T+A Symphonia for phono; a new NAD M10

Out of the box, the T+A Symphonia streaming integrated amplifier Rogier van Bakel reviewed in the November 2025 issue¹ has two pairs of single-ended analog line inputs.

- BY JOHN ATKINSON & TOM FINE

T+A

The second pair can be used as a moving magnet–compatible phono input by selecting an internal phono module with the front-panel Menu buttons. As RvB is a digital-only guy, he wasn't able to audition the Symphonia's phono stage, but before I shipped the amplifier to Tom Fine for a phono audition, I performed a complete set of measurements on the phono input with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.² I controlled the amplifier with the T+A Music Navigator G3 app, which I installed on my iPad mini after connecting the amplifier's Ethernet port to my network. To minimize noise, I connected a wire from the grounding terminal on the amplifier's rear panel to the analyzer's ground.

With the volume control set to the maximum, the gain was 71.2dB from the loudspeaker output, 44dB from the Preamplifier output, and 56.25dB from the headphone output. The phono input preserved absolute polarity from all three outputs. The input impedance was 45k ohms at 20Hz and 1kHz, dropping inconsequentially to 39k ohms at 20kHz.

The error in the Symphonia's RIAA equalization (fig.1, blue and red traces) was very low from the upper bass upwards, but there was a boost of almost 2dB in the low bass. Channel matching was superb. Channel separation (not shown) was 70dB in both directions across the audioband.

The Symphonia phono stage's unweighted, wideband S/N ratio, measured at the Preamplifier output with the single-ended input shorted to ground and the volume control set to the maximum, was a good 68.3dB (average of both channels) ref. 1kHz at 5mV. Restricting the measurement bandwidth to 22Hz–22kHz increased the ratio to 71.9dB, while the A-weighted ratio was a superb 84.9dB. Spectral analysis of the Symphonia's low-frequency noisefloor (not shown) revealed no power supply-related spuriae.