GS Era V Gold vs Trichord Dino

[Marco]

I'd speak to Alan about trying the Firebottle phono stage.

+1, or try a Croft.

I have no doubt whatsoever that the Whest phono stage of which is mentioned here is pretty good in the right system. I owned an upgrades three grand Whest phono stage and to be very honest it just didn't do it for me.

I think the entry-level Whest is good, but the more expensive ones in the range just aren’t worth their huge price premium. If you’re spending that kind of money, IME, there are far better options out there.

Some of the best phono stages i have owned have been built into a pre amp.

…and that wasn’t an accident, matey!

Quite simply, the worst thing for the delicate music signal, emitting from your cartridge, is subjecting it to over-complication, as that is very detrimental to maintaining its integrity, and it destroys the music.

Therefore, there’s a lot to be said for a high-quality, well-designed internal phono stage, hard-wired into the same circuit as a preamp or integrated amp, minus all the breaks in signal and increased capacitance and resistance, created by interconnect cables, plugs and sockets, joining up the use of another box!

Also, in my experience, phono stages come into their own when they’re designed with valves. Valves, done properly, particularly in that application, have a magical way with music that, so far to my ears, escapes any solid-state designed phono stage.

Marco.