Gold Note PH-10 Phone Stage PreAmp

I’m assuming there aren’t a ton of vinyl heads on Hifiguides but thought I’d post this here anyway. I’m greatly intrigued on the quality and level of benefit I’d receive in adding this into my vinyl rig. It’s a $1600 Phono preamp which is a great deal more expensive than my $129 Schiit Mani. There are a few youtube and online reviews that are very favorable for this product and Darko mentions it a few times in his vids.

Product Links:

https://www.goldnote.it/phono-stages/ph-10/

https://goldnoteusa.com/product/ph-10/

I just recently added a near TOTL cart to my Thorens TD 125 TT so looking for the next upgrade in my vinyl/analog chain. Just got the Grade F9e w/upgrade Ruby stylus.

I’ll be upgrading my speakers to the Swans M5A when their supply chain comes back online after the caronavirus. Thus now considering adding a phono upgrade and potentially a Schiit Freya+ tube pre-amp to the chain.

Any thoughts/experience with this product from Gold Note?

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I heard Zeos call out your post on the Schiit Lyr video, and he said no one knows what that is! But I actually have the Gold Note PH-10 and I just recently (like last week) added the PSU-10 power supply.

Overall, I really like it. I’m currently running it from my Rega P3, and I have used the preamp with a MM cartridge, the Nagaoka MP-200, and a MC cartridge, the Benz Micro Gold. The whole thing is a beast! The case is solid metal and the edges are sharp. I like the variable options of equalization curves which allows for playing old records before RIAA was the standard. The front screen is very nice for changing impedence and gain, and when you make changes you can hear relays click around inside. So far, I can’t tell a substantial difference with the PSU, but I haven’t had a lot of time with it yet. And really I got it because I found a European version of the preamp for a deal on the used market, and I need the PSU to use the device on American power without a transformer.

I upgraded to the PH-10 from the MoFi StudioPhono which is also amazing, and at $299, it is much less of a commitment than the PH-10. I wish I could tell you the PH-10 is substantially better, but to my ears, they are on par with each other. If you can find a PH-10 on the used market, I’d say go for it! It’s a very nice piece of equipment. :slight_smile:

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I should also mention that the PH-10 has two turntable inputs, which is important to me since I have two tables. It also has balanced out to the preamp which is a plus.

I’m not a patreon supporter of his so haven’t seen his Lyr video so not sure what he called me out on. I use the Lyr (Holy grail tubes) & Bifrost for my headphones but it never touches my vinyl rig/chain. At this point my weakness on vinyl are speakers and phono with possibly the preamp. I was hoping the PH-10 was going to be an un-equivocal upgrade over an entry phono. The used market the PH-10 is going for $1200 w/out powersupply… If it’s not a clear upgrade then I’d rather throw the money at better speakers or a pre-amp. Thanks for the feedback!

BlockquoteI heard Zeos call out your post on the Schiit Lyr video, and he said no one knows what that is! But I actually have the Gold Note PH-10 and I just recently (like last week) added the PSU-10 power supply.

Haha oh it was nothing bad. He was just plugging the forums and saying people on there know more than he does, and then randomly picked this post as something he doesn’t know anything about.

Phono preamp is a super important piece of a system, and same as you, I wanted one that I would not need to upgrade again. I think I’ve found that with the PH-10. But for sure IMO you’ll get more out of better speakers.