Cheap phono stages—how good are they?*

looking for some advice for my a bit confusing situation.
working now with a system that i'm planning to upgrade in the future.
due to several reasons , like temporary apartment with bad acoustics etc., it may take some time.
my turntable is the well tempered arm rev. 2 from the 90's.
have two integrated amps, both with MM input.
the amps and the speakers are part of the upgrade plan.
the speakers have some restriction in highs .
had a micro benz MC high output cartridge that worked fine , but recently it broke.
i'm planning to work, at least temporarily, with my old monster alpha 2 cartridge , 0.3 mV output.
for this one i must have a phono stage for MC.
i am a fan of tube sound and am thinking about buying one of those.
there is the project tube boxes and others.
it's just that according to the above temporary situation i think maybe to buy a cheap MC phono stage , just that it'll raise the gain of my 0.3 MC cartridge.
have some options like:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WSOIKNK?ref=myi_title_dp

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P8QM1YK?ref=myi_title_dp

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7P623S?ref=myi_title_dp

and of course there are others in that price range.

 

Of all the phono stages i have used,
The Michell iso always comes top of the tree.
£200 - £400 second hand obviously.
Probably cost £1500 TODAY.
I AN USING Benz Glyder low output,
And Linn Asak( recently retipped).
Absolutely superb.
I,m afraid low cost stages just don,t
Don,t deliver that magic.
I have wasted a lot of money in the past
Trying to do it on the cheap.

 

there are also those:
Make your vinyl collection really shine with one of the best phono preamps

Best budget phono preamps for your turntable

 

as i wrote, my current system is a bit on the mid quality, so i'm not sure how much a very good quality stage will be reflected on it.
but to use my low output MC i need the amplification for that cartridge.

 

What integrated amps do you have? Your profile is empty.

 

sorry/
i have two.
one is creek audio 4240 and the second is a vintage pioneer from the seventies.

 

Use one of these @ £ 99 in my office system , hand built in the uk
Edwards Audio Apprentice MM review | What Hi-Fi?

 

I used to own the Little Bear T8. It didn't sound as good as my Onkyo TX-8020 built-in phono stage. But it certainly was usable. Most people wouldn't hear the difference. But us audiophiles would

 

my previous replies are not approved yet.
what about a cheap tube phono stage ?

 

My mx97xe performed on a different
Level when i installed a Grahame Slee Gold Era.

 

Over time I realized that the phono stage is one of the most important components of a vinyl playback system. While you can get something "cheap" that will "work" don't expect to be "great", especially if you are dealing with the low output of an MC cartridge.

Not all the stuff you linked is tube based either. Some of the off-brand China tube-based phono stages and headphone amps aren't really full tube units either. They are hybrids and how much "tube magic" or sonic value the tube section in those things is really adding may be dubious. Caveat emptor. I regard them as "kits" for the tinkerer at best.

If this is a temporary situation why not buy a cheap MM cart to get you going? I'm guessing you have a built in phono pre that is compatible with an MM cart somewhere.

How many hours on the Monster cartridge anyway? Those have not been made in a long, long time. Yours may be due for a retip.

 

The new Schiit Mani is great I have the old version. The new version the reviews says that it sounds even better..
It has other op-amps and now it filter the RMI that some have had problems with the old Mani. It takes MC also.

This is my third RIAA stage. My first was a tube one then I got a SS with op-amps on sockets. I replaced them with the greatest I could find. But it were hard to hear a difference. (When replacing the op-amps it was not a fast A/B switch.)

But when the old Mani entered it had much bett sound quality especially in the bass! And I did not know that I were lacking that much bass. I thought records should sound like that I got from the old RIAA.

 

If the Mani is improved now as you say, the company should say something about it on their website. The product listing says nothing about that.

RE: the Mani + MC carts, I doubt too many Mani users are pairing it with MC, especially since loading options are limited to just two different loads, neither of which may be suitable for many MC carts out there.

 

Pretty sad, but expected I guess.

 

I haven't heard any of the really cheap MC capable stages but in my opinion if you are going to be using MC it is a waste of your cartridge and your listening time using a really cheap stage. If you can stretch your budget further I recommend the Lehmann Black cube -not the statement- the regular one and if you can the SE as the better power supply does make a difference.

 

Maybe this is too expensive, but a Park's Audio Puffin makes a great backup phono stage. It sounds very good and can be integrated into any setup. So if one of the high dollar devices needs to be serviced or upgraded you can always swap in the Puffin, MC, MM, any loading, any gain.

 

Is the puffin better than the budgie for MM?

 

This answer could spark some debate, but yes it is. The Puffin is DSP based, so it is somewhat controversial.

 

I understand, I am just amazed that it can handle lomc carts like a Hana SL for example?

 

In theory you could record a low output cart with no RIAA whatsoever and do all the RIAA correction and gain in software. A DSP based device should work about the same way, in real time. The only thing I'd be concerned about with a low output cart is noise, so hopefully the device is well designed and well shielded.

 

I have not tried it with a LOMC cart, but it should handle carts from .25mV up to line devices at 2V. It is available on Amazon, so if it didn’t work out for you, it is very easy to return.

 

True, they should.

Here's a link to the review of the revised version.

Schiit Mani phono preamp

 

IMO there's no such thing as a "good, but cheap" tube phono stage.

Check out the Hagerman Bugle 3. Handles both MM and MC. I built the kit of the previous version and it is very good for the money. I used it while my Moon 310LP was being checked over, and the Bugle was not at all embarrassed by the comparison. If that's all I had the money for I could easily live with it for a long time.

Bugle3 - Phono Preamp MM/MC

John K.

 

thank everyone for trying to help and sorry for the delay in my response. i'm in a different time zone.
first i must say that i never used before a phono stage , so i have no experience with it.
right now, after me micro benz high output MC broke i' m using an audio tech. MM cart i had, connected directly to the int. amp.
it sounds o.k but less better then the benz.
my alpha 2 cart is almost brand new so i decided to give it a try before buying a new cart or going to another MM cart.
i read that a ph. stage for a MCLO cart should have at list 60 db of gain.
one of the options i was thinking of is one of the project tube boxes.
but they are going from around 400 to 700 $ and maybe it's no so wise but i fill it's a bit risk to spend it without be sure about the result.
regarding the right remark of patient_ot , about tube hybrid, from what i read the project tube boxes are also not a pure tube, and the tubes are kind of a buffer, which i must to admit, i don't know exactly what it means.
right now i think of going to a unit up to the range of 150-200 $.
some of the options mentioned here are in that range and i will read a bit and consider them.
i mean the :
Schiit Mani
Bugle3 - Phono Preamp MM/MC

the
Edwards Audio Apprentice MM you mentioned daytona600 i think is only for a MM carts.

the above are not tube, but i understand from you that a good tube phono preamp will cost much more.
some don't ship to my country , but i'm planning to visit the usa in about 2 month , so if i'll have a decision i'll buy it there.


btw, what you are thinking about the project tube boxes like s2 or ds2, compare to other preamps in the same price range?

 

regarding the Schiit Mani most of the reviews are good.
also one in TAS.
Schiit Audio Mani Phonostage
the bad news from this review is that the mani fdidn't worked so well with a MC card, as it did with a MM one.
he tried it with a Denon DL-103R 0.25 mv cartridge.
also some of the costumers ( actually find one or two) talking about the hum noise issue .

as for the Bugle3 i understand that it's a diy kit , so i'm not sure bout it.