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NJC Audio Phono stage (review)

Rob.

Active Member
Thought I would share my experiences on here about an excellent but perhaps not well known phono stage, the NJC reference stage.

I started off using an old (but reliable) integrated that had a phono input, since then I have owned several of the popular & well respected phono stages, some with uprated PSUs, some without. I then saw another person on a different forum using the same phono stage as I was at the time but who upgraded to the NJC. Intrigued by this I swapped emails with NJC & ended up placing an order a couple of days later, all of this has lead to where I am now.

I have had the NJC stage for about 3 months but have waited until now to get a better impression of what its like long term rather than a neejerk kind of early impression where you get the usual OMG wow this is so good kind of thing which sometimes fades after a few weeks once the intiail buzz has passed.

In a word this is a brilliant & well designed piece of engineering, to my ears this phono stage lives up to having the words "reference" in the name, it is one of the most refined & technically accurate stages I have had the pleasure of hearing. Its also very refined in general with soft start & other features that all make the experience better. Compared with my previous stages (which were good performers in their own right), I feel that music with the NJC is not only more technically accurate & true to the music, but it does this without being clinical. Music seems to be just flow out of this delightful box with precision & detail but also with grace & never lacking emmotion. The noise level is much lower, not the output level but the background noise, groove noise still dominates but when I lift the needle its just like a CD in that there is no background noise, while on the topic of CDs since getting this stage I havent listened to much digital music.

The features are well worth mentioning as it has quite a few good ones, it has a triple gain feature which is invaluable, getting just the right drive to any equipment or a lower level for a pre-amp is simple. The loading can also be changed by the front rotary switch & it works well, very well. Ive found it much more convenient to use than the loading plugs on my previous stage as I can hear the differences instantly by turning a switch rather than messing about with plugs, there is also an impedance switch underneath the unit, according to NJC & the supplied graphs this makes a difference to MM cartridges & it is something I find very useful with my vintage Shure cartridge, breathing new life into a classic, newer cartridges are fine with the standard impedance of 47k but the tweaking potential is excellent. The manual also mentiones that this feature will continue to play a part when used with their SUT (quite excited :D about this one which I will mention below).

The accompanying power supply is quite heavy so indicating a good transformer in there, it has a mains lead at one side & the other end of the case has a good lenth of screened cable (good quality too) terminating in a very nice 3 pin metal connector which pushes & locks into the power inlet at the back of the stage very positively. Nice to see something other than the usual cheap plug in PSU adaptors & just like the phono stage this is also made by NJC themselves & so the quality is very high with no sign of cost cutting anywhere.

As you can probably tell by now I am very happy with this phono stage, my emails to NJC have always been greeted with prompt, lengthy & genuinely helpful responses, its a product that is not surrounded by the usual marketing nonsense (infact I have never seen any advertising) & it has exceeded my expectations. It has the added bonus of being designed & built within this country but with a personal touch. The web-site covers everything I needed to know to make an informed decision, they also have a PDF which shows more. They are not afraid to show all the internals in good quality photos which I like as many dont show whats inside (makes me wonder why), they have all the technical specs clearly on the website (again not many do) it also comes with performance graphs so each one is individually tested & has a 3 year guarantee. The quality is in another league to anything I have owned before but its nice to have the reasurrance of the guarantee.

I should point out that this is moving magnet only but this type of design clearly seems to work very well as the sound has proven to me how good MM can sound everytime I lower the needle down, they say it will take those high output MC cartridges but I dont have any to try & have never seen the point of these. On the subject of MC I will be setting up another deck over the other side of the living room (I have permission from the Mrs so its a go:p) so I will have two decks, one which I will keep as MM & the other with MC, problem is quite a long distance from the phono stage & long lengths of cable is something I have had trouble with in the past on some stages but there is no impact on performance with longer cables with the NJC, again amazing stage. I mentioned above about the SUT, in the manual it mentions an SUT & so I queried this with NJC who said they will have their own transformer based SUT on their website in December or early January. I used to have a transformer based SUT years ago & would love to own one again, as I recall they just seemed to be more organic sounding & natural so I am excited to see what they come up with, if its as good as this stage then I will buy one for my new MC deck. :)

So thats all the good points mentioned so what is wrong with it?, well firstly you cant pop along to the nearest showroom & have a go of one, they are exclusively built to order & if you live outside the UK then you are out of luck, secondly they only come in silver & given the option I might have gone for black, thirdly they are only for moving magnet but as the website states & from my own findings this has proven to be a worthwhile design as its one of the best MM stages ive personally heard. Oh & they take 2 weeks to build which seems an eternity when your waiting. Other than those few points its a stage I can highly recommend, who says vinyl isnt able to compete at top level (shame on you), I still have a place for digital but now when I buy new music I see if its available on vinyl first, its that good. :):)
 
Great review Rob.

I also have had one of these for about 6 months and concur, it deserves the 'reference' tag. I had an NJC headphone amp before the phono stage and it had the same crisp, clear, deep and refined sound. Its like you can hear the whole of the track/vocal.

Nick at NJC is a gent too and will make sure (before selling it to you) that his kit will match your kit. It is a gem of a company, and one that doesnt get enough exposure in my opinion!
 
NJC rely on reviews and recommendations according to their web site and your review is so well written it amazes me. How many other reviews have you written before?

Thankfully I am more than pleased with my Arkless modified phono stage and NVA Headphone amp, both UK based and enthusiastically reviewed also.

NJC casework is excellent, very attractive and confidence building
 
Well, I can trump all of you. I own 2 NJC phono stages, two NJC headphone/pre-amps and also have one of their DACs. So there! :)))

The gear is amazing, simple as that. I doubt you can get much better at any price. On top of that, it is hand made in the UK. How many products can claim that? NJC is basically two guys - one does the machining and one does the electronics.

The gear sounds just as described above, clean, clear and neutral, nothing added, nothing taken away. However, let me add a few extra comments which sum up the quality to me.

First of all, each item is individually calibrated and you get customised certificates/plots. The gear is superbly finished and looks wonderful, no plasticky bits that let the show down. It is all wonderfully silent - the power supplies work properly. Finally, the QC is amazing - all units work perfectly out of the box, no problems at all, because everything is so meticulously put together and checked.

Highly recommended!

Phil
 
Well, I can trump all of you. I own 2 NJC phono stages, two NJC headphone/pre-amps and also have one of their DACs. So there! :)))

The gear is amazing, simple as that. I doubt you can get much better at any price. On top of that, it is hand made in the UK. How many products can claim that? NJC is basically two guys - one does the machining and one does the electronics.

The gear sounds just as described above, clean, clear and neutral, nothing added, nothing taken away. However, let me add a few extra comments which sum up the quality to me.

First of all, each item is individually calibrated and you get customised certificates/plots. The gear is superbly finished and looks wonderful, no plasticky bits that let the show down. It is all wonderfully silent - the power supplies work properly. Finally, the QC is amazing - all units work perfectly out of the box, no problems at all, because everything is so meticulously put together and checked.

Highly recommended!

Phil

Nice one Phil,

And good to see you over here! :D
 
Thanks chaps, I have been visiting this forum for years so not really a newcomer just that I only post from time to time (although I can see not half as much as some of you on here).

At this rate I might be a junior member for some time although I wouldnt mind being of junior age again :eek:
 
Nice review :).

The NJC certainly looks nicely put together using quality components:

phonoamp5.jpg
 
resurrecting this old thread to see if anyone else is using one and what their impressions of it are.
 


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