Shakey & John
I got my Maxxed Out phono stage a week before Thanksgiving 2015. It replaces an ARC PH3-SE with a Great Northern Sound reference mod. I liked it a lot.Owned it for 13 years. I have been in this hobby for about 36 years. The system has come a long ways. The phono stage is the last to try and improve the system. The Maxxed Out is beyond what I was hoping for. The tonal balance, imaging, dimensionality, dynamics, and flexibility to have proper gain and loading and it is very quiet. No doubt there are mighty fine phono stages out there. For the money the Maxxed Out performs far beyond its price. I was considering Hagermann, Herron, NVO, Zesto, and several others.After talking with the men that make the product and reading forums and reviews for about 2 years I decided to go with the Maxxed Out and don't regret it at all and it will be my last phono stage.I agree with Shakey. The parts quality is beyond what one would expect at this price. I have the silver face plate and like the looks. My line stage and amps are McCormack TLC and DNA-1 mono blocked. TLC and amps all have Platinum 1+ revisions from Steve McCormacks SMC shop.
