The "Best" Phono stage I have heard was a cross between two.
As was said before "the best" does not make sense because the rest of the system matters too much.
But anyway..... Back in the early 80's.....
I Really liked my ML-1 Levinson. It totally trashed all the Audio Research (The other High End company of the time) options out there.
Then again I was using a Fidelity Research FR1 Mk3 Phono cartridge and The ML-1 had a phono section option specifically for that cartridge.
(I miss that cartridge - I had it in a Cyrinx Arm on a Linn)
An "Equal" preamp to that one was my old ancient STAX preamp.
Well - the STAX I had was one of the last SRA-12S's made and the circuit was slightly different.
The STAX was quite modified by me - especially in the power supply sections. I also reduced the feedback in the phono section to increase it's gain enough for my FR1-MK3. Also changed a few capacitors.
Just the other day I found those STAX circuit boards. I was surprised to find I still had them.
When time allows I'll build it up again.
My preamp now is an Audible Illusions M3A.
Parts quality is outstanding and it doesn't really have a "Tube Sound" which gets me sick.
(I'll get flamed for that!!)
But - I'm not really a tube fan.
Every time I change tubes (even from the same batch of a tube buy) I have a different sounding preamp.
It's the nature of tubes - Their characteristics vary too much from unit to unit which puts different tubes at different operating points of their "gain curve".
To a lesser degree - JFETS have that same issue.
When I sold STAX - I listened to the 4 preamps we had and took home the best sounding one.
The ML-1's I've heard all sounded the same - they are bipolar based. Although "Beta" of bipolar transistors can vary quite a bit, the "Operating Point" of different bipolars in a circuit are quite predictable
I digressed
As was said before "the best" does not make sense because the rest of the system matters too much.
But anyway..... Back in the early 80's.....
I Really liked my ML-1 Levinson. It totally trashed all the Audio Research (The other High End company of the time) options out there.
Then again I was using a Fidelity Research FR1 Mk3 Phono cartridge and The ML-1 had a phono section option specifically for that cartridge.
(I miss that cartridge - I had it in a Cyrinx Arm on a Linn)
An "Equal" preamp to that one was my old ancient STAX preamp.
Well - the STAX I had was one of the last SRA-12S's made and the circuit was slightly different.
The STAX was quite modified by me - especially in the power supply sections. I also reduced the feedback in the phono section to increase it's gain enough for my FR1-MK3. Also changed a few capacitors.
Just the other day I found those STAX circuit boards. I was surprised to find I still had them.
When time allows I'll build it up again.
My preamp now is an Audible Illusions M3A.
Parts quality is outstanding and it doesn't really have a "Tube Sound" which gets me sick.
(I'll get flamed for that!!)
But - I'm not really a tube fan.
Every time I change tubes (even from the same batch of a tube buy) I have a different sounding preamp.
It's the nature of tubes - Their characteristics vary too much from unit to unit which puts different tubes at different operating points of their "gain curve".
To a lesser degree - JFETS have that same issue.
When I sold STAX - I listened to the 4 preamps we had and took home the best sounding one.
The ML-1's I've heard all sounded the same - they are bipolar based. Although "Beta" of bipolar transistors can vary quite a bit, the "Operating Point" of different bipolars in a circuit are quite predictable
I digressed