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Phono stages.

mikegreenwood

pfm Member
Hi, What is your favourite phono stage. I use a Trichord 1 with Dino+ power supply and the better interconnect cable.
I feel it is pretty/very good but I haven't had chance to audition others. How about battery powered? Or the Tom Evans variety.
I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has experience of other offerings.
Main cart. is an AT PTG 33.
 
I have just borrowed a Trilogy 906 MM/MC phono stage and it is truly excellent. To my ears it's the best I've heard below £1K by a fair margin.
 
I'd be interested to hear how you get on. I am using a Dino mk2 with NCPSU and upgraded cable and I think it sounds great, but I have recently bought a Denon DL301 and my mains supply is much too noisy to use it through the Dino.

I am hoping to either find a stage that will work with the 301, or just get a Nagaoka MP-500 MM cartridge. I have heard that the Dino might not be the ideal choice for MM.

It depends what your budget is, but the ones that I am thinking of trying out at about £1k are:

Trilogy 906
Cyrus Signature
Project Phono RS with battery PSU
 
Hi, intrigued by your comment about your mains supply having such an effect on your vinyl replay, can you explain more?

It is mainly my own fault! I run Powerline adaptors as I live in the suburbs of London with too much conflicting wireless to make it usable.

They cause a clicking noise through the Dino which is inaudible on the MM setting, just about audible on the HOMC setting, but really loud on anything with a higher gain.

When I turn them off, HOMC becomes silent again but I still get a lot of interference when turning the gain up enough to accommodate my Denon DL301.

I haven't had a chance to work out what is causing that yet, but it is likely to be something that I don't want to keep turning off, hence the current plan of getting a high end MM and stage to match.
 
I use a Trilogy 907 and in the past I've owned a Trichord Diablo/NCPSU, which I had with an AT33EV for some time, so I've a good idea of what you're hearing. The Trichord stages have very good attack and punch, but they are not as well rounded as similarly priced valve stages. The Trilogy manage to get a good balance between tonal naturalism and dynamics. I use a Grado Statement Ref now, but in the past when I've used AT carts, I also really liked them with the Firebottle Plus phono stage. This seemed to have a very good synergy with the AT33EV. A different sound to the TE/Trichord school, but very satisfying and natural. This is a sales pitch, because I am currently advertising mine, but I only mention it on this thread because I know well what you have now and think it would be a good move.
 
Budget has to come into it.
I've not heard the trilogy, but at the £1k mark, the Tron stuff has several fans.
I currently have an Audio Research PH5, which I picked up for £750ish 2nd hand & is very nice. Previous to that I had an EAR834p which has also think is excellent at 2nd hand prices, £500ish.
It may come down to preference of presentation, rather than which one is ultimately "better" than another.
Best of luck demoing some!
Matt.
 
TBH. The Trichord sounds good and given the weight of the Dino there must be a sizable transformer inside. Although I can appreciate the virtues of a battery supply, I wonder if they are up to the job.
Why use a hefty transformer if a simple 9v battery would suffice?
I did find the Tricord susceptible to hum but with careful placement it was cured.
 
NVA phono 2. Stupidly good value at £500. Available as a mm or mc and the mc version can be set to work with the cartridge of your choice. I would not be surprised if it competes with stages at twice the price.
 
Mike, in my experience the Dino is pretty good for what it is. But even as it is there is more to get from it if you use a NCPSU or find another way to isolate it from mains borne noise. However it is unsheilded so my view is it is built down to a price and you can only take it so far. If you fancy valves then there are plenty of suggestions here to consider, but for solid state consider a Kinshaw Perception.
 
Saw this and thought I'd say two things.

1. The Nagra BPS was good - i owned one for a number of years. Annoyingly I always used to forget to switch it off - dead battery syndrome!

2. Similar to new guitars, whilst it (and many others) get all the detail and the notes are perfect, what's lacking is emotion, texture, the tone that ultimately gives you greater pleasure and enjoyment. Isn't that what music is all about?

In my experience, and having borrowed one and lived with it for a few weeks, my recommendation would be the Tron Convergence. £1000 for a top notch MC phono stage. Yes I know I'd recommend Tron as I have Tron amps, etc - but if it was pants, I'd say so. I spend my money wisely. If I was in the market for a £1000 phono amp - this would be the one.

See this review.

http://topoxforddoc.zenfolio.com/blog/2015/4/hi--fi-review---tron-convergence-phono-stage

And the product itself.

http://www.tron-electric.co.uk/phono-amplifiers/convergence-phono-stage/
 


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