PS Audio GCPH review

An excellent phono stage – provided your deck is good enough you won't be disappointed. Tested at £800.00

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

This PS Audio is an excellent phono stage. Provided your deck is good enough you won't be disappointed

Pros

  • +

    A clean, detailed, dynamic sound

  • +

    transparency

  • +

    useful features

  • +

    build quality

Cons

  • -

    Chunky by phono stage standards

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

PS Audio isn't short of confidence. On its website, the company claims that the GCPH phono stage is the best available, at any price. We don't share that view, but have no doubt this unit is astonishingly capable.

The GCPH is a fully featured device, accepting both moving coil and moving magnet cartridges, thanks to wide-ranging gain and loading adjustments. The settings can be changed via a pair of rotary switches on the back panel.

In addition, there are balanced and unbalanced analogue outputs, phase and mono switches, and a volume control.

If you're a vinyl purist, you can connect the GCPH to a power amplifier to create a system with an uncluttered signal path. Oh, and there's a remote to control all the switching.

In use, the GCPH is immensely capable. It's very quiet, too, with low levels of hum and hiss. It's as transparent and clean a phono stage as we've heard at this kind of money.

Composed with all music
This PS Audio is a precise, detailed performer that doesn't get fazed by musical complexity. Spin John Coltrane's Love Supreme and this unit produces cohesive and musically communicative results.

The presentation is even and has bold dynamics. There's plenty of passion and drive in Coltrane's playing and the PS Audio delivers the full dose.

Move to gentler music and the GCPH responds with plenty of subtlety, making the most of Ella Fitzgerald's gorgeous voice on Can't We Be Friends?

This is a very fine sounding phono stage. Use a suitably high quality turntable – think Thorens TD160HD as a minimum and you'll get fabulous results.

Highly recommended.

What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.

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