Stand out phono stages

11flat6,

The Kondo had standard tubes. Depending on when they are built these can be EH (Gold pins) or even JJ ones....crazy and makes you wonder if all the hype on NOS tubes is real??? Anyway I have played with Kondo preamps, like Ongaku, Gakuon, Kegon and the likes..best results I ever got are with balanced and matched tubes from a decent source. Have used GE 5 stars 6072's, Tungsols;;;;and whilst good they do not deliver quite as good as good tubes that are matched an balanced. Kondos come with matched and balanced.

Cartridges ranged from Sony XL55pro to FR7's, Ortofon A90, Kondo IO, EMT 15's...so quite a range.

SUT used were FR, Kondo and Ortofon in varied not alaways prefectly matched but sill in any of the configurations the Kondo killed the others. The kondo seemed so fast, musical and just plain balanced.

The needles were digging into post 70's pressings. This may be a matter to consider if you are going for a second phono. What era records to you offer your ears? I do consider that the EMT 139st is a true gem with its options, mono/stereo, curves...when using EMT carts, made to match. But this is for older recordings/pressings pre 70's.

Kondo or even EMT is serious money. I have the M77 premap and must admit that if Kondo do one thing well it is their phono. Have the 927 with original but serviced (by Dusch) 13çst phono this is also silly good and plain simple stuff.

I guess it comes down to your focus in records and music. One of my very good audio friends is deep into more recent recordings, my pressings will not shine as well on his decks and that truth holds the other way round.

TG

Soundlistening,
I can support your findings, even without SUT the Kondo phono stage delivers a wonderful sound. I tried it with the London Reference in a FR-66s - gosh, what a feeling!

I just had the opportunity to audition the Ypsilon step up transformer and phono stage in comparison to the balanced version of the Einstein phono stage. As good as the Einsrein is, the Ypsilon was in a different class, lovely tonality, excellent depth and dynamics.

I really like the sound and convenience of my PS Audio GCPH. My prior reference was a McCormack Phono Drive. Otherwise I have used various phono inputs on preamps, Cambridge p640, parasound ph100, nad and project phono preamps and Bellari VP530.

hi Soundlistening,

thk you for yr detailed reply. i currently use a Lyra Connoisseur 4-2P SE. fantastic phono stage but only has 1 input, & therefore rather troublesome to switch cables every time i switch tonearms.

it's interesting that you mentioned "pressing eras". i'm trying a little experiment whereby a diff cartridge/tonearm is set up & optimized for a diff pressing era. it would seem logical (perhaps borderline obsessive?) to extend this reasoning thru to the phono stage, & hence my interest in a 2nd phono stage.

this 2nd phono stage will primarily be used with my "late mono" (SME 3012/R + Ortofon Mono SPU CG25 DI mk.2) & "early stereo" (F.Research FR-66s + FR-7f) setups, & any experience/feedback you might hv with either of these combinations paired with Kondo M7 Phono, Lamm LP2, &/or Zanden 1200 would be of great interest to me.

btw, i do own a Kondo Ongaku & a wide range of NOS tubes (incl. GE 5 star w/triple mica, & Tungsol 5687 input tubes you've mentioned). all tubes sound different, but i generally agree Kondo's stock input tubes are pretty good (NOS rectifier & output tubes can however bring significant improvements across the board - at least in the context of Ongaku & Gakuon). but i think this is digressing fm the phono stage discussion...