PH-1 Phono-Stage

Wyred 4 Sound has never been one to rest on our laurels, nor shy away from shaking things up. As we were developing our award-winning, industry-leading 10th Anniversary DAC-2v2SE, we had also been quietly working on another ground-breaking—and perhaps unexpected—product for some time. That product is realized and proudly presented as the all-new PH-1 Phono Stage. 

We’ve always wanted to build an affordable, amazing-sounding phono stage, and in fact have wholly or partly developed several phono stages over the years but were never brought to market. When we released the SST Thoebe II preamplifier,reviewers were bowled over by it’s incredible performance, and in particular, it’s phono stage. It was this development that finally provided us the motivation, inspiration and the foundation to build the first-ever PH-1. 

A great phono stage has many features, but perhaps the most important is one that it should lack — noise. From the outset, our goal was to make the PH-1 one of the absolute lowest-noise phono stages available. Looking at the specs and we think you’ll agree, the PH-1 addresses this critical issue shockingly well. In the hands-on review, Darko.Audio proclaims the PH-1 is “one of the quietest phono-stages available in its price category…. No extra hiss. Barely the hint of hum — and only with the volume cranked HARD, well beyond an SPL-tolerable position on the volume dial.” 

While eliminating noise is critical to allow for sonics to emerge as transparently and dynamically as intended, it’s the rest of the circuit and build design that contribute to the magic of the PH-1. Based on years of research and refinement, plus our own development of the Thoebe II phono stage, the PH-1 shines as one of the finest phono stages available to today’s audiophile. And of course in the Wyred 4 Sound tradition, the PH-1’s performance far surpasses what it’s low price would suggest.

Full DARKO.AUDIO review here