DJPREII Phono Preamplifier 14.1 x 7.3 x 2.3 inches

About a year ago, I got a great deal on a 7 speaker surround sound system that was a vast improvement over my old (as in 20 years old) two-speaker stereo. The only catch was that the system did not come with a phono input and I still have over 100 LPs from the days of my youth. This fall, I decided it was time to start listening to records again, so I started shopping around on-line. I stumbled upon the ART DJ Pre II Phono Preamp and its more sophisticated sibling, the ART V2 USB Phono Plus DJ Preamp. I opted for the lower tech version (without USB, optical, and other output options) because my computer's sound card has RCA inputs and because I primarily just want to listen, not convert my old LPs and because I liked the $44. price tag on the Pre II. It took less than 10 minutes to have it on-line and playing an old favorite. It has a simple interface of an output knob, two in-out buttons for the input limiter and the low-end cut (to reduce rumble) and a VERY bright blue power light. I chose an 1960s release of Debussy favorites that had seen a LOT of play in my childhood on less than audiophile quality turntables. I was impressed at how little noise came through the system and was very pleased with the over-all results. Although I am a musician and love music of all kinds, I need to tell you that my ears often are unoffended by little things that my more discerning friends find fault with. I want to hear the music with as little background noise (hiss, pop, or rumble) as possible and the ART DJ Pre II does that for me. I did not need to the input cap or low cut filters that toggle on an off on the front of the unit, it just sounds great on my system. There are just two things I would like to change about it. I am a very power-conscious person and there is no on/off switch on the unit. Furthermore, it is a DC powered unit with an inverter brick that also stays warm whether the unit is in use or not. Eventually, I will rearrange my power strip for my entire system so that I can kill the power when I am not using it, but it annoys me that the unit can't be a little "greener". and speaking of colors, the ultra-blue LED power light actually hurts my eyes to look at it. I will probably solve this problem with a piece of electrical tape. A quarter the brightness would give me the information that I need: that is whether or mot the unit has power. Still, I am pleased with the unit and give it a qualified thumbs-up.

Full disclosure: I'm a vinyl record enthusiast, I've been using turntables for over 30 years, and I repair/rebuild/restore vintage turntables. I spent a couple of weeks trying to decide which sub-$100 phono preamp I should buy. Most of the preamps in this price range get mediocre reviews. I stumbled upon the ART DJPRE II almost by accident, and was impressed with the high number of favorable reviews, so I decided to give it a try. I've been using it for almost three months, and thus far I've been very impressed by it. The build quality is very good, the sound quality is excellent, and it has some nice features that I haven't seen in other comparably priced preamps. One of the things I like most about this preamp -- a feature that most other preamps in the same price range are lacking -- is the level adjustment knob. There are two scenarios where this feature comes in handy: first, if you use different cartridges with different output levels. For example, one of my cartridges has a high output level (9 mV), and one of my other cartridges has a much lower output level (2.5 mV). The level knob on the preamp allows me to adjust the preamp's amplification to match the cartridge I'm using. The other scenario is that some of my records were recorded at very low levels, and some of my other records were recorded at very high levels. The level adjustment knob, along with the signal/clipping light, makes it easy to adjust the output level, and this is VERY helpful when transferring vinyl records to CD/MP3. This might not seem like a big deal, but I find it to be a really great feature, and theoretically it should offer better audio quality than attempting to boost or lower the audio after the fact with an audio editing program -- which is what you'd have to do if your preamp didn't have a level adjustment knob. I also really appreciate the rumble filter, which is another great feature that isn't typically found on preamps in this price range. It works as advertised and does not alter the audio quality. I do find that the blue power light is very bright, as other reviewers have pointed out, but I'm not particularly bothered by it. If you find it disturbing, you can always put a small piece of black tape over it. If you need a phono preamp and you can't afford to spend big bucks, I think this is absolutely your best bet. UPDATE: I've now been using this preamp for almost two years and it still works flawlessly. I'm very happy I chose it.

Let me get this out of the way first -- this thing is BIG and UGLY. It's not piece of equipment that you put on your rack and lovingly stare at while you play your music. Rather, it's the piece of equipment that you make every effort to hide. And that's OK because for the price, this thing punches well above its weight in both sound quality and features. The build itself isn't low quality, but given the design I'm taking a point off but what do you expect at this price? It's literally half the cost of the Schiit Mani. The first thing you'll notice when you take this little gem out of the box and plug it in is that the Blue LED was an absolutely ridiculous choice. A.R.T. is renowned for their professional equipment, so maybe this thing is intended to light up your own dance floor? It is so bright that it will hurt your eyes in broad daylight. I immediately taped off the LED with some electrical tape (as I've seen just about everyone else do). Crude, but does the trick. This thing has no on/off switch like most phono stages so what is even the point of the power LED? The ART DJ PRE-II replaces my Behringer PP400 that has been in my system since 2013. The PP400 being half the price of the ART DJ PRE-II, but sounds like less than half the value. This isn't anything against the PP400, but rather due to the immense value of the PRE-II. The soundstage is open and clean, even when bumping up the preamplification by +3 dB (the adjustment is nice on albums that were mastered quieter). My listening setup: Onkyo CP-1012F (vintage turntable) w/ Ortofon 2M Red into ART DJ PRE-II through Schiit Magni 3+ into HiFiMan HE400i OR Philips Fidelio X2HR

I've been using the ART DJPRE II for about four months. Now that I have everything configured, the sound is breathtaking. It rivals other phono preamps costing thousands of dollars. NOTE: Be sure to connect the DJPRE GROUND terminal to your phonograph GROUND terminal via a separate grounding wire (spade lug terminals recommended). Also, be certain your phono is connected to a good earth GROUND. It DOES matter! The real trick to get exceptional sound out of this little gem is to feed it what it likes best... that is a diet of PURE 12 volt DC. For a cost of about $30 you can build your own 12 volt PURE DC power supply. I've posted a picture that shows the details about how to do this. This little simple DIY project also gives you the ability to conveniently turn the unit on/off from the front. This is a feature other reviewers have noticed the DJPRE II is missing and would sure be nice to have. UPDATE Nov 2, 2013: Amazon moved the picture(s) I posted. To see picture(s) click on hyperlink of my reviewer name, then select the tab for "Images," and on that page scroll down and select hyperlink for "Image Gallery." You will find picture(s) and DIY instructions there. Initially, I'll admit I was a little disappointed. While the sound was very good, there was a subtle but yet unmistakable 60 Hz hum that I just couldn't get rid of. All the grounding tricks in the world, and believe me, as a retired military electronics engineer, I know MANY grounding and RF/EMI shielding techniques, I could not eliminate the hum. I just couldn't live with the unwanted noise. The unit's only drawback turns out to be its own supplied power adapter/converter. The unit's operating voltage is spec'd at 9 to 12 volts (AC or DC). The DJPRE II that I received from Amazon was supplied with a 120V AC to 9V AC adapter. NOTE: As of the writing of this review Amazon Product Features says "12V DC (Adapter included)" - a little discrepancy, but no big deal. I tried using other power adapters (I have many). I tried 12V DC, 9V AC (supplied with unit), and just to see how rugged this little dude is, I even tried a 15V DC adapter. The DJPRE II performed about the same, regardless of the power adapter used. That low level but annoying 60Hz hum was there in every instance. I began researching the high end audiophile grade phono preamps costing between $2000 to $7000. Being a technical engineer, I check out the spec's very diligently. I noticed that some of the high-end preamps, although connected to a regular 120V AC wall outlet, actually use an internal relay switch that switches to internal "battery power when operating" and then when not in use, the internal battery is charged by the standard line voltage (converted and rectified to DC of course). After a trip to my local electronics retailer, about $30 in miscellaneous parts, and a little creative ingenuity along with a can of spray paint and my prototype build time, I was ready to try out my theory. I plugged my custom built PURE 12V DC power supply into the DJPRE II and I was instantly transported to musical nirvana (and NO 60 Hz hum)! FURTHER INSIGHT: If you check out the photos I posted, you will see that my system uses a non-resonant Sumiko HS12 headshell mounted with a Lyra Delos MC (moving coil) cartridge, that is fed to an Ortofon Verto step-up transformer where it is converted to the MM (moving magnet) output level required as input for the ART DJPRE II. The ART DJPRE II is NOT able to use a high-end, low voltage (typically .5 mV or less) MC cartridge output directly. The ART DJPRE II is designed for use with MM cartridges, output loading: 47 kOhm / 100 to 200 pF. The output range for MM cartridges is usually somewhere between 4 to 9 mV. I highly recommend this product if you are willing to build a very simple 12V DC power supply. I guarantee you will be amazed at the sound quality that fully complies with RIAA standards. Happy listening to all.

I bought one of these for my daughter . . . I had given her a small Yamaha system that did not have a phono section, so she needed it. She was happy with it. I have about 1500 records; at one time I wanted to put them all on CDs or in my Zune . . . but with 6 turntables that was never a really high priority. I have a Bang and Olufsen 2402 going through a receiver to a USB analog to digital converter, and then I used Windows Plus originally, but now use Roxio Creator 2012. I was using a Harman Kardon PM 660 amplifier, which I love and still have. You could probably arc weld with that beast, but, 32 years after its birth, it had a bit of noise. Turn it off, cycle the controls 20x or so, and it's fine again--but you don't want that coming up during a recording. So, I got an Onkyo TX-8050. I love that too, but . . . The B&O MMC 20 E has relatively low output; the phono section on the Onkyo did not seem to have much gain . . . I could get very little volume recording anything through the Onkyo. This was limited to the phono section, CDs, Sirius, etc, the volume was fine. So, I looked at Bellaris (loved my old tube stuff) and other brands, but the variable gain on the ART DJPRE Phono preamp was the selling point. (I have a Dual 1019 hooked up to my home theater system; the Sony receiver there has a phono section, but figured if this preamp didn't work for recordings it would still give me more options if and when I decided to replace the HT receiver). So, I hooked this up, connected the Beogram turntable to it and plugged the line inputs into the DVD input on the Onkyo TX-8050, and put on the first digital record ever released: Frederick Fennell and the Cleveland Symphonic Winds (Telarc 5038), which still has a warning taped to it urging you to beware lest you destroy your system. It sounds great. I can't decide which capacitance setting I should use, I'm currently on the 200 microfarad (is that the units? anyway . .) I now have the volume I need, and am hearing every detail in the vinyl. ***** It is also nice to have the subsonic filter, which I do not believe I had before with the Onkyo's phono section. I highly recommend this product; it would be a bargain at several times Amazon's selling price.

I'm not about to try and expound on the sonic quality of this device. I will tell you though that it does exactly what it is supposed to do. That is, boost the very low signal level from a moving magnet phono cartridge to the level required for standard stereo inputs. It has a gain adjustment but in my case it works best turned to the maximum. I have it connected to the tape input of a newer Onkyo stereo. This unit also has a few "extra" features including a pushbutton for low cut filter and another for adjustment for the input impedance. I didn't notice much if any difference when switching either of these off or on but they are there if you need them. The unit is well made and feels very solid. I bought this to replace a Behringer preamp that didn't work for me. The Behringer had two problems. The first was that there wasn't enough gain. That could have more to do with my Onkyo but this unit is much better in that regard. It would be nice to have even more gain yet but this one will work fine. The bigger problem was what it was doing to my Onkyo M5030 amp. I use the M5030 to power speakers throughout the house. The Onkyo receiver has a second zone low level output that the M5030 is connected to. When playing the turntable through the second zone the M5030 would peak the level meters and the lamps would dim. When I lifted the needle from the record the meters and lights acted the same. It only stopped when I unplugged the preamp from the receiver or switched the input away from the tape input (that I am using for the turntable). The unit doesn't do this at all. With the unit on, the table turning, and the needle off the record everything is very quiet, just as it should be. If you have a newer receiver that doesn't have a phono input, would like to use a turntable, and do not want to spend hundreds of dollars, yet still want a preamp that works, this is just what you need. As I said, I cannot speak to the sonic abilities of this unit or its design. I believe many people "hear" nuances in more esoteric audio equipment to a large degree because they want to. I likely would not know the difference between this one and one that cost $500 so only you can be the judge. I will say that this unit doesn't seem to do anything offensive and my new LPs sound very nice. At least to me. :) HTH

Good Pre Amp provides Ability to Very the Signal.

This phono pre amp works great. Easy to set up and use. Like other reviewers mention it does have a blue light that is on all the time the unit is plugged into power. Not an issue for me I just slide a picture frame in front of the unit.

Ich habe diesen Vorverstärker in 2018 gekauft, ihn mit Plattenspieler und PC-Soundkarte verbunden und auf diese Weise schon etliche Platten digitalisiert. Und ich möchte das Gerät nicht mehr missen! Was den etwas dumpfen Klang anbelangt: Das stört mich absolut nicht, denn bei der Audio-Restauration mittels Software verwende ich sowieso einen Equalizer... Kurz und gut: Für mich und meine Zwecke ein top Gerät!!!

Prima di acquistare questo preamp ho letto e guardato una valangata di recensioni e una volta provato ho avuto la certezza di aver scelto bene. Ovviamente bisogna commisurate l'aspettativa alla cifra spesa, non è un preamp da 2000€. Provatelo e sicuramente non lo rimanderete in dietro

Excellent préamplificateur phono qui remplace très avantageusement mon ancien préamplificateur Vivanco. Maillon d'une d'une excellente chaine à composantes audiophiles de grande qualité (avec préampli et ampli à tubes), il me permet de réécouter enfin avec beaucoup de plaisir ma collection de vinyles rangée depuis belle lurette. Les vinyles neufs sonnent parfaitement bien. Une rapport qualité/prix incroyable !

El producto me llego a tiempo, bien empaquetado y en perfectas condiciones. El funcionamiento es excelente, tiene muy buena fidelidad y buena ganancia. Mueve perfectamente fonocaptores de imán movible como de bobina movible. La calidad de audio me pareció a la altura de los mejores.

This is a superb piece of kit it's worth every penny build quality is good sound quality is excellent got some good tweeks for making a few adjustments to the sound of your turntable it seem to bring the best out from my audio technica cartridge lots of detail good controlled treble good midrange and bass sounds smooth and articulate when I first thought about upgrading my first was going to be a different cartridge but I desided to go for the preamp to see what improvement could be made from using a internal preamp and all I can say is this preamp as made at least a 98 % difference to my turntable without touching the cartridge so I'm convinced the internal preamp was the weak link in my system at this time .