Does EAR324 phono stage sound like tubes ?

You are welcome. But remember my opinion is just another opinion. There are a lot of decent phono amps on the market. As long as you understand their strengths and weaknesses, sonic signatures or compatibilities(no matter how you call it), I believe you will soon get what you are looking for.

Good luck
Dan

i agree dan-i think it boils down to synergy

I came across this thread because I have been interested in the EAR 324 for use with a myriad of vintage MM and MI cartridges that I want to audition. The front panel controls for capacitance and resistive loading would be very useful in that regard. In reviewing published reviews of the 324, I came across two "disturbing" comments: (1) John Atkinson measured rather poor overload characteristics for the inputs at frequencies below 100Hz (distortion went sky high at inputs above 5mV, which would easily be reached by any MM cartridge), and he suggested that an MM cartridge might well overload the stage and induce such distortion, and (2) after praising his demo unit, Ken Kessler let it drop at the end of his review that he thought the 324 was a tad "grainy". Have any of you guys experienced either phenomenon, or do you know whether or how TdP addressed the overload "problem"? Thanks.

By the way, a 7DJ8 is naught but a 6DJ8/6922 with a different filament voltage requirement (7V instead of 6V), as far as I know.

Lewm, after reading your post, I browsed for Art Dudley's...

As mentioned in previous posts, I also experienced some hum problem with the 324 that I couldn't possibly get rid of during audition. The hum and overall noise level was NOT really annoying when listening. But it seems to coincide with AD's measurements of hum at 120Hz.

Unfortunately I didn't try a wide variety of MM/MI to prove if AD's concerns on higher THD at low frequency was valid. "Grainy" wasn't enough to describe the 324 I auditioned in my system. "Definitely a solid state" were.

88PB didn't have this hum problem at all. In fact, it is still being extremely stable and, up to this moment, among the quietest tube phono(actually a hybrid design) I have heard in respect of hum level, tube rush and background noise for any phono with more than 70dB of gain, though without much flexibility in capacitance choices and impedance loadings like 324.

In a nutshell, I prefer 88PB to 324 in my system.

Best regards
Dan

i heard the 324 at my AD and did find it a bit grainy compared to tube phono stages.
88pb is next on the list.
Dan, so far, what carts have you used w/ the 88pb ?
thanks