Which phonostage is a heavenly match for a XV-1S

I agree with Aquaman regarding the Einstein phono stage. The Manley Steelhead is another great choice, which would give you a bit more bloom and dimensionality than the Einstein.

The Dynavector XV-1s is a great cartridge with relatively low output (0.3mV) and internal impedance of 6 ohms. So you want a phono stage that offers at least 65dB or so of gain, and you will want the flexibility to dial in an impedance loading of about 150 to 200 ohms.

Axelwahl, the Manley Steelhead has plenty of gain in its MM stage (up to 65dB) to run the XV-1s cartridge without the extra gain of the step-up autoformers. In fact, I ran the XV-1s through the MM inputs at the time I was using the Steelhead as my reference phono stage with the XV-1s.

I preferred the sound of the XV-1s run through the MM inputs as opposed to using the step-up autoformers that are in the signal path when using the Manley's MC inputs. The sound using the MM inputs was more transparent and immediate, whereas the autoformers seemed to cast a subtle veil.

Yes, Raul, the MM stage in the Steelhead offers the ability to load the phono inputs at any one of five settings: 25, 50, 100, 200 or 47k ohms.

Ecka, I have compared the Einstein phono stage with the Manley Steelhead, the Vendetta Research, and the phono stage that is built into the darTZeel full-function preamp. I also compared the Steelhead with the Lamm LP2 that I had previously owned as my reference phono stage prior to the Steelhead.