Cambridge Audio Alva Duo | Phono Preamp for Moving Magnet & Moving Coil Turntables

So this was an upgrade for me from an integrated pre-amp. I am a headphone listener so this is running into a Topping A90D headphone amp that drives a pair of custom Sennheiser HD 600 plugged into balanced XLR.Upon getting this today I set about getting it set up and wired in. Once complete pulled out my OG copy of Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall", put my headphones on, and turned everything on at which point I was immediately met with a horribly unpleasant high pitched hum. I was SOOOO bummed, I had read all the reviews including those talking about hum issues. But I also knew I'm not your average bear and I always approach things with a "where there is an effect there is a cause" mentality, so I set about solving the issue before just returning the unit.First I triple checked all my connections, nope. Then I moved to adjusting my ground wire, nuh-uh. Next I made a new ground wire in case the old one I made a long time ago had failed somewhere at a connector. New wire in, no change. Then I decided to try plugging the amp directly into the wall instead of a power strip, no change. Next tried moving my headphone amp away, same outcome.In a final fit of figuring this out I plugged my TT, headphone amp, and Alva Duo into a separate power strip from everything else and started turning things off in my office. Imagine my surprise when after turning off the Govee light strip under my desk, THE HUM STOPPED ALTOGETHER!!! It was the balast/transformer in my cheap Govee lights creating RFI that the Alva was picking up. My Hue lights are fine, just the cheap Govee light causes issues. So all I have to do is not have that under desk lighting on when I listen to my TT. Not ideal but a 1st world issue I can live with.In conclusion these kinds of components are extremely sensitive to RFI and when close to various other electrical components, they can be impacted. Since figuring it out I have listened through 7 records beginning to end with NO issues. This Pre-Amp is night and day for me and just a wonderful product. Multiple times I've been like "How did I forget how amazing this record sounds!" Then I realize they didn't sound this good before, the amp is exaggerating everything my previous solution couldn't!! The bass is deep and tight. Highs are sharp and "snappy". From trumpets sounding crisp to guitar plucks sounding tight, this pre-amp has just cleaned up and accentuated all my music's best attributes. I am very impressed, and if that changes I will provide an update. Next up for upgrade is a better phono cartridge to really squeeze every bit of performance out of my table. Happy listening.

The absolute best sound you will get from a phono preamp. While this unit may lack features others have, like gain settings, it is going to provide the cleanest sound you will ever get from a phono preamp. This can be verified by checking tests run by Audio Science. Noise is completely absent, channel balance is fantastic and compliance is amazing. I have two Cambridge phono preamps (my entire main system is comprised of Cambridge Audio) and there's a reason. You will not find better sound for the money. I've played MM and MC cartridges through this preamp and all their potential is brought out with the Alva Duo or Solo.IMPORTANT: This is one of the highest rated phono preamps on the market. I see a lot of reviews here giving poor ratings because people didn't know what they were doing (and even admitting it in the review). Don't know how someone can give this preamp a 1 star review because they didn't know what they were buying...seriously? That's on you, not the product. Be sure to research something before buying and definitely don't leave negative reviews because you didn't know what you were buying or how to use it.

This is almost a plug and play unit. No fiddling with switches or nothing other than turning it on when your ready to use it. It automatically turns off when your not. Coming from a Wiim Ultra for a phono pre amp... Wow this thing sounds Hi Fi! Audiophile quality. Nice and clean sound, no bloat with dark background. You can set it to always stay on. An easy set it and forget it unit. Has two inputs. One for moving magnet cartridges and one for moving coil. You could use the empty input for other audio devices if you choose so. Great buy.

I had purchased this preamp to serve as a “headphone only” set-up — to be hooked directly to a TT with no connection to an integrated amp and/or speakers.Unfortunately I had to return the preamp due to poor sound quality. The output was low and produced an audible hiss beginning at low volume levels. Also the volume output maxed out at 3/4 turn on the volume knob. Turning passed this point did nothing to increase the volume— just the hiss.I tried the preamp on several different turntables with MM cartridges with varying output voltage levels (3.5 to 5mV). All suffered from the poor sound quality, which is not present when using my other preamps (Schitt Mani and Project Tube Box).Instead of the Cambridge Duo, I am now using a Mofi UltraPhono preamp/headphone amp. The Mofi has switches that allow you select the appropriate gain (from 40 to 66db) based on your cartridge’s voltage output The Duo only allows for a gain of 39db for MM cartridges, which is underpowered for my setup.The Mofi is $200 more, but the customization for impedance and gain, as well as a mono switch are well worth the extra cost.I really wanted to like the Duo— Cambridge is a great company. That said, I cannot recommend the Duo due to the sound quality issues I experienced.Perhaps I received a defective unit. I’ll never know because I am very pleased with the Mofi and have no plans on replacing any of my other preamps.

I connected my turntable to the MM INPUT in the Cambridge and assumed that the output from the Cambridge will go into the phono input of my Numarck C3 but to my surprise sound was horrible, looked at the booklet included with the unit and found nothing helpful there, unconnected everything and was ready to return the unit but a YouTube influencer show me the right way, it turns out i needed to connect the output of the Cambridge phono amp to CD input not the phono input in my Numarck and everything sounds great now,