For those of you who spin the black licorice discs to satisfy your musical sweet tooth, I have, for the past couple of months, been listening to an iFi Phono 3 Black Label phono preamp in my system.

I have been listening to a number of phonostages that I have built over the years, Aikido phonostage, Pass Pearl 1 & 2, Pete Millett LR phonostage, Hagerman Octal Cornet, Hagerman Bugle, etc., and used a number of moving coil stepups. I always keep coming back to the Aikido phonostage, but seems it is always keeps me tube rolling or modifying the front end for the gain and sound I like, and I never seem to settle in totally on the sound.

Enter the iFi Phono 3. It is a really small solid state unit, powered by a switching power supply (one of the new iFi iPower 2 versions). It has alot of flexiblility for gain and loading thru dip switches on the board. I have tried it only with moving coil cartridges so far, but have used it with both a Denon DL-103R (aluminum body + line contact stylus) and a Benz Ruby 3. In any case, the sound quality is better than anything I have built. It is dead quiet, grain free, and tonally neutral (but not FET cool sounding). Every recording I play seem to have a quiet background (i.e. it seems to be undisturbed by ticks and pops), even with moving coil input. Digital quiet. Really hear alot of detail and texture, with a big soundstage with good depth. Also is very involving, I keep wanting to put on the next record, and old records sound new again. It is really a surprising little unit, and reasonably affordable (under $1K). I have to say, that despite the considerable upgrades on the digital side of my system the past few months, this unit is a substantial upgrade in vinyl enjoyment that keeps pulling me back to analog when I get a chance.

David

* BTW, it will actually fit in a stocking.

I heard of people having problems with earlier iFi phono stages.

Regarding the Red Rose Rosette, I saw that this is the same as the Chinese Dussun u3i phonostage (OEM), that was available for considerably less. Still if it sounds nice and is cheap, that is great, but looks to be a difficult item to find.

My motivation to try the iFi unit was curiosity after reading some very positive impressions, and it was cheap enough to take the risk. I ended up very surprised by the sound quality, even stone cold out of the box, and it continued to improve over time. If it croaks out of warranty, then my loss, but I would have enjoyed it while it is working. The unit is essential unserviceable due to the extensive surface mount construction.

David

Pete,

Let me have a chance over the holidays to try out a MM cartridge with the iFi and I can report back. I have been holding out due to the tonearm (12 inch Jelco TK-850L) which is well suited for MC but perhaps has too much mass for MM. But it is worth a try to see how it works. I may just try this weekend.

We will probably have to have rolling meets over several weekends devoted to listening to everyone's projects, new acquisitions, and upgrades since the beginning of Covid. Between new speakers, phono preamps, DACs and streamers, amplifiers, etc. that everyone has been working on. I know my system is almost completely changed from what it was 2 years ago.

David