Chord Huei Phonostage, has anybody tried it?

[Barry]

Interesting. I've always thought that unless the source is balanced then anything downstream is only pseudo balanced (unless a balanced converting stage is used liked some TVCs). Does anyone know if you can get true balanced from a pick up cartridge?

Virtually all pick-up cartridges are balanced in nature. Whilst there are several phonostages that have balanced outputs, the number that offer a balanced input can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Ironically, one of Chord's designs (now no longer made) offered the option for a balanced input.

[Clive197]

Further update. 1st of all my thanks go out to Paul at HiFi Lounge for loaning me the Chord Huei.
I’ve spent the last 2days playing with it and even e-mailed Chord for advise re leaving it permanently powered on. They replied within an hour saying they generally advise switching it off as it warms up very quickly and also conserves electricity (sic). The issue I have with that is that my thick fingers found it difficult to reach behind to turn on/off with the very small power switch.
The sound didn’t best my PS Audio NuWave phono converter and in fact having a detailed top end seemed to highlight surface noise, it was also slightly noisy, a problem the Nu-Wave doesn’t have.
A very disappointing result as it does match my Chord Qutest but too many issues make this a flawed product for me.

[Firebottle]

That's interesting, I thought it was supposed to be very low noise.
Did you adjust the gain setting at all?

[Clive197]

That's interesting, I thought it was supposed to be very low noise.
Did you adjust the gain setting at all?

Absolutely, tried 3 different settings.