This could be the best starter phono stage. I have many different phono amplifiers, with opamps, tubes or transistors, and in different priceclasses. I now use a a Gold Note PH10+PS10 + 4 silver transformers for MC. And a small Douk T4 pro (with the small buffer tubes) for the third arm on my TT. I was surprised how well the Douk sounds. Only the cheap NE5532 opamps can't be changed. Here you can. And that will be a definite easy upgrade. Also the dipswitches and variable gain are very smart choices! Fyi: i have many expensive MC and cheap MM for different uses. And a real mono MC cartridge. I also have a pair of Fosi ZA3's and upgrading the opamps made a big upgrade. I use the XLR tobconnect yo my pre-amp, I can use the RCA to connect an extra phono preamp like this. The volume knob is very helpful, so i dont have to touch the two on the Fosi amps and get them exactly equal. You should try seapping with OracleII 02 opamps, €7 a piece and a lot better than the standard NE5532.
That's an impressive setup :) I haven't heard of the Oracell opamps - must google them. But I also got Fosi V3 Monos. I wonder how they will compare to the ZA3s.
@seeteeshock, thanks for the link - very interesting stuff! However, I'm not really surprised. This is very common across all types of goods that well established brands sell OEM items with their logos on it at a high premium. That's what you get when you invest a lot (of time and money) into building a strong brand. For us consumers this means we can often get the same quality for much less. But the cost is the time we have to devote to search for such replacements.
The $10 Chinese AT3600 are exactly the same OEM. I use them as a standard new cartridge and they are really, really good. This Aiyima phono is an original. Very well thought out. I haven't seen anything like it. So that's not really a comparison.
