Older vinylphiles may recall fondly PS Audio’s first audio offering in the 1970s– an unassuming cigar-box sized phono preamplifier sold direct-to-consumer for $59.99 (yeah, I owned one). Other phono preamps followed and, in 1997, when company co-founder Paul McGowan returned to PS Audio after a seven-year hiatus, he remarked that “we’ve been vinyl fans since the early 70s and … but as we moved deeper into digital, we reduced our engineering efforts on vinyl.” Five years ago, PS Audio gingerly dipped its toes back into the black vinyl waters with the Sprout, a cigar-box sized integrated amplifier with a moving magnet phono input (Note: it was updated last year to the Sprout 100).
After rolling out the high-end (and high-priced) BHK line of hybrid tube amplifiers with matching preamplifier, PS Audio has developed the more affordable Stellar line beginning with the Gain Cell preamplifier/DAC and a pair of amplifiers. McGowan noted that “when (audio engineer) Darren Myers joined the company … he approached us nearly a year ago with a radical new idea for a phono stage and we let him roll with it… Over the months of listening and designing he [Darren] reworked the topology several times to where all that remains were his original design considerations of FET and discrete stages, but now the feedback is significantly lowered, and the RIAA is completely passive. These changes, along with adding more power supply and running the FETs harder with more class A current were all as a result of listening and voicing.” The end result is the Stellar Phono Preamplifier, the subject of this review.
Setting Up The Stellar
At 21 pounds, the Stellar is a light load—a blessing for those like me who have back issues. Its minimalist front panel (available in silver or black) has an LED display showing mute status, cartridge selection, gain, and loading. The rear panel has power switch, power cord receptacle, fuse holder, 3.5mm 12V trigger input/output, balanced and single-ended outputs, separate moving magnet and moving coil inputs, dual potentiometers for tailoring MC cartridge loads, and a ground post. A small remote-control unit powers the Stellar on and off and can enable on-the-fly gain adjustments for moving magnet (44dB, 50dB, 56dB) and moving coil (60dB, 66dBm 72dB) cartridges. Input loading is fixed for MM cartridges at 47KΩ (100pF). MC cartridge loads can be remotely switched between pre-assigned 60Ω, 100Ω, 200Ω, and 47KΩ values or customized values from 1Ω -1KΩ (the “comfort zone” for many MC cartridges). Pushing the logo button on the upper left of the front panel or the remote’s on/off button idles the Stellar and saves its most recent settings. A thorough instruction manual will take both audio veterans and novices comfortably through the step-by-step installation process.
The vinyl gear used in this review included a rim-driven VPI HRX turntable with a pair of Nordost-wired JMW 12.7 tonearms fitted with Clearaudio Stradivari v.2 stereo and Lyra Titan mono cartridges, each of which cost more than the Stellar itself. After some experimentation, I settled on the 72dB MC output and 200Ω load settings for both cartridgesand a balanced connection to the Pass XP12 line stage.
Stellar By Starlight—Listening Well Into The Night
A phono preamplifier should simply pass along the analog signal that begins when the stylus hits the grooves. With the many records used in its evaluation, the Stellar Phono Preamplifier more than amply acquitted itself as an honest transducer, neither adding to nor subtracting from what the sound engineers put down in their recording venues.
I started with vocals and small ensembles as the better engineered recordings played back with properly set up equipment can often recreate the illusion of having the performers in your room. Rickie Lee Jones’s inimitable voice on the Alto reissue of Pop Pop, received a spot-on presentation of her nasal notes and limited vocal range. The Grammy-winning Chamber Music Society (Heads Up International) showed that Esperanza Spalding’s back-and-forth Brazilian duet with Gretchen Parlato on Inutil Paisagem was a perfect case-study in maintaining the separation between the two closely matched female voices.
No apologies are needed if you occasionally listen to “New Age” music. Thirty-five years ago, I was gobsmacked by Sanford Ponder’s intensely atmospheric Etosha (Private Music). The blending layers of natural sound effects with a hypnotic synthesizer was absolutely seductive and its brief (half-hour) playtime will transport listeners to the arid African pan that inspired this recording.
Monaural recordings are still very much with us and my Lyra Titan consistently extracts the most from them. Analogue Productions has released 45 rpm reissues of classic mono discs like Julie London’s My Name is Julie and two jazz legends duetting on Ella and Louis. Hearing Julie’s sultry take on “Cry Me a River” or Fitzgerald and Satchmo exchanging double entendres on “Can’t We Be Friends” through this phono preamp-turntable-cartridge combo was sheer aural magic.
The estimated 1% of record buyers that focus exclusively on classical music will not be disappointed by the Stellar’s handling of the early Telarc recording of Gustav Holst’s Suites for Band—blaring brass galore and those heart-stopping bass drum thwacks! Piano lovers will be very impressed by how this phono preamp nailed the overtones, pedals and dynamic range of the grand piano in Nojima’s Liszt recital album (Reference Recordings).
Listening sessions appropriately ended with the late Jessye Norman giving an unforgettable performance of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs (Philips). Having heard Ms. Norman perform on numerous occasions, I was very familiar with the lush and occasionally ethereal quality of her voice. The aptly named Stellar took her soaring vocals to the starry heights that only few singers can ever reach and sealed the deal for me as far as this phono preamp is concerned.
Stellar Indeed!
My experience with the Stellar Phono Preamplifier confirmed my previous impressions with other PS Audio products that this company never releases a new component unless it offers the best performance for price, often outshining some far more expensive competitors. This preamp is just such a product and should be welcomed by experienced vinyl fans as well as newcomers to this marvelous medium. You would have to spend a lot more to seriously challenge what this affordable and great-looking component delivers; its ability to change critical settings from your easy chair is a real bonus. Highly recommended. – Lawrence Devoe
PS Audio Stellar Phono Preamplifier
MSRP: $2499.00 (USD)
PERIPHERALS
- Preamplifier: Pass Labs XP-12
- Phono Preamplifier: Pass Labs XP-15
- Amplifier: Pass Labs XA-30.8
- Turntable/Arm/Cartridges: VPI HRX/JMW 12.7/Clearaudio Stravivari v.2/Lyra Titan mono
- Speakers: Martin Logan Script-I, Totem Mani-2 Signatures
- Power Conditioner: Running Springs Haley
- Interconnects: Nordost Valhalla
- Speaker Cables: Nordost Odin
- Power Cords: Nordost Valhalla
