“The sheer accuracy of the P1 is enticing in itself. It offers a new window into listening to LPs. It taught me some new things about several LPs that I’ve come to cherish. Anyone looking at solid-state phonostages would do well to consider this remarkable piece of gear, which is a potent testament to Swiss engineering.”

Some conclusion from The Absolute Sound’s Jacob Heilbrunn in his new review of the CH Precision P1 Dual Monaural Phono Stage.

Those with a keen eye will note the review was conducted in Jacob’s home in a system that is comprised of some of the very finest high end audio components available today. The conlcusion leaves no doubt that the CH Precision 1-Series products are amongst the finest available today bar none. For vinyl collectors and analogue replay enthusiasts seeking to build the ultimate system, the P1 Dual Monaural Phono Stage has to be on the list.

… The depth and scale of the P1 also came home to me on an Angel pressing of the French trumpeter Maurice André playing baroque trumpet concertos. The tenacity of the P1 in the bass region meant that the orchestra emerged as a bigger ensemble than I was accustomed to hearing. There was a grandeur and sweep to the sound, a propulsive quality that was quite addictive.

Jacob also draws briefly upon unusual input stage design in the P1. The unit comes factory standard with three inputs, two which operate in current mode and one which operates in voltage mode. The voltage mode input can accomodate both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges where the current mode input is dedicated to moving coil cartridges. The traditional method of amplifying a cartridge output is the voltage amplification method, but by using a current amplification instead a number of advantages are gained. After Jacob, “you get a better transfer of energy, at least in theory, than with a voltage input and a higher signal-to-noise ratio” – along with improved immunity to interference and noise and ultimately no requirement to match impedance. As Jacob states, “given the dizzying array of cartridges that are available, this seemed like a very enticing feature”.

You can read the review in full here: https://bit.ly/2Z4sPTd