Mini Review: PS Audio GCPH Phono Stage

[BlueMDPicker]

It's always a wonderful treat when something exceeds your expectations and the GCPH has done just that. After upgrading my 30+ year old TT/TA and investing in a good record cleaning system, it became rather more obvious that some things were amiss in the signal path of my vinyl rig.



My phono stage was another 30+ year old piece -- a Stax headphone amp which, when purchased in 1973, had the most accurate RIAA equalization of any SS gear of the time. Over the years, both the Stax and my hearing have probably drifted a lot. Putting the GCPH in the signal path was a dramatic, night/day difference and something my older ears could easily discern.

I make no bones about it -- I'm a fan of PS Audio's products. If you ever find anything in their line that is other than top notch in build quality and functionality, let me know. No surprises with the GCPH, it is flawlessly designed and crafted with quality. Check out the rear panel:



The GCPH is built around two discrete and fully class A balanced gain stages: a high gain, low noise input stage and a Gain Cell for the output stage, with the passive RIAA curve between the two stages. It is flat (<0.1dB) to the RIAA roll-off points at 2122 Hz, 500 Hz and 50 Hz. It exudes balance and clarity and brought the bass in my rig instantly back into harmonic focus.

Another selling point for me is the flexibility in supported cartridges. From the rear panel you can adjust the gain of the GCPH to 48dB, 54dB, 60dB and 66dB (balanced) or 42dB, 48dB, 54dB, and 60dB (unbalanced), as well as impedence loading to 100/500/1k/47k ohms.

The GCPH sports a dual mono signal path for stellar separation and, consistent with PS Audio's philosopy of high current power supplies for low current draw products, a massive toroidal transformer. It can be used to directly control the power amp (sans preamp), but I haven't tried that as I prefer the convenience of using my preamp's excellent, remote controlled stepped attenuation in balanced, passive mode.

Other features include:

Front panel gain adjust
Mono
Stereo
Balanced input to output
Phase reversal
Built in subsonic filter

MSRP: $995 (I got mine for $825 shipped)

Equipment used with the GCPH:

Music Hall MMF-5 SE with Project tone arm and Goldring G1022 cartridge
MAS Silver RCA IC's TT to phono stage
MAS Silver XLR IC's phono stage to preamp, preamp to power amp
Carver Research Lighstar Direct preamp (balanced, passive)
Carver Research Lightstar Reference power amp
PS Audio UPC-200
PS Audio power cords
PS Audio xStream Statement Bi-wire speaker cables
Polk Audio SDA SRS, with upgraded, silk dome tweeters and crossover components

[madmax]

Great review!
madmax

[amulford]

Excellent. Isn't it great when a purchase turns out be a true improvement. Gives one a real sense of satisfaction...

[reeltrouble1]

Very nice Mike, Phono stages do make a difference, when I get my thoughts together I'll post up on the Acoustech.

RT1