A year-end look at three shades of phono
The phonostage has one of the most delicate and brutal jobs in audio. It has to take a whisp of an electrical signal from a tiny coil and boost it 60 or 70 dB just to get it to line level. In addition, it has to perform gymnastic RIAA equalization since a record has to have the treble boosted to allow high-frequency signals to be better picked up, and bass ruthlessly cut, as these huge waves simply wouldn't fit and would need your cartridge on bungees to track them.
This holiday season we are celebrating the whole spectrum of phono amplification, and picking three beloved phonostages from all-tube even in the power supply, to all-tube in the signal path, to unabashedly all solid-state.
Totally Tubular
The PrimaLuna EVO 100 Tube Phonostage (photo above) stands out because not only does it use tubes in the signal path, it has them in the power supply. This fully dual-mono design uses two 5AR4 tubes to convert AC to DC and two EL34 power tubes to reduce low-frequency power supply noise.
It's such an unusual design that Josh Phelps, our service manager, says, "This is the phonostage I have been waiting decades for and it is finally here."
The 28 lb. EVO 100 uses a massive custom toroidal power transformer to properly feed the four 12AX7 tubes in the main gain stage. Used for MM by itself, this stage is joined by two 6922 tubes for MC gain.
Dubbed “More than worthy of an Exceptional Value Award for 2023" by Jeff Dorgay of TONE Publications, the PrimaLuna EVO 100 is a rare chance for you to experience tube glory across all circuits in your phonostage.
Worlds Colliding
The Manley Oasis phonostage uses four 6922 tubes, two in the gain stage and two in the output stage, but innovatively combines this with solid-state technology to offer the best of both these worlds. Like the Steelhead, each channel uses the two 6922 triode sections for amplification, assisted by low-noise FETs receiving the signal below each cathode. The signal is directly coupled from the gain stages to the other 6922 dual triode serving as the output driver, a stage that offers super-low output impedance and beefy current-driving capabilities. "It can drive long cable lengths and difficult loads, tube or solid-state. Bring it on," says Manley Labs. "No wimpy cathode followers here!"
Interestingly this clever design is powered by a highly engineered switching power supply, one that's a whole world away from the cheap current choppers known as wall warts. Manley's PSU was designed by Bruno Putzeys, considered one of the world's greatest audio engineers. Bruno started at Philips working on class-D power stages, and left to work for Grimm Audio and Hypex (which we know from its class-D modules in NAD amps), and eventually co-founded Purifi Audio, a company that sets the standard for high-end class-D amplification.
Thus the Oasis offers a deep draft from the old world of tubes and the new world of class-D designs, bringing the grandeur of the former and speed and detail of the latter.
Rock Solid
When we polled Sean-Paul Williams, analog manager, and Bill Rudolph, salesperson, for this story, both mentioned the Sutherland Dos Locos phonostage. Named after 'crazy' because Ron Sutherland took all of his ideas to the very limit, the Dos Locos is so dual mono, that you have to buy them as a pair for a stereo cartridge (and yes, can use just one for a mono cart.)
Calling this phonostage "Ron's masterpiece" that represents a new level in analog playback, Bill says, "The Dos Locos has opened my eyes to current-based phono amps. The sound is so open and natural, able to render dynamics and weight to every instrument regardless of how loud they are in the mix."
Keeping it Real
There are already AI-music festivals, and singers whose likenesses, backstories, and complete discographies have been created by the electronic accretions of gen-AI. There's a new term out there, promptography, describing the creation of images using AI. Soon, we'll have Sora film festivals, referring to the OpenAI text-to-video generator.
The reaction, we believe, is going to be an unprecedented resurgence of analog and physical media and creations. Already, bands are releasing albums on LP, CD, and... wait for it... cassette tape. (Yes, kids today are actually seeking out those infernal plastic-housed spools.)
Vinyl replay is absolutely not going anywhere, and stands to get ever better, even though it's the oldest extant playback medium we know. If you're not already there, contact us to get in on the joy of actually holding an album in your hands, and building up a special collection that, in a breath of fresh air in an increasingly dematerialized world, occupies space in your home and demands the attention of all of your senses. (Well maybe—hopefully—not your sense of taste.)