Stand out phono stages

I've been listening to vinyl thru headphones,AKG K702/Burson 160 for a few days now.

The phono interconnects are Nordost Frey series 2 into the Steelhead from an SME set up,Clearaudio MC.

What I have found, is that the interconnects from the Steelhead to the Burson make or break the sound.You can easily hear how each IC changes the sound,softening it, blurring the details or taking away the hiss and scratches.
You can hear each of their colourations.Choose the one that suits you best.
Me?
I'm starting my search now,I don't like any of the one's I am using,truth be told, none are anything special.
I did like the Nordost but it's been moved out to do duty in my cd set up.The Nordost let thru more noise than the other cables did.To me that's a good thing.
Let me explain.

It's amazing to me, how a decent headphone system reveals so many differences I never knew were there when listening to speakers.The little distortions in the vinyl chain that a lot of amp/speaker speaker wire configurations mask and are not so noticeable sitting a number of feet away from the speakers which may not be set up correctly in an untreated room.
So a lot more variables to contend with when you start to audition/review phono stages.

Headphones make it so much easier,just make sure the ones you use aren't known for being of the forgiving kind.
That would put you back to square one.

Are we confused yet?

What is clear to me, is that the Steelhead isn't adding any tube noise or hum.No mechanical noise that I can hear.

What it does reveal is all that is wrong with one recording and all that is right about the next adding very little of it's own noise to the mix.At least I don't hear any extraneous noise coming from the Steelhead.
The Steelhead must be adding a sonic signature,all components do, but to me,it's not one that I can say adds or subtracts from the music.
It doesn't add bloom that's not there, it also doesn't sound thread bare.

But it will allow for those distinctions to be heard when they are on caught on the recordings.
My lps do not all sound the same.
Which is how I like it.

In other words, thru the phones, I hear the surface noise on the records that are the most worn.The noise I hear is the noise that is there from the lp.The better shape the lp is in, the less noise I hear in the background.

Granted it is a hybrid,but the there's no euphonic tube sound nor sterile solid state type of sound either, to go to extreme stereotype comparisons. I prefer to run my MC into the MM section and avoid the transformers.There's more than enough gain even using the 55 db setting.

I think anyone contemplating a phono stage,should audition it with a good headphone set up.
By that I mean not the built in headphone jacks found in some pre-amps etc.

The amount of detail,and unfortunately noise,that one can hear this way,to me indicates a phono stage that is not colouring the sound or trying to make every recording sound nice.
It's just telling it like it is.

If you don't hear any occassional scratches, then what else are you not hearing?

I prefer a phono section that is balanced so I don't have to worry about colorations from the phono cable. Phono cartridges are a balanced source so its nice for the preamp to accept the signal in the balanced domain. The balanced line system was devised to get rid of cable colorations, so this seems like a perfect application- as close to the source as you can get.

@Kiddman

Good call with the Ypsilon. Had the pleasure of one here for a few days and I agree that it's an amazing stage but of course at a very high price.

Like the Mastergroove and Allnic, in a different league to most mentioned on this thread. The Whests, rhea, steelhead, asr, art audio etc. are all very good and one can understand how an owner might imagine that there can't be much performance beyond them, but IME there most definitely is. I would also love to hear the vitus and i am told the thrax orpheus is also outstanding but the best stages I have heard just get you far far closer to the music, with less distortion, greater dynamics and just a higher sense of naturalness that makes other phono preamps sound veiled, electronic and almost mechanical..

I would also add the built in Soulution phono to the list as well, harder to fully appraise but its definitely right at the cutting edge of whats possible IMO.

Ralph is correct about his balanced pre and how balanced cables having little or no sonic effect.
At first I didn't think this was the case until I tried some different ones when I had an MP3.

The problem arises when you don't have a headphone amp that is balanced to run into from the Atmasphere.

Maybe that's something for Ralph to consider providing in the future.

Lacee, there is a simple way to drive any power amp in the differential domain. Most designers don't know their amps have the capacity and so don't provide the connection. PM me if you want more details, or perhaps we can discuss it in a different thread.