how they worked. After doing some research I opted to purchase a Manley Chinook SE Mk 2. I’m so glad I did not let the dip switches dissuade me from my purchase. When it showed up, I had to open the case to change the gain setting. The directions made it easy to change the load and capacitance. The Manley totally transformed my system. I’m glad I didn’t let a few dip switches get in the way of that.
Suggestions for Phono Preamp
I'm interested in a decent phono preamp in the $1,000 area code (plus or minus a few hundred) for my Rega Planar 3 and I have a dynavector 20x2l mc cartridge to work with a tube amp which has both rca and xlr inputs.
Here's the thing. I really don't like those tiny switches, especially when you have to open the preamp to get to them. Also, I hear that it is best to play around with the gain but how do you do that if changing the settings is a pain in the rear?
There are some preamps with the knobs for settings but they almost always are in the back and, again, that drives me crazy. Why can't the settings be in the front so you can easily access them and make changes/adjustments so you can actually hear differences?
Anyhow, if anyone has suggestions, I'd much appreciate it.