So glad to see some turntable specific items on here! FINALLY :D
Not very familiar with the brand though, after some searching found that this is easily attainable on Ebay from US and Chinese sellers for the same or lower price, after the shipping here (that basically brings it right back to the starting price) it's sadly not much of a deal.
Would love to see the Pro-Ject Tube Box (S), or even dedicated non-tube phono stages like the Music Hall Pa1.2, Music Hall Mini, Project Phono Box, or the Rega Fono Mini for budget phono preamps. Something affordable and quality by a trusted brand. This could be great, but I can't find enough on it to really know. The shipping time is actually quite quick though, and i WOULD rather buy it from this drop than on Ebay from someone in China just because of MD's customer service (which has always been great in my experience).
These little Yaqin boxes run circles around the Project or Fono Mini in stock form. Roll in some good old NOS tubes or modern EH Gold tubes and you have a bonafide serious piece of kit. I have a stock one and one that I converted to a "Les Box" which is essentially a MS-33 and for the money they can't be beat. My "Les Box" Smoked an Audio Research PH5 and an Allnic H1500 in every conceivable way using a $100K plus system. For the measly $150 these boxes cost they are a no brainer buy and should be on the top of everyone's list looking for an entry level Phono stage.
I realize the PH 5 may be an older unit, but to say this little budget unit "smokes" it in "every conceivable way" fails my sniff test in every conceivable way.
The stock MS-23 will not even come close to matching the PH-5, however once modified to the "LesBox" standard and I'm using all Telefunken NOS tubes I figure I'm in it for around $800 and yes, it smoked the PH5 using a reference $100,000 system consisting of VTL, Audio Research, Wilson Audio, etc. It could not touch the PH-7 or 9 though. Perhaps your nose is just a bit out of joint and doesn't smell things correctly anymore? LOL
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