Advice on a preamp

[audiomig]

I would like to buy a preamp to use with an analogue rig fed by a turntable+phono stage.

I have been looking at https://www.audiophonics.fr/ for different alternatives but have difficulty deciding which one to go for since we cannot really rely on the info available (audio gd is paradigmatic in this sense). Each uses different ICs and a couple are discrete, some are passive, others active... your help to reduce the choice to a couple of them would be great.

Some of the preamps I am considering are:
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...r-volume-control-source-selector-p-13209.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...th-tone-control-2x-aop-lm49720na-p-12752.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...otentiometer-with-remote-control-p-14308.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...es-6j1-stereo-preamplifier-black-p-12400.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...-preamplifier-10k-source-selector-p-8684.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...le-de-volume-selecteur-de-source-p-13944.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...rter-rca-to-xlr-xlr-to-rca-black-p-12797.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...sistor-volume-controller-xlr-rca-p-13183.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...amplifier-volume-control-opa2604-p-14307.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...ier-with-tone-control-opa-lm4562-p-14296.html

Maybe a Topping DA30 as preamp would be a good choice...?
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/sede...er-preamplifier-tpa6120a2-silver-p-13377.html

Other suggestions are welcome.

I am tempted to go for this one:
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/prea...ier-with-tone-control-opa-lm4562-p-14296.html

I am looking forward for your knowledgeable input.

 

[MRC01]

Vinyl was my primary listening for more than 10 years I had a few different setups. The best sounding most transparent of them was:
DACT CT-100 phono head amp. Comes as a board, you wire up the connections & ground and provide power. You can wire its output either way: balanced or unbalanced. I used unbalanced and powered mine with dual 12V rechargeable batteries.

10k passive attenuator. I started with Ron Welborne's kit and did some redesign of my own. It is nothing unusual, just the basic ladder setup with metal film resistors, using Goldpoint 24-position knobs. You can go crazy with 48 position knobs if you want. Also, you should consider going 5k instead of 10k. The CT-100 can certainly handle that, so it's a good choice if all your other upstream source devices have output impedances below 500 ohms.

Even if you go with an active preamp, I believe the CT-100 is one of the best phono head amps available at any price. It has excellent measurements all around, sounds fantastic, and is incredibly flexible with gain and loading to handle any phono cartridge from the lowest output MC to the highest output MM, all with DIP switch settings. The work to solder and such is not difficult, requiring only basic skills. And if you get that, it frees you to use any preamp, obviating the need for a built-in phono head amp.

If I kept my vinyl, I would use the CT-100 with a DAC+preamp+headphone amp. But you'd need one with an analog input, of course. If you also need some DSP, perhaps parametric EQ for your headphones or room, then I'd recommend the Behringer DEQ2496. It has both analog and digital inputs, so then your DAC preamp doesn't need an analog input; the DEQ2496 becomes your A-D converter.

 

[audiomig]

Thank you for your reply MRC01.
The DACT stuff looks great and I am sure would be a great solution, but I want to keep it simple and just add a simple preamp for volume control and eventually added gain, don't know if I need it though (the added gain).
I already have a Naim phono amp that I find quite musical, whatever that means.

 

[MRC01]

There's a couple of recent threads with more detail on passive attenuators and the system requirements they need to work well. A little search will yield useful tips.

 

[audiomig]

Thank you for the tip, it has been enlightening to go through the passive attenuators threads.
I might say, for me, some myths have been busted.
I ended up ordering a Topping A50, I hope it will do the job well.