Vertere Phono-1 MkII L

Vertere's premium phono stage gets even better

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Vertere’s Phono-1 was a stonking product. We reviewed the five-star MkII version in 2019 and it has since garnered Awards galore. There's no massive design or philosophy change with this MkII L version, just careful honing of an already capable product.

Surprisingly, there aren't any upgraded components or significant changes to the circuit design. What Vertere has done here is more akin to housekeeping, where the physical position of numerous circuit components has been revised to reduce unwanted interactions, and the signal path refined to reduce distortions. The unit's linear power supply has also been moved to the main circuit board, allowing improvements in the placement of the connecting tracks and ground plane optimisation. In addition, the signal tracks are now of equal length and care is taken to lower impedances and optimise track widths to improve current flow.

Externally, little has changed bar the addition of an orange power LED. This isn't necessarily a bad thing given the quality of the original design - this has always been a nicely made but basic looking box.