If the line stage injects noise into the phono stage, an outboard one can sound better. When all is shielded and isolated correctly, the reverse is true, as there are no interconnects involved between phono and line stages. Such is the case with the CTC Blowtorch: those who have compared an outboard Vendetta phono stage (latest tweaked version, of which there are but a handful, including mine) going into a Blowtorch line stage against a Blowtorch with the slightly updated optional Vendetta built in universally report that the latter is better. When the Rev. II Vendetta comes out perhaps by the end of the year (uncertain) it will be as an outboard phono stage, although it will be available as an internal option for the Blowtorch, which is what I plan to do and sell my outboard unit. For what it's worth, the S/N ratio on the Vendetta is at least 40 dB better than that $29k unit MF seemed to like :) ...
Brian Walsh
Brian Walsh