Momentum Phonostage
 

The D'agostino Momentum phonostage has really piqued my interest lately, it looks amazing and matches the Momentum series perfectly. Does anyone out there have any experience with this piece or has heard it? Compared to some of Dan's other offerings, there's not a whole lot of press available about it. Enjoythemusic.com has a review of it here but I'm not very familiar with their writers or site:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superio...ier_Review.htm

I'm happy with the sound of my ARC Reference phono 2SE but am curious what there would be to gain (if anything) with the solid state Momentum piece. The ARC phono stage has that great liquid tubelike sound, however, it can get just a touch noisy at higher volumes since I have to use the high gain setting. Normally this doesn't affect listening at my usual low volume listening, but if I ever do get the urge to crank it up a bit, you can hear some enhanced tube rush/noise from the phonostage. I'm also getting up there in tube hours so I'll have to replace those fairly soon as well, so something to think about also. Maybe I could run across a show demo special at RMAF perhaps.....hmmm :scratch2:

It's such a good looking piece of gear as well. :thumbsup:



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I have neither seen nor heard it but it also was of great interest to me at one point. I would certainly look into it if I was in the market for a phonostage of that caliber. All other D'Agostino gear I have owned has simply floored me so I have no doubt this phonostage is a serious piece worthy of a consideration.

Momentum Phonostage
 

I’ve heard it a couple of times at a dealer, the last time with the Momentum pre, an upper end Clearaudio table (I think the Master Innovation), the Relentless, and Wilson speakers (don’t remember which one but Marc was there, he‘ll remember). It sounded great, but the system was unfamiliar so I don’t know what may have been contributing.

Michael Fremer reviewed it in Stereophile in February 2017 and liked it, it’s one of their “Class A” recommended components. Here’s the review, it’s on the D’Agostino website.
http://cdn.dandagostino.com/document...inaleprint.pdf

I had the ARC REF2se and the REF3. The Dag phono pre is so much more dynamic and quieter. I have a bunch of Dag gear and I think the phono pre is the “sleeper” in the bunch. It’s truly a special phono pre. Audition in your system.

Thanks Tony, don’t know how I missed that.

Thanks for the info.....what were some of the other differences you heard in the sound? Did you have both Phono preamps on hand so you were able to compare for a period of time? I read the review that Fremer wrote and am curious if your experience matches up with what he reported. A home audition would be great but I’m not sure my dealer has ever had the Phono pre on display at his store. If he did I could get a loaner for a weekend.....I’ll have to ask next time I’m in there.

- Buck

There’s a used one on the gon right now

I am in the camp of matching pieces, like in this case all D’Ag or another alternative like a Clear Audio Turn Table and their selection of phono amps.

I, too, am in the synergy camp. The ARC phono pres I had were with ref5se and ref6. I prefer the sound of the Dag gear by a large margin. I loved the ARC gear, but for me, the Dag gear is a big sonic step up. IMHO

And a big increase in cost...

Marc forwarded me this link, a new review of the Momentum Phonostage on Part Time Audiophile. Must.......resist..........

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2019/...-phono-review/

Needless to say they loved it.

- Buck

Shakespeare said something about protesting too much - I suspect you’re already crumbling. Anything else we can do to help???

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Crowdfunding :D

Late to this thread, but I thought I’d bump it along.

I own a D’Agostino phono stage. Quite simply, it’s the best phono stage I’ve had in my system, though I’ve far from auditioned them all. It replaced a Pass XP-27 phono, itself no slouch.

The D’Ag phono is very, very low-noise, dynamic as all get out and it just has more juice, more saturation and vividness. There’s probably some system synergy at work with the rest of my D’Agostino electronics, as well.

I’m very pleased with the D’Agostino phono stage — it’s pretty much my end-game component as far as my analog front end is concerned.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Steve - Great to hear you're loving the Dag phonostage. I'm still looking to the future to see which way I would go when it's time...stick with the ARC Reference Phono 3 (I would assume they'll have a 3SE at that point) or go with the solid state Momentum pre. I can only imagine how dynamic the Momentum is. Hopefully maybe my dealer will have one to demo eventually so I can compare the two. Enjoy it.

- Buck

You're very welcome, Buck. Always happy to help a fellow AA.org member spend their money!