Thx GregC. Are MC’s generally considered to have a better or at least different sonic signature than MM? What’s better/different about an MC to justify the potential “need” of additional equipment like SUT?
When you introduce a MC step up it will ideally not have any signature and just amplify the signal from the MC cartridge.
There are pros and cons. The main pro (from my perspective) is the signal is amplified with the least amount of noise.
The main con is you must use shielded interconnects from the MC step to the phono stage and a grounding wire (extra interconnects that are not needed if going direct to a phono stage). Also you must carefully place a step up so it is not near other components that can introduce noise.
I personally owned a Bob's Device Sky 20 and it was an excellent quality step up. Bob is a good guy and makes excellent gear.
I use a Modwright PH 9.0 phono stage that has excellent quality internal step up transformers. Although the internal transformers work well, I use an external MC step up and I am very happy with the results.
Hope that helps.