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Rega Fono MC vs. Aria Mk3 vs. Schiit Mani

I have the Aria MK1. I like it I don’t love it. I think if you are sticking with rega cartridges it’s a safe choice but I would say if not shop around as there are many they will give it a good run for the money

That’s a good caveat to point out - they work very well with Rega carts. But there’s better out there for other carts.
 
The Aria has landed . . .

It's far from set up well - perched on the corner of my TV stand - but after playing just a few records through it, my first reaction was "Oh, wow." It's rather dramatically better than the Schiit Mani (as it damn well ought to be!). I played it for my son, who had the same reaction.

This with the P6/Ania; I'll see how it works with the LP12/Moth/AT VM95ML, and with the Revolver/AT VM95ML. I can now get a much better sense of how good the P6 is.

I'm sure it's not the end-all/be-all, but a remarkable jump up the phono preamp quality ladder for me.

Off to play some records!
 
Enjoy! I had it paired with an Ania and it was brilliant. Also worked great with the Exact MM, but that didn't sound too different from the Fono MM (which sounded good too). Nice to have the option for MM though.
 
The Aria does like a little warming up but it's not too bad. I like it because, while not remarkable in any way, you can plug anything into it and get clean sound out the other end. It's not adding anything, just letting you hear what's going in more clearly.
 
Agree Mr Pig
I found when I first had a Fono (MM) I was really underwhelmed the first day but by day 2 it was better and day 3 of continual power up,it really snapped into focus.
My Aria sounded so much better from cold than the Fono but did improve after a couple of days.
I just keep it always powered up as I did the Fono.
Yeah the Aria is great smooth detailed and musical - Love mine and the 3 looks great style wise.
I know theres better out there (probably Jez's) but for a mid point phono stage its a nice piece of Rega kit.
 
Exchanged a Dynavector P75 II, for a Rega Aria 3, and initially thought I’d made a mistake, but when I’d acclimatised/ allowed the Aria time to warm up/break in, I realised that I much preferred what the Aria did for my Linn Krystal/linn Ittock II. IMO it sounds neutral, detailed, and dynamic, and as a bonus, visually matches my other Rega components nicely.
 


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