Pass Laboratories XP-17 Phonostage

Of all the component-to-component relationships in an audio system it’s vinyl playback that most reminds me of a track-and-field relay race. It goes something like this: As the cue lever drops at the start of a record, a tiny signal is handed off like a baton from the vinyl groove to the stylus/cartridge, where it travels down the back stretch straight through the tonearm, and rounds the home stretch into the phonostage—the phono preamp being virtually the last leg before the signal hits the finish line—aka, the linestage preamp. By this point there is so much that has to go …