Help for a newbie | Looking for a A2D phono preamp

[PAITUWIN]

Hello everyone,

I recently bought a "cheap" turntable but the warehouse where I bought it gave me a Rega Planar 3 with the Exact cartridge pre-mounted by mistake (lucky me).

After setting it up to my soundbar with a chinese Analog to Digital (optical) converter there was almost no power coming through the speakers, after some research I noticed that I needed a phono preamp as this model doesn't have a built in phone stage or line out. As per my current space available/setup for my living room I only have a LG S75Q Soundbar and I would like to keep that way to maintain it cheap. This specific soundbar only has HDMI, Optical and USB inputs.

I saw in the forums a few A2D phono preamps that should be more than enough for what I want but I would like to listen to your recommendations Also, my soundbar is capable of 24/96 but I don't think that's explecitely needed. These are the A2D options that I have seen in the forums

Rega Fono Mini A2D
ART USB Phono Plus
SoundBlaster X-FI HD
Pro-Ject DS2 USB
Pro-Ject Optical Box E Phono

- So far, is a phono preamp all that I need?
- Is it better to connect the preamp to the soundbar via USB or optical?
- Would you rather pick up a better standard preamp and then use a A2D converter?

Many thanks to all in advance, cheers!

 

[Bob from Florida]

Parks Waxwing

 

[Eric Natural]

...This specific soundbar only has HDMI, Optical and USB inputs.

any of the phono preamps you've mentioned will work just fine into either your optical or usb of that soundbar. They will each sound pretty similar to each other coming out of a soundbar. When budget allows, you will find the benefit of expanding your system to full surround-sound gear & that turntable will fit into that future system very well.

 

[PAITUWIN]

any of the phono preamps you've mentioned will work just fine into either your optical or usb of that soundbar. They will each sound pretty similar to each other coming out of a soundbar. When budget allows, you will find the benefit of expanding your system to full surround-sound gear & that turntable will fit into that future system very well.

Thanks for the info I appreciate it

In the regards of the ones that have a USB output would they all work with the soundbar? I've seen some of them where (i.e: Rega) it's says that the USB is for digitalize vinyls, my only concern here is that for some reason it needs to be connected to a device with a specific software/firmware installed.

Yes, more than the budget is the space available that I currently have in my flat, I would like to have a "great" setup but when the time comes. I currently have a budget of 200€ max which all of them fit, except Pro-Ject DS2 USB which I'm aware that first hand should be about 600€, notheless it's seems to be the one that is more complete or feature wise as A2D

I've also find Project AD Box S2 Phono for 200€ but again, just like Rega, they state the USB is to digitalize vinyls

 

[JeffS7444]

I would expect that the USB port on the LG would be intended for music files stored on USB stick, not a steaming source such as a turntable.

 

[PAITUWIN]

I would expect that the USB port on the LG would be intended for music files stored on USB stick, not a steaming source such as a turntable.

And you expected it right. I just checked their manual and they state all the time USB Storage Device

Thanks for pointing that out