The MasterPhono from Mobile Fidelity Electronics
During my cub reporter days at Stereophile, I was always on the lookout, casting about for midlevel analog components I might latch on to, ones that could join my long-term daily-driver reference system by complementing the character of my midlevel DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 and Falcon LS3/5a loudspeakers. I was searching for these basic traits: alive and vigorous, clear and well-sorted, relaxed and natural. One of my first-ever Stereophile reviews, in the October 2014 issue, was of Sentec’s EQ11 phono preamplifier, which featured six EQ choices, selectable from the front panel, Bakelite knobs, Switchcraft switches, and a gray Hammerite-paint finish.
When I reviewed the Sentec, I owned three turntables and about 300 records. But phono stage–wise, I was a beggar and a borrower, hoping a friend’s phono pre or some review product would jump out of the deck and become my reference. The Sentec was relaxed and natural sounding and fun to use, but it wasn’t sharp, vigorous, or well-sorted. Unsatisfied, I kept my search going until the summer of 2016 when Art Dudley suggested I try Tavish Design’s sixtube Adagio phono stage, which he had just reviewed in Listening #162.1
With permission from Tavish founder and engineer Scott Reynolds, Art passed his Adagio review sample along to me. Right away, I liked its pro-style black faceplate and gray, painted-steel chassis. Its sound was balanced, not excessively tubey, and satisfying on every level I care about. But it was the Adagio’s ability to let me connect two turntables and quickly and easily set all cartridge and amplifier operating parameters with faceplate-mounted switches that caused it to stay in my system for seven years and counting. That’s a millennium in reviewer time.
In my mind, this “everything is front-panel adjustable” feature made phono preamps with hidden DIP-switches seem tourist-class. The Adagio introduced me to business class.
I first spotted Mobile Fidelity Electronics’s $5999 MasterPhono MM/MC phono stage at AXPONA 2023. As intended, the red-orange lights on its VU meters caught my attention. So did its wood side panels—but it was the MasterPhono’s extensive
