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Editors' Choice Award 2024 – The Absolute Sound Magazine
Highly Recommended – The Shoestring Audiophile
Highly Recommended – Vinyl Me, Please
"An All-Star Performer" for Vinyl Playback
More than five decades of hands-on experience creating the world's finest vinyl records – and understanding the techniques, intricacies, and processes involved with reference analog sound – have led to the Mobile Fidelity StudioPhono MM/MC phono preamplifier.
Made to bring you closer to the sound of the legendary Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab into your own system, this true-to-the-source phono preamplifier is designed with the help of Tim De Paravicini, the engineer responsible for the entire analog cutting system at Mobile Fidelity's famous Sebastopol, California master studio. The inspired design prizes simplicity, purity, and precision – elements responsible for producing audiophile clarity, unstinting accuracy, and breathtaking realism during playback.
Award-Winning Performance
The Absolute Sound magazine honored the StudioPhono with an Editors' Choice Award for 2024.
"The CD14 CD player doesn’t try to be anything but a CD player. It uses a highly regarded Wolfson DAC chip, which is capable of sampling rates up to 192kHz; of course, as the sampling rate of CDs is 44.1kHz, the DAC’s capability is overkill. The CD14 will also play MP3 files, but you’d need to burn those onto CDs first (there’s no USB input that would allow you to play them off a USB flash drive)."
"Highly Recommended"
The StudioPhono won a "Highly Recommended" rating from The Shoestring Audiophile.. "There have been pieces of gear recently that have impressed me, and those that have even wowed me. However, few have had quite as powerful of an impact like the Mofi StudioPhono has had. Whether you’re just starting your record collection, or a lifelong collector, this might be one of the most worthwhile pieces to check out that I have seen in a long time. Highly recommended."
Also classifying the StudioPhono as Highly Recommended is Nels Ferre at vinylmeplease.com. "There have been pieces of gear recently that have impressed me, and those that have even wowed me. However, few have had quite as powerful of an impact like the Mofi StudioPhono has had. Whether you’re just starting your record collection, or a lifelong collector, this might be one of the most worthwhile pieces to check out that I have seen in a long time. Highly recommended."
"A Very Impressive Package"
"I would not recommend any other phono stage under $500 (maybe even $1000) other than the MoFi Studio. You can jump up to the Ultra but all you will get for the extra dough is a headphone output. The phono stage is the same," observes Steve Huff in his June 23, 2021 review at stevehuffphoto.com.
"The MoFi Studio also has a mono switch for listening to mono records and a button to press if you hear some bass rumble. Overall a very impressive package for 99.9% of us who want to improve our vinyl playback."
"An All-Star Performer"
"The StudioPhono is an all-star performer and does not give you the impression in any way you are missing out or making sacrifices at its list price," reports Buzz Hughes, Hi-Fi+. "The StudioPhono will be a valued and integral part of your front-end chain, not just a budget component that is checking a necessary box for you to be able to play your records."
"The StudioPhono on its own merits and even more so paired as a combo with the StudioDeck [turntable] & StudioTracker [phono cartridge] outpaces anything else on the market I have heard at its price point."
Handcrafted in the USA
Handcrafted in the USA at Mobile Fidelity's in-house factory, the StudioPhono offers high-end performance at a real-world price. Unlike any other phono preamplifier in its class, StudioPhono gives you absolute sonic purity required to play back the finest recordings, including the world-famous Mobile Fidelity's Original Master Recordings reissues, which have set the standard for sound quality and precision manufacturing for more than 40 years and counting.
Designed for Breathtaking Sound
Every element inside and outside of StudioPhono has been considered in relationship to the sound you hear. Working in collaboration with several of the audio community's most respected engineers, Mobile Fidelity spent more than two years building prototypes and experimenting with materials. Even what on the surface would appear to most listeners as a minute detail was evaluated via countless listening sessions and tests.
The StudioPhono is the culmination of those painstaking efforts. It is a component whose refined abilities deem it worthy of the iconic Mobile Fidelity name. As an internationally acclaimed symbol and purveyor of audio superiority, Mobile Fidelity would settle for nothing less, and neither should you.
"Rich, Detailed, and Nimble"
"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," observes Michael Lavorgna, twitteringmachines.com, March 9, 2023.
"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."
Selectable Gain and Loading
StudioPhono comes with selectable gain and loading controls, enabling it to match the specifications of practically every MM and MC cartridge available. Toggle switches on the bottom of the device let you fine-tune and adjust settings without the need for any tools.
StudioPhono also includes mono and subsonic filters. The former is expressly tailored for mono LPs of any vintage. You'll hear more front-to-back layering, richer tonalities, and greater solidity when using the mono switch with your mono vinyl. If you're a fan of mono recordings, vintage or reissues like The Beatles in Mono box set or the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Bob Dylan Series, the mono mode will come as a revelation. It will improve image stability and generate richer tone.
Subsonic Filter
The equally beneficial subsonic filter helps correct deficiencies associated with warped LPs or vibrational feedback when playing music at higher volume. No matter what kind of record you play, StudioPhono delivers the level of wide-bandwidth transparency and dynamic responsiveness demanded by the finest records. An external, balanced power supply furthers this aim by keeping noise away from the delicate audio signal and contributing to a super-low noise floor.
In-House Manufacturing in Michigan
Prestige doesn't come easy – or cheap. To meet all its specific needs and demands, Mobile Fidelity established a new, dedicated facility in Michigan to build the majority of its products in the USA. While it's an uncommon and expensive endeavor in today's audio industry, in-house manufacturing is the only way to maintain total quality control and create products that live up to the exacting standards Mobile Fidelity established over the past four decades with music releases. The approach cuts both ways, giving you the security and confidence that the Mobile Fidelity product you own is built to perform at the highest specifications.
MoFi Electronics
Drawing on 40 years of making records at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, the new MoFi Electronics division is focused on improving the sonic integrity of audio reproduction in the home. MoFi products are the result of multiple collaborations with some of the world’s best audio designers, stemming from decades of experience in the studio.
The new StudioPhono and UltraPhono phonostages replicate the wide bandwidth transparency mastering engineers demand. The circuits are based on ideas first applied to the GAIN 2™ mastering chain at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
