Features: Phono Preamplifiers

Hard to believe, but McIntosh's recently introduced MP100 is the storied company's first stand-alone phono preamplifier. Though at $2000 it's not stratospherically priced, it delivers both an impressive features set and the suave sonic goods, feel and build quality you'd expect from McIntosh. and of course, you could even say it glows (green).This is an accidental review, though shame on me for not asking for one to review sooner. It was on my... Read More

High-end audio has a rich history of husband-and-wife teams. In the case of Zesto Audio, head honcho George Counnas designs the circuitry, and his wife Carolyn creates the line's distinctive, unmistakably artsy, curvaceous looks. She also does Zesto's marketing.George’s back story includes being part of a research and development team designing airborne navigational systems for the Royal Air Force and later as a recording engineer, musician, and producer.... Read More

One of my favorite demo LPs—heck, one of my favorite LPs, period—is the 45rpm reissue by the late, lamented Classic Records of the Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures At An Exhibition, which was originally released by RCA on its fabled "Shaded Dog" Living Stereo label. It was recorded in 1958 at Orchestra Hall and features the Chicago Symphony led by the legendary conductor Fritz Reiner. A young Adolph Herseth, probably the best orchestral trumpeter of the past... Read More

Jerome Sabbagh's newest album Heart arrived as I was packing for Munich so I couldn't play it before leaving. Upon returning, once my ears had unclogged from the plane flight, I got right to it, playing it on the MoFi Electronics Masterdeck turntable, a review of which is coming right up. First play I found the James Farber engineered at The Power Station live to 2-track analog tape recording wonderfully transparent, timbrally rich, and overall, sonically... Read More

Westminster Lab is relatively new to the hifi scene, but since introducing their Rei power amps and Quest preamplifier, the company has rapidly gained a reputation for excellence. There is a lot of available online information and interviews with Westminster Lab founder and CEO Angus Leung so I won’t rehash too much of it here. Mr. Lueng started as a digital-only listener and designer until a meeting with DS Audio founder and bossman Tetsuaki Aoyagi resulted in Mr.... Read More

Schiit's Skoll phono preamp is a wonder of miniaturization and efficient product design, that much is certain. The photo makes it appear larger than it really is, which is approximately 9"x6"x1.5". Now, that's compact and perhaps not unusual in itself but consider that it features both single-ended and balanced XLR inputs and output connectors. There's even a multi-pin jack for the special wall-wart that provided the chassis both 24VAC... Read More

Many Grails ago, in 2009, van den Hul introduced its original "The Grail" transimpedance-based MC/MM phono preamplifier. I reviewed it in 2018 when it cost $7950. Yes, it’s pretentious to name anything, but especially an audio product, “The Grail” but at least it wasn’t called “The Holy Grail” and it wasn’t packed in a cup and didn’t promise mystical healing powers. But it surely did deliver the promised outstanding sonic performance and it's still in... Read More

AVM’s Ovation PH 8.3 vacuum tube-based phono preamplifier is among the most versatile, useful, and well-conceived phono preamps I’ve yet encountered. How’s that for an opening paragraph? As with all models in the Ovation 8 series, the PH 8.3’s output stage uses a matched pair of AVM’s 803T tube, which is a 12AX7, modified per AVM’s specifications, that helps produce, according to the company, “an unmistakably charming tube sound”. BTW "AVM" stands for Audio... Read More

Maryland-based Black Ice Audio manufactures and markets an extensive line of vacuum tube-based audio products. The company had a long association with the late audio genius Jim Fosgate, who passed away in 2022.Rather than list Jim’s accomplishments here, please read his obit, though if you don’t, just know that among his many tech accomplishments Jim invented and licensed to Dolby what became Dolby Pro Logic II. It made him a well-deserved wealthy man, but it didn’t... Read More

Is high end audio practical? If you ask the average Joe on the street, a $5,000 set of speakers is not practical. However, if you ask Tracking Angle readers, my guess is most would think that $5,000 is a pretty reasonable price. One might even say that listening to vinyl is not practical. The Phonomena III phono preamplifier, when paired with the upgraded Linear Power Supply, is among the most practical and flexible phono stage you can buy.

I figured before boxing it up and returning the MoFi Electronics MasterPhono I'd remove the top cover and give you a short guided tour. Read More

Put yourself in the shoes of an audio designer like industry veteran Peter Madnick. You are tasked with creating a phono preamplifier at a given price point. In the case of the MoFi MasterPhono phono preamplifer, around $6000. That puts it not at the “luxury” level, but well above “entry level.” Absent price constraints a designer can offer high sonic performance and a generous feature menu, but as the price drops, the higher becomes the tension between features and... Read More

A manufacturer arrived the other day to install a costly turntable that I won't identify here. We played some records and you can be sure it sounded really fine. I could probably write the review after that first listening session but of course I won't. Then I went into my utility room and played a record we'd just played, on the Michell Gyro SE (the review will shortly be published). He couldn't see the turntable nor did I identify it. But he... Read More

You’ll have to decide for yourself whether DS Audio President Tetsuaki “Aki” Aoyagi’s smarter move was instigating a 21st century version of the ‘70’s era optical phono cartridge or creating an open playing field upon which other companies could develop their own versions of the particular equalizer/preamplifier required to make the cartridge work.Aoyagi, an accountant by training with a family background in high-tech laser optics could probably have fashioned a... Read More

Lehmannaudio's original Black Cube, introduced in the late 1990's and still in production, set a high bar for what a moderately priced phono preamp could accomplish. Since then the Cologne, Germany-based company has added a top of the line Silver Cube in 2002 (now costing $4699) and over time filled in the price points in-between with the Decade in 2005 (celebrating the company's 10th anniversary), the Black Cube Statement a year later (among other... Read More