The Phonomena III is the culmination of the several phonostages Mike Yee has been designing for Musical Surroundings since the late 1990s. Back then it was intended as an economical alternative for demanding audiophiles on limited budgets, but Yee, a gifted designer with a sophisticated knowledge of circuits and an inventive turn of mind, never stopped searching for ways to make it better. Before long, it became evident that Yee’s evolving technical and audio improvements through subsequent versions made them easily competitive with phono preamps costing multiples of their relatively modest retail prices ($600 originally, $1200 now).

Terms like “budget,” “economical alternative,” “value driven,” etc. should by no means be equated in this product to “good for the money,” let alone cheap, compromised, or unreliable. Despite style that was utilitarian—Yee himself is the first to admit he’s “no designer” when it comes to the aesthetics of electronic chassis—and the necessity to build it to an affordable price point, there was and is absolutely nothing cheap about the Phonomena’s features, parts, circuitry, engineering, construction, and manufacturing, while the thinking behind the design qualifies as authentically original and even innovative. I write this from long experience: Phonomena phono preamps have been my references since the first one I reviewed in 2003, which means that I’ve used them for virtually every review I’ve written of vinyl-related products during the past two decades—not solely, but always. This in turn means, for example, that the input and output jacks, not to mention the back-panel DIP switches for changing loading and gain, get way more use than most consumers would typically subject them to; yet never once did they come loose or fail; nor in any other way have I experienced any problems, something I cannot say for a number of more expensive electronics of every sort. (Since the beginning, all Yee’s preamps have been built, assembled, and tested in California, this latest version entirely in Silicon Valley and Musical Surroundings’ facility in Oakland.)

There is no need to chart the history of the Phonomena from its origins until now. Suffice it to say that Yee at one point made several significant changes in parts, circuitry, and outboard power supplies such that Musical Surroundings felt a separate model was called for. Christened Nova II, reviewed by me in 2013, it included among other improvements a whole new front-end using super-matched transistors, and outboard power supplies and battery operation. Six years later, that version was replaced by the Nova III. Priced at $1500, up $200 from the Nova II, plus an additional $650 for the optional Linear Power Supply (LPS), the Nova III was by some margin the best Yee design I had reviewed, and it became, like others before it, my reference.

As I noted in that review, the improvements did not come at the expense of changing two fundamental constants of the design: one, Yee’s commitment to a wide variety of loading options for moving-coil pickups, capacitance options for moving magnets, and gain options for either; two, a sonic profile that places a high priority upon tonal neutrality. I characterized the sonic personality of earlier Phonomenas as “Apollonian, all classical grace, poise, and restraint,” while granting that the sound was “too neutral” for some listeners, including some reviewers, who crave more in the way of kick, slam, liveliness, or various sorts of ‘pleasing’ tonal balances.” The wonderful thing about the Nova III was that without sacrificing neutrality, it conveyed a significantly better “impression of body, solidity, and dimensionality that I didn’t hear to the same degree in the II, as if the reproduction was a bit more grounded yet without the loss of any sense of quickness, agility, timing, and detail. There was also a subtle impression of increased projection or presence—I do not mean this in the tonal-balance sense—or perhaps extraversion is a better word. And finally, there was a real increase in dynamic punch, kick, drive—choose your own metaphor—that was not there before.

This version might have remained unaltered for quite some time except that the pandemic came along and disrupted the availability of several key parts, including some of those used in the important front end of the circuit. In response, Yee managed to source better parts than those used in any prior Phonomena and equal to or better than what was being used in the Nova III. The result? This new Phonomena III, which replaces the now discontinued Nova III and is priced $300 less yet is superior in every way (see sidebar for details).

The new parts brought improvements to both the linearity and the noise floor of the circuit, which allowed Yee to increase the maximum gain to 66dB. While all Novas and Phonomenas were and are supplied with wall warts to allow audiophiles entry at a lower price point for the phono preamp alone, for several years now various external power supplies for improved performance have been offered as optional accessories. Retailing now at $1000, the Linear Power Supply costs $350 more than it did with the Nova III, reflecting cost increases following the pandemic and offsetting the price reduction in the Phonomena III. But I can’t imagine most consumers complaining, since the net $50 increase for phono preamp and LPS together results in improvements in dynamic range, noise, transparency, detail, and resolution. Now, inasmuch as the Nova III and even the Nova II were already at quite high levels of excellence in all these areas, most of these improvements are decidedly incremental. To put it another way, if you’re already invested in a Nova III and happy with it, the Phonomena III won’t transform your vinyl playback, but the improvements it does bring are observable under critical listening and will therefore matter to audiophiles for whom such differences are of the essence. The two areas where the improvements are most noticeable to me are dynamic range and lower noise.

Readers interested in following this history at a more detailed level are referred to my TAS reviews past iterations (Google “Seydor Nova or Phonomena TAS”). With each succeeding model, I was careful to use the same source material as before while also adding new recordings. Of the three new LPs in especially active rotation, Thelonious Monk’s Brilliant Corners, in Craft Recordings’ new one-step release, is a riot of instrumental colors, textures, and shapes. Through the Phonomena III/LPS, there’s a new richness, depth, and density to the presentation that I don’t recall being there to this extent in previous versions.

I am writing this within a few weeks of the passing of the great Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini, so I pulled out his celebrated late seventies set of the last five Beethoven sonatas on Deutsche Grammophon. DG was never known as a label that catered to audiophiles, and the piano sound of many of its recordings can be on the thin, even emaciated side. Pollini himself is regarded in several quarters as a cool, even cold player, long on thoughtfulness and intellect, short on passion and feeling. No matter, something special happened when these recordings were made. While no one would mistake this sound for that of, say, an Arrau or a Uchida, the reproduction is nevertheless full enough, with a solid lower register to offset the typically airier, brighter top-end bias of DG recordings. Mind you, it’s still the Pollini sound: a model of clarity, even to some degree analytical, but also very beautiful in a Yin-like way, and despite some brightness, astonishingly delicate of touch when required, alternatively forcible when that is required (e.g., the Hammerklavier in the same set), with a welcome dovetailing of detail and space.

I’m in the middle of Jan Swafford’s biography of Mozart, so I dug out Bernstein’s mid-sixties recording of the Linz symphony and the B-flat-major piano concerto (no. 15, K.450) with the Vienna Philharmonic on Decca. A Columbia exclusive at the time, Bernstein made only two recordings for Decca (the other a sublime Das Lied von der Erde) in exchange for the use of Decca’s facilities to record his celebrated Falstaff with the Vienna State Opera. These Deccas resulted in some of the very finest reproduction Bernstein ever received. Miked, I assume, with the famous “Decca tree,” the tonal balance of the orchestra could scarcely be bettered, strings both rich and brilliant, imaging and soundstaging, both laterally and front to back, as if from the best seat in a hall with wonderfully warm acoustics, orchestral textures luminous, ideally mediating blend and contrapuntal clarity. The vitality, commitment, and beauty of the playing leave no doubt that this recording dates from the beginning of what would be a quarter-century love affair between this orchestra and this conductor that ended only with his untimely passing in 1990.

Before wrapping up, I want to return to the matter of loading moving coils. With 256 different options for load and gain, there isn’t an mc or mm past or present on the planet that the Phonomena III can’t ideally accommodate for the most neutral frequency response of which the pickup by design is capable. This last point should not be misunderstood. Owing to the high-frequency resonances endemic to the technology, fairly few moving-coil pickups regardless of design or expense are capable of truly flat frequency response. But as I said of the Nova III, the Phonomena III can’t flatten them more than any particular design allows, but it will flatten them at least that much. Yee’s phono preamps always make me feel as if I’m hearing the pickups I review as they really sound in the tonal sense.

This flexibility brings with it a hidden benefit that should gladden the heart of all tweakers or those who wish to tailor the sound to their own liking. TAS founder Harry Pearson was adamant in his preference for not loading mc’s because he liked the more apparent dynamic range and airiness that resulted from not damping the high-frequency resonances. I have no problem with anyone in search of a tonal balance he or she likes, however much it deviates from neutrality. The Phonomena III allows experimentation along these lines with greater control. Let me recall an example I’ve cited before. One of my reference pickups is the original Ortofon Windfeld, which I like for its extraordinary speed, transparency, resolution, and neutrality, best realized when the pickup is loaded at 40 ohms. Load it at 30 and the sound is subtly less dynamic and lively and the top end fractionally less extended; load it at 60 (or even 50) and the sound becomes slightly brighter and livelier. Only at 40 does it sound just right—at least to me. Mind you, with neither of the other two loadings is the sound bad—on the contrary, either is perfectly acceptable, perfectly musical, even preferable depending on everything from the tonal profiles of your room, associated equipment, the music you prefer, of just because you like it that way. Vive la difference!  This is just one reason why the Phonomena III, like the Nova before it, remains for me an indispensable reviewing tool.

Yee has worked so many variations on this design that I wonder if it might be time to offer a version or two that address features and convenience rather than incremental improvements in measurements and sound. The vinyl renaissance has led to a renewed interest in monophonic recordings, the first consequence being the appearance of dedicated monophonic pickups. Since, as I pointed out in my forthcoming review of the Hana SL Mono pickup, most mono records sound better played back in mono, using a mono pickup and a preamplifier that allows for stereo to be switched to mono, it would be really useful if a future Phonomena were to incorporate such a switch, a particular necessity in our time when so many minimalist control units eliminate this function entirely.

Another variation Yee and Musical Surroundings might want to consider is a Phonomena that contains two complete phonostages in one chassis. The number of turntables that offer the capability of mounting two (or more) tonearms has increased noticeably these past 10 years or so, as has the number of vinyl enthusiasts who routinely have more than one complete record-playing setup. One reason is to have both a mono and a stereo setup immediately available. Another is for those who, like me, appreciate the relative, though sometimes differing advantages of moving coils and moving magnets. Two phonostages in one chassis, presumably needing only one Linear Power Supply, would also make, I imagine, for a substantial price reduction from two Phonomena IIIs.

Finally, it would be really nice if Yee could figure out some way of relocating the DIP switches for load, capacitance, and level on the front or the top of the chassis. (Yes, I know they’re on the back for sonic reasons—shortest possible path between the switches and the rest of the circuitry—still . . . .) Otherwise, a hearty welcome to this latest scion in the Phonomena/Nova line. The market is full of outboard phono preamps that are tens of thousands of dollars more expensive, but you won’t find another at any price that offers this degree of flexibility to match any pickup out there with a commensurate level of technical and sonic performance. It remains my reference.   

Specs & Pricing

Gain (dB): 40, 46, 49.5, 50, 52, 54, 55.5, 56, 57, 58, 60.5, 61.5, 63, 64, 66
Capacitance loading: 100pF, 200pF
Input loading (ohms): 30,40, 50, 59, 80, 100, 121, 150, 243, 280, 380, 475, 660, 1000, 2000, 47k, 100k
Dimensions: 8.5″ x 2″ x 6″
Weight: 3 lbs.
Price: $1200

Linear Power Supply
Dimensions: 8.5″ x 2″ x 6″
Weight: 3 lbs.
Price: $1000

MUSICAL SURROUNDINGS
musicalsurroundings.com