3 reasons You NEED a Phono Preamp! Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 Ultra, Fosi X2, Uturn Pluto 2 Comparison

I have the Fluance RT81, although it has a built-in preamp, i wonder if an external preamp will make it better

Comprehensive, informative, & easy to listen to.

Thoughts on the x1 X3 X4? Thanks

I just tried the Fosi x4 and was excited ti get their newest tube preamp. Unfortunately I had to return it as it didn't work at all. I SEATED the tubes correctly and had a good cable and ground but with volume all the way up I could barely hear anything and what I did hear was full of static and distortion. Even the headphone jack wouldn't put out anything.

just coming across this vid because i am in the market for a phono pre-amp. i have a 1976 rotel that has a neat little MM/MC switch. I bought a AXA35 and OMG only does MM. my turntable is a Garrard 5-300 from some decade before most people were born. why not spend 300 on a fluance ? well ... the garrard cost me less than 100 shipped and makes NO NOISE. NADA. had a new needle installed before shipping and is mindblowingly good. So unless it goes tits up, i am most likely going to run it a few more years. so getting a MM/MC preamp to me makes a lot of sense for when i eventually get a Fluance 82.

Got the ultra the think is tight

At this point the brands like "Project" cost only more because of the name. These new chinese pre amps are great build quality and sound awesome and even better with little tinkering (new tubes, op amps, power supply, capacitors).

Hey! Big of your channel! Just wondering if you tested the phono input on The Nines. I’ve heard mixed reviews, but wanted to hear it from the man himself. I found a killer open box deal on a pair and they should be here sometime next week. Just wanted to know if I should maybe still invest in a decent preamp or roll with the phono input

cute interview..for a novice.. stop doing these video's...

The fosi x2 definitely boosted my system!!! I have a yamaha integrated 301 and this blows away the internal preamp. I went through your link so I hope you get credit for it

I suppose if someone wants phono stage he had studied the issue and don't need the boring explanation.

Hey I have a audio technica lp60x going into a Sony strdh190 receiver through Sony SSCS5 speakers. I would like better detail out of my setup. The Pluto would make a good upgrade right?

So for $70 I could improve the sound quality of my U Turn and Technics Sa400 receiver?

I bought this Fosi box, hooked it up and all I get is crazy distorted horribly over powered sound. Like unusable, not just poor. Its simple to install, is it just not compatible with my Technics SL-BD26U turntable and Onkyo TX-NR585. Am I like doubling the pre-amp up or something? I'm pretty positive neither have a pre-amp built in for the phono circuit.

Coming from the guitar world I feel like having valve pre amps is a bit silly imo when solid state can be used without the fire or burn risks

I believe the input on the front is for if you wanna’warm up’ the sound of a digital device, like your phone or iPod or tv. I like this option, of course I’ve always loved having lotsa inputs…

I am thinking of the Emotiva BasX T2. It has a switchable phono preamp. I cannot find a single review of the phono preamp. Given the money that the T2 costs, I am not sure whether the phono preamp included is better in quality than the Technics SL1500-C built in preamp . . . or whether an external phono preamp would give me the best audio quality. That's my quest. When items are integrated, they often are not evaluated in reviews well.

humm, there is n o such thing as a phono "pre-amp", there are however phono amp...

Is it possible to hook up a subwoofer to these systems without an amplifier? I would like to connect one of these to two powered speakers and a powered sub.

Hi man, this is great stuff. What's your view on the Fosi vs. The Schiit Mani 1 in your view?

My amplifier only has an aux input. Will using an RCA to a 3.5mm aux adapter lessen sound quality or defeat the purpose of using a preamp?

Reason 4. Phono input on receiver doesn't work it's cheaper and likely better to use external preamp! 😅

I'm getting back into vinyl and came into a Bang and Olufsen Beogram RX from the mid-eighties, courtesy of a neighbor. Any recommendations for a good preamp for this model?

Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 Ultra and the other Pro-ject's and EAT phonostages are made in Slovakia, by Canor. Which itself is a renowned hi-end tube based equipment producer.

Would you use the Fosi X2 or Realistic built-in one?

Is the Fosi Audio better than the Ayima T3? I saw a thread on Reddit that mentioned these two being the same product only rebranded. What are your thoughts?

"if you want to roll those tubes," is that what you said? I don't know what that means.

Have you tried the updated version the Fosi Audio Box X4 Phono Preamp?

Hi Randy, love your videos, this one brings back a topic that i kinda left for a time, my turntable has a built in phono preamp (ATLP60xusb from Audio technica) and bought an external Phono premo NFJ&fxaudiomodel Phono Box02, and I used it with my onkyo 5.1 AVR that I had back then for music (no phono stage on it) and I did feel the soundo improved alot. With time as many of us I jumped into the interest of purchasing better components for music enjoyment, so i called Emotiva Audio I purchased the BASX PT100 pre amp (Phono preamp built in) that runs into a BASXA2 power amp, so I just simply removed the external Phono box out of the equation and pluged in the turn table line mode to the Emotiva phono stage, sound is good but i think it could be better when listing to my records. Do you think I can pass by the turntable and the PT100 phono stage to put back in action that external phono pre amp? been thinking on this for some time now, a bit of a worry because I don´t whant to cause any electrical damage to my PT100 or anything on my system.
Thanks in advance for your help, cant wait to here from you
Ray.

Boys be watching this because he’s cute and seems like he can take them places and they so so cheap. 2023+ is going to hurt!

The fosi work wite ortofon x1-mc element?

If someone could tell me what they think the best gain setting on the fosi x2 is I would appreciate it

I don’t know what Fosi you have but mine was a piece of s—t !!!!! Tried hook it up to fluanice 81 and no matter how I set the setting I get no sound. When I replugged the cables into the amp sound is back to normal. I’m getting the feeling if it’s from china it’s crap. I feel as audio file experts you should stay away from shabby products. I have pretty much changed out my equipment based upon your reviews and the amount of money I have to spend. Up to now this system has worked to my advantage. Keep up the good work but please don’t recommend this sort of trash

That Fosi looks impressive with those tubes, the possibility to switch tubes to get a better sounding pre-amp is interesting as well but how much will you win with other ones? interesting test! Thanks in advance Cheapaudioman!

Can this be connected to a dac ?

I paired the Fosi Audio Box X2 with upgraded tubes( GE NOS) and the Fluance RT85 with vintage Infinity RSIIIbs and love the results. Buy the Fosi, you can beat the sound stage for the cost of entry.

i have some polk audio but older ones and they are great with a SA-608 integrated amplifier from pioneer a 40 watts x2 from 79 or 78 , this look great and have a great sound . The pioneer amplifier is also very good sounding ,better than most new integrated amplifiers of expensive brands, the pre-amp like you showed i ordered it from china and with costums cost me a year ago or less ,32€ but all my turntables have not the necessity of a pre-amp, a friend of mine using the ear plug input ,use it conected like a equalizer or using the adaptor In and out stereo rca´s plugs on his pioneer amplifier (A-676)from early 90´s with 70+70 watts for chanel at 8 ohms(in reality i don´t understand what conections did he make or i didn´t thought how it could be conected ), but i think it sounds better without it, mine i closed it in the box because i have no use for it, but till 1.000€´s pro-ject turntables it does need one ,i was ofered a pro-ject turntable by a german friend that is the debut something carbon fiber arm with a MP-300 from nagaoka, the 2m red that came with it sounded very bad but when conecting this cartridge from ortofon to a 1970 thorens professional line it gave a almost perfect sound, and this friend of mine ofered me the TT from pro-ject because he spent between the turntable and cartridge 14.000€´s ,it´s the only pro-ject turntable that sounds good to me, this conected to a davidoff pre and amp, very old with two huge Bowers and wilkins(similar to B&W 801 D4,but much older and bigger) maybe from the 80´s or a bit later, it sounds perfect with no tone controls in use. today pre-amps are made for almost everything some with the money they spent could buy a better amplifier with no need of pre-amps , why does one need a pre-amp to the headphones, are new amplifiers so bad that a good pair of headphones sound bad with only the output to headphones, i went to buy some wireless headphones, (that in the 70´s already had ones that came with a Normende colour tv ,with the same technology used in remote controls in the 80´s and the first wireless remote control also came with this TV but using radio frequency´s to provide the functions it had, like a timer that was a kind of a clock that one would rotate till two hours and when at the end the tv turned off and stayed in stand-by , the headphones wireless that i almost bought were JBL but i felt that the sound wasn´t that good for the price they asked, still using a big wire from my sennheiser headphones, but maybe this weekend i´ll finally buy a wireless headphones from sennheiser ,the model is momentum and cheaper than the JBL´s but a pre to the headphones i don´t even understand what are they for, regards

What's best if I just want to add tubes to my entry-level Schitt stack? I want to be able to easily bypass the tubes. Don't need phono, digital only.

If I’m using the tube ones as a pre amp for a 7.1 receiver would the tubs still need to be replaced at some point

Love the channel. I'm one of those guys who got the dream vintage system I couldn't afford when I was young. Pioneer SA9500 with it's tuner TX-9500 running the CS-99A speakers. Also, I love vinyl ...I bought the Fosi Box X4 phono preamp. I'm using the tubes that came with it. What would be an affordable alternative (tubes) I could try?
Keep up the good work. Problem with this hobby (love affair!) Is that there are few people in my day to day life I can really talk too and share it with. Oh sure, everyone thinks it's cool, but their eyes glaze over when the fun details are discussed. Thanks for being there and sharing the eye glazing details I have always been into.
I would like to see more vintage analog audio discussions, I love learning.

I love your channel man. Thank you for reviewing attainable audio equipment and providing me with a little humor and entertainment😂😂😂

I got the fosi now. Perfect with the orofon Red. It sounds really good together, just the kick the sound needed. Very good recomendation.

I’m brand new to go-fi and am flabbergasted at the casual eloquence with which Randy described the varying sound characteristics.

I think I have a good enough idea of when audio equipment is unimpressive and definitely know when I’m moved by audio equipment but I couldn’t put those opinions into any significant amount of detail, and certainly not to the depth and breadth of what I just experienced.

Listening to this video has made me more excited than ever to learn to enjoy music recordings at a deeper level.

I have the Cambridge audio axa35. Will a separate phono amp improve the sound

As a guitarist who knows the power of tubes, the Fosi really disappointed me. It honestly sounds worse than the internal preamp in my Klipsch R-51pms. Unfortunately replacing it ASAP since I need a preamp now to keep my turntable farther away from my speakers.

I'm trying to decide if I should get a stand alone phono preamp. I currently have a Cambridge Audio AXR100 which does have a phono preamp and I have the Audio Technica AT-LP120XBT-USB turntable which also has a preamp but I keep seeing stuff about a mod that disables it improves the sound. The main reason I am considering a standalone phono preamp is because when playing records I have to turn the volume up significantly more to get the volume where I want it than I do for other sources. Would it be worth trying to mod my turntable and get a phono preamp?

My amp doesn't have a headphone input so reason why I'll need a dac and very grateful for this video

I have two very basic phono pre-amps, one is a real cheap PYLE I got years ago and lost the DC adapter to but what I did use it, it worked just fine though nothing too crazy good and didn't amply that well compared to most receiver phono inputs. The other is a much better Bozak Madisson CLK-PH8 that I got for about $20 on Ebay back maybe 6 years ago and it's really good, at least as good as any phono pre-amp that was on any receiver or pre-amp I ever used.