Cambridge AudioAlva Duo | Phono Preamp for Moving Magnet & Moving Coil Turntables

So this was an upgrade for me from an integrated pre-amp. I am a headphone listener so this is running into a Topping A90D headphone amp that drives a pair of custom Sennheiser HD 600 plugged into balanced XLR.Upon getting this today I set about getting it set up and wired in. Once complete pulled out my OG copy of Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall", put my headphones on, and turned everything on at which point I was immediately met with a horribly unpleasant high pitched hum. I was SOOOO bummed, I had read all the reviews including those talking about hum issues. But I also knew I'm not your average bear and I always approach things with a "where there is an effect there is a cause" mentality, so I set about solving the issue before just returning the unit.First I triple checked all my connections, nope. Then I moved to adjusting my ground wire, nuh-uh. Next I made a new ground wire in case the old one I made a long time ago had failed somewhere at a connector. New wire in, no change. Then I decided to try plugging the amp directly into the wall instead of a power strip, no change. Next tried moving my headphone amp away, same outcome.In a final fit of figuring this out I plugged my TT, headphone amp, and Alva Duo into a separate power strip from everything else and started turning things off in my office. Imagine my surprise when after turning off the Govee light strip under my desk, THE HUM STOPPED ALTOGETHER!!! It was the balast/transformer in my cheap Govee lights creating RFI that the Alva was picking up. My Hue lights are fine, just the cheap Govee light causes issues. So all I have to do is not have that under desk lighting on when I listen to my TT. Not ideal but a 1st world issue I can live with.In conclusion these kinds of components are extremely sensitive to RFI and when close to various other electrical components, they can be impacted. Since figuring it out I have listened through 7 records beginning to end with NO issues. This Pre-Amp is night and day for me and just a wonderful product. Multiple times I've been like "How did I forget how amazing this record sounds!" Then I realize they didn't sound this good before, the amp is exaggerating everything my previous solution couldn't!! The bass is deep and tight. Highs are sharp and "snappy". From trumpets sounding crisp to guitar plucks sounding tight, this pre-amp has just cleaned up and accentuated all my music's best attributes. I am very impressed, and if that changes I will provide an update. Next up for upgrade is a better phono cartridge to really squeeze every bit of performance out of my table. Happy listening.

This is almost a plug and play unit. No fiddling with switches or nothing other than turning it on when your ready to use it. It automatically turns off when your not. Coming from a Wiim Ultra for a phono pre amp... Wow this thing sounds Hi Fi! Audiophile quality. Nice and clean sound, no bloat with dark background. You can set it to always stay on. An easy set it and forget it unit. Has two inputs. One for moving magnet cartridges and one for moving coil. You could use the empty input for other audio devices if you choose so. Great buy.

Many of you may be thinking price? Yeah it ain’t 50 bucks. What it is, is a nice preamp that will make a good source sound better. works on both magnetic and ceramic cartridges. Headphone output is 10 watts so don’t be thinking that you can plug your headphones in and listen to your vinyl without a proper amp. It does have a headphone volume control. Pretty much a magic little box that turns your vinyl into beautiful sound. I have a Yamaha amp that’s Nothing special but sounds great! I don’t really know what else to say about it except I’m very happy with my purchase. It came quickly. It’s high-quality stuff at a not so high quality price very very satisfied would definitely buy again if I needed to. Oh yeah, the packaging was excellent. It even came in a little bag. That’s a nice little flourish. Buy it.

I compared this unit to the Schitt Mani 2 ($200.00), Zen Phono 3 ($249.00) and Fosi Audio Box X2 with upgraded GE tubes ($125.00) in my never-ending quest for budget audio nirvana. They all sounded so similar I couldn't really tell you which one sounded "better". The Fosi Audio Box X2 with upgraded GE tubes sounded more tube-like but I can't say it sounded "better". I honestly could not detect any worthwhile difference in overall sound quality between any of them. I also compared all of these units to the internal phono preamps in my integrated amplifier (Audiolab 9000A) and could not detect any improvement or loss in detail, clarity, etc. My advice is to just use the internal phono preamp inside of your integrated amp and save the money for a better cartridge, or towards a better pair of speakers. These budget phono preamps all sound the same!

I had purchased this preamp to serve as a “headphone only” set-up — to be hooked directly to a TT with no connection to an integrated amp and/or speakers.Unfortunately I had to return the preamp due to poor sound quality. The output was low and produced an audible hiss beginning at low volume levels. Also the volume output maxed out at 3/4 turn on the volume knob. Turning passed this point did nothing to increase the volume— just the hiss.I tried the preamp on several different turntables with MM cartridges with varying output voltage levels (3.5 to 5mV). All suffered from the poor sound quality, which is not present when using my other preamps (Schitt Mani and Project Tube Box).Instead of the Cambridge Duo, I am now using a Mofi UltraPhono preamp/headphone amp. The Mofi has switches that allow you select the appropriate gain (from 40 to 66db) based on your cartridge’s voltage output The Duo only allows for a gain of 39db for MM cartridges, which is underpowered for my setup.The Mofi is $200 more, but the customization for impedance and gain, as well as a mono switch are well worth the extra cost.I really wanted to like the Duo— Cambridge is a great company. That said, I cannot recommend the Duo due to the sound quality issues I experienced.Perhaps I received a defective unit. I’ll never know because I am very pleased with the Mofi and have no plans on replacing any of my other preamps.