Cyrus Phono Signature/psx-r2
The humble phono stage works hard to make your turntable sound good. Here are six of the best on the market right now...
Rega Fono Mini A2D £90
Rega already has budget turntables sewn up, with its Award-winning Planar 1, so it is fitting that it has a similarly priced phono stage to match. A moving magnet design, also packing a front-mounted USB socket that enables you to transfer your vinyl to a PC, should you wish to do so, the Fono Mini A2D is no-frills to the core. However, sonically, it’s an exceptional performer. It’s tonally integrated with a cohesive, yet punchy, sound and exceptional dynamic range for its price – you’d need to double your budget before finding anything consumately better than this Rega.
Rega Aria £800
Unlike most rival designs catering for both cartridge types, the MC section in the Rega Aria isn’t just the MM circuitry with some added gain. Rega has implemented two separate circuits, each optimised for the particular characteristics of each cartridge type. The result is a responsive and agile performance that tracks dynamic shifts well. There’s plenty of resolution, and the ability to organise detail in a coherent way, no matter how complex it becomes. Phono stages of this quality are rare, particularly under a grand; just make sure you have a suitably talented deck to pair it with.
Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator £180
Another basic-looking design – a moving-magnet phono stage with one set of inputs and one set of outputs – it doesn’t look like much and it doesn’t feel like much, but the Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator is a brilliant little box. Timing is excellent, the detail keeps us hooked, revealing intricacies we haven’t heard before, even in familiar pieces of music, and it leads the way at this budget with its pace, organisation and dynamic range. It’s low on frills but high on quality – Communicator is an apt title for this gem of a phono stage from Graham Slee.
Pathos In The Groove £1250
As well as great performance, we also expect easy cartridge matching, low levels of noise and excellent build quality from a top-class phono stage. Pathos’s In The Groove delivers all these things, plus a good spread of cartridge loading adjustments, from resistance and capacitance to gain, and should match most cartridges properly. Pathos’s engineers have tackled noise issues by moving the power supply (often the most problematic part of the circuitry) outboard. The sound is refined, insightful and entertaining, and the best you’ll find before you’re heading towards two grand.
Arcam rphono £400
From the front, Arcam’s rphono looks as basic as the Rega and Graham Slee in terms of features. But around the back things get more interesting. Here you’ll find dedicated inputs for moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges along with adjustments for impedance (MC only), input capacitance (MM only) and a range of gain settings from 30db to an impressive 82db. There’s even a rumble filter to reduce ultra-low frequency noise your record player or disc may generate. More importantly, it produces a refined and entertaining sound with which few of Arcam’s rivals can compete (see p11).
Cyrus Phono Signature/psx-r2 £1990
A Cyrus Phono Signature used solo is great. In combination with the PSXR2 it’s even better. Those who feel £745 for an outboard power supply is excessive, bear in mind a phono stage does many times more amplification than a pre or power amp. Our second-favourite thing about this phono stage is the remote control, or rather the ability to optimise performance without leaving your listening sweet spot to twiddle knobs. But our absolute favourite thing is the performance – balanced, insightful and rhythmically surefooted with gloriously expressive dynamic understanding.