A couple of years ago, I was able to survey almost 20 phono preamps for under $2000. I came away with quite a few favorites (Tom Evans Audio, fi, EAR, Graham Slee), but what I did notice was that I didn't like any of the really inexpensive ones at all. There were a few winners at $600, there were a couple of decent ones at around $300. I couldn't find a single one under that amount, however, that sounded good enough for me to recommend to people on budgets. My point has always been that a decent analog rig will outperform almost any analog rig, but few of the cheap phono stages could help me make that claim.
I think times have changes, though, in the last couple of years. I think a few good-sounding, yet cheap phono stages have appeared. I've heard the Bellari, and it seemed to do nothing that wrong. (I did hear the NAD PP-2 and didn't think much of it.) Has anyone else found a phono stage under $300 good enough to recommend to a newbie who wants proof that vinyl really is better than CD?
