I'm guessing if you open up the Kinter it's the very same as the Pyle. Not certain about that, the one Rolls is similar as well. But, thanks for the tip. I may try one. Pretty happy with the Pyle in real life (non measured) setting. As a backup. The one I have is older, with no ground lug, and it hummed when I got it. So, I just added a bolt and then -- no more hum. I have a Mani for the primary phono preamp, and that's pretty decent. Happy listening!

Audio Science Review is BS. They also claim Lounge Audio LCR is crap when it is an outstanding phono preamp and so is their Copla. I own both plus the Sutherland TZ Vibe and they sound the same.

@@arielrodriguez6980 I kinda agree that ASR are deluded about some things. Mostly they seem to overestimate the audibilty of stuff. You don't need a phono stage with SNR of 110-120dB. Artifacts that are below 70-80 should be inaudible in most real world situations. Vinyl is mostly limited by the actual vinyl format itself, not the phono stages. A real good pressing can get you an SNR of (best case scenario) 70dB and that's for the outer grooves and first few minutes of music. That also requires a good cartridge and a perfect set-up (aside from virgin high quality vinyl). Used vinyl on an average turntable will rarely give you an SNR above 50dB and probably no better than 30dB for the inner grooves. So, there really isn't much need for a phono stage with a 95dB SNR like the Cambridge model praised by ASR. This is probably good enough soundwise. I was just commenting about Amir saying something about Pyle getting super hot and (allegedly) having shoddy wiring. Which could be an issue. Better safe than sorry, right? I don't hear much difference between different phono stages either. Recently bought a Pro-Ject DS2 and it doesn't sound any different than the built in in my (admittedly rather nice) Rotel amp. It does however have more output (and different gain settings for different carts) so I don't have max out the volume on quiter recordings as I would using the onboard phono. Also, there could be an argument for buying a phono stage with a decent overload margin though. Should minimize distortion from and the audibility of pops, clicks and scratches.

@@felixfranzen7578 I agree to everything you just said. I am jealous of your Rotel amp. I bet she's a beauty sound and looks. My Sutherland TZ is for low output MC only and it sounds really excellent but so does Lounge Copla. I wish I had better ears but at the same time I am sure if they sound about the same I need to give the manufacturers some credit.