Stellar Phono Preamplifier

Ever wonder about the struggles to design a state of the art product? Join PS Audio senior analog engineer Darren Myers as he walks us through the design process.

[matteiffert]

I just purchased the Stellar Phono pre up and it is insanely good. It made my system sound like my tube monoblock amps had quadrupled in power and my still-great-sounding Lyra Titan replaced with a Lyra Etna. Dynamics are off the chart. Crazy resolving. Seriously good.

[TheMHohSoma]

i do not care about phonr preamps, but the video made me wish i would! :D
love seeing enthusiasm for any audio product whether i agree with the expressed opinion, or am interested in said product or not!

[johanMrng]

Hi.
I love these kind of videos.
I would like to see more of the staff of PS Audio and whet they do.
Love the channel.

[jeffreystaley]

Amazing interview. Passion always makes a difference. I am dragging out my old Acoustic Research ES-1 turntable from the 80's and my LP collection to revisit that part of my life. I will buy the Stellar Phono Preamp as part of this experience because of Darren's passion. Thank you.

[terrywho]

For $2500, I would have hoped to see variable capacitive loading, at least one impedance loading option higher than 47kΩ, and a mono switch. That said, I like the video and I appreciate the understanding that judicious use of feedback is more important than trying to chase a vanishingly low THD spec.

[SJMessinwithBoats]

I just would want Mr. Myers to be able to hear his creation on a fully active multi amped Point Source Speaker System. Someday.
Congratulations from all of us in the comment section.

[hushpuppykl]

Great video. Your marketing team has done a wonderful job!

[phototristan]

Me - queues up Roxy Music "The Main Thing"

[editorjuno]

Hey, Darren, does this thing still have 700+ components? Oh, the humanity....

[googoo-gjoob]

GREAT... now can you please get us a Stellar Transport?

[pennfootball]

Bruno Putzies does a lot of tricks with feedback as well in his Mola Mola Amps and even a bit in his DAC. This is a brilliant idaea.

[charleskatz]

I bought a Stellar DAC and if one is going to just Redbook CD's it's very good (no tape loop/MQA/Roon is hard to justify not having on a $1700 piece IMHO).But when I spoke with company today I was saying "$2500 is pretty high price and if you start out with $2800 or $4K for pre and amps adding a $2500 is a bit pricey.Streamer I am assuming with be pretty good but that's another $2-2.5K msrp.Add a Power plant and that's $7500 -9500 when you you end up with good CD performance but forget MQA, Roon and without a tape loop to do Dirac let alone have it built in.Now that NAD C658 might not sound as good as Steall pre.But tell you what was really off putting.I have a Parasound JC3 and was assured that the PS phono section "blew doors on it".It's one thing to promote your product ad say we tested against Parasound and we think it can stand up in a comparison.But don't over hype.I have seen inside of my JC3 and Many Chinook and a few others and all I can say is I will be going to a shop which will let me A/B the two and if I am wrong i'll eat my hat or buy one.

[janinapalmer]

I once made a phono pre amp .. all valve .. low noise heaps of feedback and cathode follower output... it was a close tolerance inverse RIAA and was magnificent... total cost of parts $50 !
It beats most phono pre amps today ..

[scottb]

Just played The Main Thing - thank you!

[Yootjoob]

Paul seems to be a Great guy to work with.

[atishaysingh]

Hi... so why is this in stellar series... is a bhk/higher end phono expected soon...

[danielwagmann]

Hey Paul why not making a contest against my diy phono pre - i would love to make a abx test 🔥

[HoomanR]

Question from someone who has virtually zero experience with high end record players. I'd love to know from a PS Audio engineer's perspective, would you say that this preamp plus the best record player/cartridge you have/had access to during design/testing (a)sounds better than the PS Audio Perfect Wave Dac with a Perfect wave transport, playing the same music CD vs. its Vinyl counterpart (b) it just sounds "different" between CD vs. Vinyl (c) sounds "better" compared to other phono pre-amps? (d) there's a better question to ask that will get one like me closer to a satisfactory place.

[MarshMellowChronic]

Is it still high fidelity if it measures poor with a lot of distortion?

[RC-wixm]

the Transcendent Audio phono stage is one fourth the price