Phono Amplifier Review Index

[welwynnick]

A few things were niggling me in this forum, and I thought I might be able to help.

Some of the reviews of phono amps aren't listed in this forum - they're in the Amplifiers Forum instead - the next level up.

That means it's easy to overlook some of the reviews.

Similarly, some of the reviews aren't in the Review Index, so it's more difficult to search for them.

Also, MC - only phono amps seem to be a separate case, and get missed out.

Finally, the phono amp league table is for MM tests, so you can't see how amps with MC inputs fare, and it's difficult to make comparisons.

Therefore I bit the bullet and compiled a spreadsheet of phono amps tests. I brought them all into one place, and added results for MC tests.

For my own curiosity, I also added the gain to the amp SINAD to produce a total that's a sort of figure of merit. More gain typically equals more noise, and I was keen to see which amps were more successful at fighting that compromise. I think it's the mark of a good amp that the gain + SINAD is around120dB.

There are lots of games to play once it's in Excel, and as you might expect, the average MM gain is about 40dB, and the average MC gain is about 60dB.

I changed a few of the SINAD figures from the review index, in bold, as they referred to the ADC or DAC or line level tests.

Enjoy, Nick

Brand	Model	Price USD	SINAD	GAIN	TOTAL	SINAD	GAIN	TOTAL	Rec'd	Review Date	Review Link
			MM	MM	MM	MC	MC	MC
Classic Audio	MC Pro	$850			0​	73​	69​	142​	Yes	8/13/23	Review Link
ifi	Zen Air	£99	69​	40​	109​	66​	64​	130​	Yes	27/06/22	Review Link
eXemplar Audio	Exception Phono	$6,950	64​	43​	107​	54​	73​	127​	No	3/25/19	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Phono Box DS3 B	£799	78​	46​	124​	59​	66​	125​	Yes	28/01/24	Review Link
SOTA	Pyxi	$300	80​	46​	126​	65​	59​	124​	Yes	5/27/23	Review Link
Cambridge Audio	Alva Duo	$300	84​	39​	123​	63​	60​	123​	Yes	7/24/23	Review Link
Schiit	Skoll	$399	81​	41​	122​	64​	59​	123​	Yes	10/14/23	Review Link
Fosi	Audio Box X5	$110	86​	38​	124​	65​	57​	122​	Yes	12/01/25	Review Link
Lehmannaudio	Decade Phono Stage	£2,099	79​	45​	124​	66​	56​	122​	Yes	21/02/24	Review Link
NAD	PP 2e	£219	64​	37​	101​	62​	59​	121​	No	14/01/24	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Phono Box DC	£129	79​	40​	112​	58​	58​	116​	Yes	19/08/24	Review Link
Parasound	Zphono	$200	76​	47​	123​	56​	59​	115​	Yes	09/08/20	Review Link
ART Pro Audio	Precision Phono Pre	$81	78​	34​	112​	60​	52​	112​	Yes	6/13/22	Review Link
PS Audio	Stellar	$2,499	65​	44​	109​	51​	61​	112​	Yes	9/24/21	Review Link
Vincent	PHO-8	$250	73​	40​	113​	51​	58​	109​	No	3/25/20	Review Link
Graham Slee	Reflex C	$900			0​	59​	50​	109​	No	01/09/21	Review Link
Six Acoustics	York	$437	67​	40​	107​	48​	60​	108​	No	04/12/22	Review Link
Sutherland	KC Vibe MK2	£999	85​	45​	130​			0​	Yes	29/09/22	Review Link
Cambridge Audio	Alva Solo	$180	86​	39​	125​			0​	No	11/01/19	Review Link
Schiit	Mani 2	$149	81​	44​	125​			0​	Yes	2/23/22	Review Link
Emotiva Audio	XPS-1	$200	82​	42​	124​			0​	Yes	5/16/19	Review Link
Musical Fidelity	MX-VYNL	$1,000	79​	42​	121​			0​	Yes	06/07/19	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Phono Box DS2 USB	$600	80​	40​	120​			0​	Yes	07/12/20	Review Link
Rega	Fono Mk3	$400	78​	41​	119​			0​	No	11/04/20	Review Link
U-Turn Audio	Pluto 2	$99	78​	40​	118​			0​	Yes	6/23/21	Review Link
Schiit	Mani	$130	74​	43​	117​			0​	Yes	07/11/19	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Phono Box MM	$89	76​	40​	116​			0​	No	07/08/23	Review Link
U-Turn Audio	Pluto	$100	80​	36​	116​			0​	No	06/10/18	Review Link
Mofi	StudioPhono Stage	£349	74​	41​	115​			0​	No	21/04/24	Review Link
Rek O Kut Ultra	Ultra	$159	76​	39​	115​			0​	No	5/17/22	Review Link
Hagerman Audio Labs	Bugle3	$199	74​	40​	114​			0​	N/A	3/18/23	Review Link
Parks Audio	Puffin	$400	73​	40​	113​			0​	Yes	1/25/21	Review Link
Musical Surroundings	Nova 3	$1,500	69​	43​	112​			0​	N/A	12/29/20	Review Link
Parasound	200 Pre	$895	69​	43​	112​			0​	N/A	09/11/21	Review Link
Rane	PS1	$50	75​	36​	111​			0​	No	5/16/19	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Optical Box E Phono	$200	76​	34​	110​			0​	No	12/13/20	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Tube Box S2	$400	69​	40​	109​			0​	No	4/26/20	Review Link
Graham Slee	Gram Amp 2 Comm'tr	$299	69​	39​	108​			0​	No	04/11/22	Review Link
Darlington Labs	MM-5	$199	64​	41​	105​			0​	No	7/24/21	Review Link
ART Pro Audio	USB Phono Plus	$99.99	59​	45​	104​			0​	No	08/03/23	Review Link
ifi	Zen Phono	£199	67​	37​	104​			0​	Yes	26/06/22	Review Link
Hagerman Audio Labs	Bugle2	$150	61​	40​	101​			0​	No	8/14/20	Review Link
Superphon	Revelation Preamp	£349	59​	38​	97​			0​	Yes	16/05/24	Review Link
NAD	PP 4	$229	54​	42​	96​			0​	No	04/06/21	Review Link
Realistic	42-2101A	$20	58​	38​	96​			0​	No	1/22/21	Review Link
Chord Electronics	Huei	$1,500	44​	49​	93​			0​	No	11/07/20	Review Link
Lounge Audio	LCR Mk3	$300	53​	40​	93​			0​	No	04/07/19	Review Link
Rolls	VP29	$50	49​	41​	90​			0​	No	1/22/21	Review Link
Pyle Audio	Pro PP444	$13	48​	35​	83​			0​	No	10/15/19	Review Link
Furutech	Alpha Des Labs GT40	$525	40​	41​	81​			0​	No	10/05/19	Review Link
Marantz	AV10	£7,000	80​	35​	115​				Yes	01/12/23	Review Link

 

[Michael Fidler]

First reply, first entry on the table

Thanks for this - an excellent reference. Good idea combining gain and SINAD together.

 

[RandomEar]

@welwynnick Small thing I noticed: The format of the review dates seems to be mixed US and non-US style.

I've loaded the table into MATLAB/Octave and generated some plots. Let's begin with SINAD for MM and MC:

We can see that in case of MM preamps (and disregarding differences in gain), paying more than roughly 100 $ doesn't give you a higher SINAD anymore. It might give you more headroom, better rumble filtering and other improvements, though. For MC preamps, about 120 $ gets you the second best SINAD tested to date, but there is still quite a gap to the best. To reach the top, you need to go to 850 $.

For preamps which offer both, MM and MC, we can see how much their SINADs correlate:

Answer: Somewhat

Depending on how you look at the data, there are at least two significant outliers with SINAD (MM) < 70 but SINAD (MC) > 60: ifi Zen Air and NAD PP 2e. Or you could single out the Six Acoustics York with 67/48 dB and the Vincent PHO-8 with 73/51 dB in MM/MC mode.

 

[RandomEar]

Since the plots above do not consider the differences in gain between preamps, I've had a look at this again. Instead of plotting the "Total" (Total(i) = SINAD(i) + Gain(i)), I decided to normalize SINAD to the average gain of all preamps tested per category (MM or MC):

Normalized_SINAD(i) = SINAD(i) + Gain(i) - mean(All Gains)

The resulting changes for each device and therefore the resulting order/ranking should be identical to the one using "Total", but the numbers are a little more intuitive. The graph now looks like this:

There's some significant changes, with - ironically - the cheapest and the most expensive devices performing quite a bit worse now. To better visualize the changes, here's a quick animation:

 

[Amused]

The Pro-Ject Phono Box DC entry has a typo. The MM total should be 119, not 112 (79 + 40 = 119).
Neat spreadsheet!

 

[welwynnick]

The Pro-Ject Phono Box DC entry has a typo. The MM total should be 119, not 112 (79 + 40 = 119).
Neat spreadsheet!

Well spotted. There was a formula out of place.

 

[dan_uk]

Hi - Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm not that au fait with phono stag but have been researching for a friend.

In the Cambridge Audio Solo review, references the Cambridge Audio Duo review (SINAD of 90) a few times and gives a link - https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...nts-of-cambridge-audio-duo-phono-preamp.6901/

How come the Duo, which has the highest scoring SINAD isn't in the above list?

Thanks

 

[welwynnick]

Hi - Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm not that au fait with phono stag but have been researching for a friend.
In the Cambridge Audio Solo review, references the Cambridge Audio Duo review (SINAD of 90) a few times and gives a link
- https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...nts-of-cambridge-audio-duo-phono-preamp.6901/
How come the Duo, which has the highest scoring SINAD isn't in the above list?
Thanks

Because that was a very early test before Amir had standardised his phono amp testing. He did second test in 2023 which I did include, and he said this:

This is an updated review of the Cambridge Audio Duo phono preamplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $349.
The Duo has a solid build and is attractive to boot for its price.
Back panel shows independent sets of inputs for moving magnet and coil cartridges:
I like the inclusion of balance control and built-in power supply.
The original version was tested very early on when I had gotten into phono stage testing.
My protocols have evolved since then making it hard to compare those measurements to current phono stage reviews.

Cambridge Audio Duo Phono Stage Review (Updated)

This is an updated review of the Cambridge Audio Duo phono preamplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $349. The Duo has a solid build and is attractive to boot for its price. Back panel shows independent sets of inputs for moving magnet and coil cartridges: I like the...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[dan_uk]

Because that was a very early test before Amir had standardised his phono amp testing. He did second test in 2023 which I did include, and he said this:

Cambridge Audio Duo Phono Stage Review (Updated)

This is an updated review of the Cambridge Audio Duo phono preamplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $349. The Duo has a solid build and is attractive to boot for its price. Back panel shows independent sets of inputs for moving magnet and coil cartridges: I like the...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Ah perfect, thanks for the info!

 

[Balle Clorin]

Specs are ok, but features are much more important -low /rumble filter and loading options for MM and MC, balance control somewhere in the chain etc.
A RIAA with high input capacitance like the my Cambridge CP2 at 220pF is severely handicapped, the capacitance with cables will be too high to be optimal for Many cartridges, like all AudioTechnica and MM many Nagaokas too. a good RIAA can select from 50pF to 500pf for MM, MC do not care about loading so much .
You can assume cables add 100-150pF to the RIAA pF value.With Cambridge Duo you have 100pF input which can make it just acceptable for the standard AT MMs. See the effects of MM loading here.
Post in thread 'Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library'
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...tridge-measurement-library.46108/post-2265837

The noise floor of a vinyl record is -60db at best , so a RIAA with noise flood of -85 or 95 is an inaudible difference.listeing to MC gives significantly worse values but it does not seem to bother anyone. What is not nice is hum levels, but that can be very system and environmental dependant

I have Parks Audio Puffin with a MM SINAD ranking of 73 at 40 db gain. It is dead silent in my system , with my ear into the speaker at listening level it is hard to tell if the system is on or not. Maybe Amirm did not have an optimal placement when measuring and did not engage the low filter? By moving my Puffin away from a close by transformer (distance was 2-3 inches and picked up transformer radiation) and setting the low filter fo 20hz the noise level in the display drops from -75 to -85 in the Puffin display. ( 39db gain Mm 60 db gain MC)

Probably not directly comparable with AP measurements…

PS I also have Cambridge CP2 riaa stated -86db, and do not detect audible differences in noise when doing recordings from either

 

[RandomEar]

@Balle Clorin The small "A" and "D" in the display probably mean the measurement is weighed. Therefore my the value will be lower than measurements by amir, which should be unweighed as far as I know. SINAD is also incorporating noise & distortion, while the value on that display is likely just the level, which would mean it's 100% noise when no audio is playing. So it doesn't account for distortion.

 

[Balle Clorin]

@Balle Clorin The small "A" and "D" in the display probably mean the measurement is weighed. Therefore my the value will be lower than measurements by amir, which should be unweighed as far as I know. SINAD is also incorporating noise & distortion, while the value on that display is likely just the level, which would mean it's 100% noise when no audio is playing. So it doesn't account for distortion.

No, it is for different parts of the unit, A are for Analog input, while D is Digital level where 0dB corresponds to 2.1Volt out. No signal input ,cartridge off record, so no distortion

 

[welwynnick]

Here's the updated index with the Fosi BOX X1 added. Shout if you want the spreadsheet.

Brand	Model	Price	SINAD	GAIN	TOT	SINAD	GAIN	TOT	Rec'd	Review	Review
			MM	MM	MM	MC	MC	MC		Date	Link
Classic Audio	MC Pro	$850			0​	73​	68​	141​	Yes	8/13/23	Review Link
ifi	Zen Air	£99	69​	40​	109​	66​	64​	130​	Yes	06/27/22	Review Link
Classic Audio	Spartan 20	$670	81​	41​	122​	67​	60​	128​	Yes	04/06/25	Review Link
eXemplar Audio	Exception Phono	$6,950	64​	43​	107​	54​	73​	127​	No	3/25/19	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Phono Box DS3 B	£799	78​	46​	124​	59​	66​	125​	Yes	01/28/24	Review Link
SOTA	Pyxi	$300	80​	46​	126​	65​	59​	124​	Yes	5/27/23	Review Link
Cambridge Audio	Alva Duo	$300	84​	39​	123​	63​	60​	123​	Yes	7/24/23	Review Link
Schiit	Skoll	$399	81​	41​	122​	64​	59​	123​	Yes	10/14/23	Review Link
Fosi	Audio Box X5	$110	86​	38​	124​	65​	57​	122​	Yes	01/12/25	Review Link
Lehmannaudio	Decade Phono Stage	£2,099	79​	45​	124​	66​	56​	122​	Yes	02/21/24	Review Link
NAD	PP 2e	£219	64​	37​	101​	62​	59​	121​	No	01/14/24	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Phono Box DC	£129	79​	40​	119​	58​	58​	116​	Yes	08/19/24	Review Link
Parasound	Zphono	$200	76​	47​	123​	56​	59​	115​	Yes	08/09/20	Review Link
ART Pro Audio	Precision Phono Pre	$81	78​	34​	112​	60​	52​	112​	Yes	6/13/22	Review Link
PS Audio	Stellar	$2,499	65​	44​	109​	51​	61​	112​	Yes	9/24/21	Review Link
Vincent	PHO-8	$250	73​	40​	113​	51​	58​	109​	No	3/25/20	Review Link
Graham Slee	Reflex C	$900			0​	59​	50​	109​	No	09/01/21	Review Link
Six Acoustics	York	$437	67​	40​	107​	48​	60​	108​	No	12/04/22	Review Link
Sutherland	KC Vibe MK2	£999	85​	45​	130​			0​	Yes	09/29/22	Review Link
Cambridge Audio	Alva Solo	$180	86​	39​	125​			0​	No	01/11/19	Review Link
Schiit	Mani 2	$149	81​	44​	125​			0​	Yes	2/23/22	Review Link
Emotiva Audio	XPS-1	$200	82​	42​	124​			0​	Yes	5/16/19	Review Link
Musical Fidelity	MX-VYNL	$1,000	79​	42​	121​			0​	Yes	07/06/19	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Phono Box DS2 USB	$600	80​	40​	120​			0​	Yes	12/07/20	Review Link
Rega	Fono Mk3	$400	78​	41​	119​			0​	No	04/11/20	Review Link
U-Turn Audio	Pluto 2	$99	78​	40​	118​			0​	Yes	6/23/21	Review Link
Schiit	Mani	$130	74​	43​	117​			0​	Yes	11/07/19	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Phono Box MM	$89	76​	40​	116​			0​	No	08/07/23	Review Link
U-Turn Audio	Pluto	$100	80​	36​	116​			0​	No	10/06/18	Review Link
Mofi	StudioPhono Stage	£349	74​	41​	115​			0​	No	04/21/24	Review Link
Rek O Kut Ultra	Ultra	$159	76​	39​	115​			0​	No	5/17/22	Review Link
Marantz	AV10	£7,000	80​	35​	115​			0​	Yes	12/01/23	Review Link
Hagerman Audio Labs	Bugle3	$199	74​	40​	114​			0​	N/A	3/18/23	Review Link
Parks Audio	Puffin	$400	73​	40​	113​			0​	Yes	1/25/21	Review Link
Musical Surroundings	Nova 3	$1,500	69​	43​	112​			0​	N/A	12/29/20	Review Link
Parasound	200 Pre	$895	69​	43​	112​			0​	N/A	11/09/21	Review Link
Rane	PS1	$50	75​	36​	111​			0​	No	5/16/19	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Optical Box E Phono	$200	76​	34​	110​			0​	No	12/13/20	Review Link
Fosi	BOX X1	$36	74​	35​	109​			0​	No	05/18/25	Review Link
Pro-Ject	Tube Box S2	$400	69​	40​	109​			0​	No	4/26/20	Review Link
Graham Slee	Gram Amp 2 Comm'tr	$299	69​	39​	108​			0​	No	11/04/22	Review Link
Darlington Labs	MM-5	$199	64​	41​	105​			0​	No	7/24/21	Review Link
ART Pro Audio	USB Phono Plus	$99.99	59​	45​	104​			0​	No	03/08/23	Review Link
ifi	Zen Phono	£199	67​	37​	104​			0​	Yes	06/26/22	Review Link
Hagerman Audio Labs	Bugle2	$150	61​	40​	101​			0​	No	8/14/20	Review Link
Superphon	Revelation Preamp	£349	59​	38​	97​			0​	Yes	05/16/24	Review Link
NAD	PP 4	$229	54​	42​	96​			0​	No	06/04/21	Review Link
Realistic	42-2101A	$20	58​	38​	96​			0​	No	1/22/21	Review Link
Chord Electronics	Huei	$1,500	44​	49​	93​			0​	No	07/11/20	Review Link
Lounge Audio	LCR Mk3	$300	53​	40​	93​			0​	No	07/04/19	Review Link
Rolls	VP29	$50	49​	41​	90​			0​	No	1/22/21	Review Link
Pyle Audio	Pro PP444	$13	48​	35​	83​			0​	No	10/15/19	Review Link
Furutech	Alpha Des Labs GT40	$525	40​	41​	81​			0​	No	05/10/19	Review Link

 

[DVinylfan]

Wow, thanks for your work and this excellent and helpful thread.