Comparing battery-powered phono pre-amps, from RS ($$) to ASR ($$$$) ... and beyond!

Don’t do it!

The noise and distortion levels of tubes make them a poor choice for a phono preamp and the tiny input signals.

But they are popular despite this…

They make more sense in a DAC but I haven’t heard one of those I like either. That could be how it is typically implemented. But the higher signal level and lack of distortion from tracking the record make it a better choice to me. Maybe once I’m making money with audio I’ll dig into that.
 
I dont hear no distortion. I cant see a problem with using valves for phono preamps or line level preamps. The valve preamp you see there is taking a line level signal from the two transistor battery phono preamps. I also like the other phono pre that uses valves, the project tubebox ds.
I might hook that line level valve pre up to a battery source after work. Then if I ran it thru the T amp the system would be almost completely battery excluding the turntable, but that could also be changed too.
 
Total DC battery powered listening system, with tone controls, it had to be done! Yes it sounds excellent for 15 watts rms. Each component has its own battery

Edit: Turntable is powered by mains but the rest of the audio path is DC powered
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