Review: MoFi StudioPhono Phono Stage

There are any number of reasons to be interested in and/or buy a piece of hifi gear. One of the beautiful things about hifi is every reason is a good reason, or if you prefer, no reason is a bad reason. That’s simply the way things go with hobbies.

One point of fact that piqued my interest in the MoFi StudioPhono points to Tim de Paravicini (of EAR fame) who designed the StudioPhono’s circuit. I’m not going to go into Tim de Paravicini’s rich history in hifi here as I’ll save that for my review of his EAR Phono Classic, but I will share that I’ve admired Tim de Paravicini’s work for decades, first seeing his EAR Yoshino amps in Don Garber’s Fi ads in Art Dudley’s Listener Magazine (now there’s a hifi rich sentence!). I also happen to value the people behind the products and the story more than what any spec sheet or set of measurements can tell us. I know, I’m a rebel. (Not really)

The MoFi StudioPhono accepts both the input from Moving Magnet (MM) and Moving Coil (MC) phono cartridges with selectable gain and load settings available via the bottom-mounted DIP switches. On the unit’s top side reside two square buttons for Mono playback (nice!) and a Subsonic filter. There’s no on/off switch which works as more than a hint to leave the damn thing on! I know there are people who do not believe in equipment burn-in and I expect these same people don’t know much about electronics.

The StudioPhono is about the size of a good paperback and it is a snap to get up and working. Set those DIP switches to match your cartridge of choice, connect your RCA terminated cables, the included power cable, and play away. I’ll repeat myself, albeit briefly, and remind those new to all things Phono that a phono stage has two basic functions—to amplify the signal coming off your records and undo the RIAA curve that’s baked into most post-1954 records.

The MoFi Studio Phono resided in the same system as used in the Schiit Mani 2 review: the Michell Gyro SE turntable with the Michell TecnoArm 2 mounted with an Ortofon 2M Black MM cartridge, Leben CS600 integrated amp, and the DeVore Fidelity O/96 speakers. All cabling, except the TechnoArm 2’s captive cables, were from AudioQuest.

Let’s begin where we started with the Schiit Mani 2 (review)—Dry Cleaning’s lovely, lanky New Long Leg, released on 4AD back in 2021. The first and most obvious difference between the MoFi and Mani 2 is the MoFi’s more detailed presentation that draws more attention to nuance and timing, whereas the Schiit’s fatter and looser sound centered my ears on rhythm and drive. With the StudioPhono in charge, Lewis Maynard’s bass sounded tighter and tad more fleshed out and I got a better view onto what guitarist Thomas Paul Dowse was up to (and he’s up to a lot), the StudioPhono pulling more detail from his, at times, shrieking guitar.

Anna St. Louis’ If Only There Was a River from 2018 is a quiet walk through folk-tinged loneliness (and loveliness), with her voice out front leading the way. The StudioPhono’s resolving sound pulled out the details emphasizing breath and moment, the intricacies of this sorta simple music. This is not, shall we say, the finest recording and the StudioPhono’s resolving sound made this obvious with upper frequency bite and the vinyl’s surface noise being more in the forefront as compared to the Schitt’s more rounded sound. I’m tempted to say that the StudioPhono is less forgiving because of its more incisive way with reproduction, but let’s hold that specific judgement until we get more experience with more phono stages under our belts. All that said, the StudioPhono brought an intimate Anna St. Louis in Barn so much so that these sonic quibbles faded, replaced by her songbird voice sounding like a happy version of a healthy Karen Dalton.

Indonesian duo Senyawa’s Alkisah saw releases from around globe, each produced by one of 44 small record labels. I snapped up the Beirut version but inside of each the music remains the same with Wukir Suryadi’s playing his homemade instruments along with Rully Shabara’s extended vocal techniques. This is hard-driving music, a kind of frenetic trance-inducing folk punk industrial drone with a primitive appeal. Here, the MoFi StudioPhono got to really stretch its sonic legs, offering a wonderfully tight, resolving, and driving sound that perfectly captured this music’s force. There is a world of sounds coming off of Suryadi’s homemade instruments and the StudioPhono seemed to delight in deciphering this challenging, dense music. By the time side one was over, I was infected with Senyawa’s energy as if an extinguished fuse had been re-lit. Nice.

Speaking of challenging, I’m a fan of contemporary classical music and one great thing about being a fan is you can pick up barely played old LPs for a few bucks. I grabbed The Philadelphia Composer’s Forum’s rendering of works by Pierre Boulez, Luigi Dallapiccola, and Henri Pousser at Princeton Record Exchange for less than a cup of coffee. I had the pleasure of seeing Boulez and his Ensemble Intercontemporain perform at Carnegie Hall way back in the day. Unfortunately Maurizio Pollini called in sick, but the event was magically delightful nonetheless.

From this records’ liner notes (by Jon Appleton):

“There is an impressionistic quality which may be due to the setting of a poem by the symbolist poet [Stéphane] Mallarmé, but it is certainly achieved through the pronounced concern for timbre qualities and the delicate interchange between various instruments.”

This is also a generous piece of music from Boulez as compared to his other works, with a magical mystical quality sounded out through percussion and things that go ring in the night. This music, with its delicate interchange between various instruments was also a perfect showcase for the StudioPhono’s resolving powers as it brought out the rich character of the various elements at play. Mezzo soprano Valarie Lamoree does a masterful job with the vocal lines’ abrupt starts and stops, and the StudioPhono kept pace without a hint of reticence. Luigi Dallapiccola’s “Parole di San Paolo” is a real beauty, where the composer weaves Benita Valente’s mezzo soprano vocals into the fabric of the small ensemble’s winds, strings, and percussion. Tone, tempo, and timing are all essential ingredients here and the StudioPhono’s light touch served it well.

Back in Bennington College, c.1984/85, I had a portable cassette deck in my painting studio and a handful of tapes that saw very regular use. Among them was Sonny Rollins’ Freedom Suite from 1958, released on Riverside and featuring Rollins on tenor sax along with Oscar Pettiford on bass and Max Roach on drums. A super group if ever there was one. I have a Japanese Mono repress which gave me the opportunity to give the MoFi’s Mono switch a ride and its impact was immediately obvious as it offered a more focused image along with a richer fuller sound. To clarify difference, I’m not talking about night and day, or day and night, but the improvements I did hear allowed for a stronger connection to this O-so-fine music and the players responsible for its sheer awesomeness. I could, and did, listen to this record over and over and over again and never grow tired of its melodic magic.

I have to share that I’m enjoying the heck out of listening to my records through these different phono stages and we’re just 1/4 of the way through. While the Schiit Mani 2 and MoFi StudioPhono do not sound the same, each of them offer an engaging way with music. As I’ve detailed above, the MoFi does a better job of pulling out the finer details, offering up a more nuanced sound coupled with a very nice sense of drive and tone. MoFi be nimble, MoFi be quick.

Devin Hoff’s Voices From the Empty Moor (Songs of Anne Briggs) features Hoff’s double bass mixed and mingled with a number of guest artists. Beyond being beautifully recorded, show demo material for sure, one track finds Sharon Van Etten lending her enchanting voice to “Go Your Way”. There is real delicacy, nuance, and beauty in these grooves and the StudioPhono conveyed a heart-wrenching helping. I’ve had the great pleasure of seeing Van Etten perform a few times and her voice is among my current favorites. With the MoFi/Ortofon/Michell analog front end, I was bewitched and not bothered in the least by this lovely, simple soulful music.

From the liner notes:

Voices From the Empty Moor seeks to honor the mystery and beauty of Anne Briggs’ music while maintaining its own unique perspective, foregrounding powerful emotion and, hopefully, magical transformation.

Mystery, beauty, and powerful emotion were on full display in Barn thanks, in part, to the MoFi StudioPhono. Bravo!

The MoFi StudioPhono impressed with its fine balance of sonic skills offering a rich, detailed, and nimble way with all of the records I sent its way. The Mono option offers a nice step up in sound quality for mono records and the numerous gain and loading options should accommodate most cartridges of MM or MC variety. I also happen to like its looks and size and the fact that it embodies the talents of Tim de Paravicini, one of hifi’s most talented designers, at its asking price makes for one helluva convincing story.


MoFi StudioPhono Phonostage
Price: $349
Company Website: MoFi Electronics

Specifications

Gain: Adjustable from 40dB – 66dB
THD: < .01% (MM) / < .012% (MC)
Load Impedance (MM): 47,000 Ohms
Load Impedance (MC): 75, 100, 500, 1k, 10k, 47k Ohms
Input Capacitance: 100pF