Achieve Optimization with Any Cartridge: Fully Balanced MoFi Electronics MasterPhono MM/MC Phono Preamplifier Offers Extraordinary Flexibility and Master-Tape-Like Playback
Designed to attain master-tape quality playback and engineered by Peter Madnick, the Mobile Fidelity Electronics MasterPhono MM/MC phono preamplifier offers analog lovers optimization with any cartridge as well as unparalleled flexibility, dead-quiet operation, and remote-controllable ease. Custom-made in the U.S.A., this reference component puts an end to the hassles of cartridge matching and invites users to experiment with as many options as they desire. And though the fully balanced MasterPhono’s flexibility puts it in a class of its own, its sonic aptitude is of equal importance.
True to Mobile Fidelity tradition, MasterPhono adds no artifacts to original program material and exhibits levels of clarity, smoothness, and detail retrieval that help convey the full potential of every LP — particularly audiophile reissues and sought-after original pressings. Seeking a phonostage that will help reveal details, dynamics, and nuances on LPs you think you know backwards and forwards? MasterPhono is created to do just that — and remind you of the fun and discovery that should be involved anytime you spin a record.
Equipped with uncommon features such as passive RIAA equalization, switchable gain (four settings), and two input topologies — one voltage type and one current-source type — MasterPhono also benefits from a fully discrete, balanced, wide-bandwidth, all-FET input and output stage; fully regulated and shielded internal power supply with dedicated left and right channels; internal relay switching circuitry; and programmable relay-controlled loading and gain settings. A thick aluminum front panel frames a pair of meters that provide VU information as well as VTA and azimuth calibration points for cartridge setup.
Needless to say, MasterPhono looks spectacular. Its classically inspired architecture relates to its functionality, whether involving the practical VU meters, triad of back-panel inputs, pair of ground connections, or string of front-panel LED indicators. Mute and filter buttons further add to its versatility and ability to seamlessly integrate with practically any system — as well as gear you might acquire in the future. And unlike many high-end phono preamplifiers, MasterPhono is easy to operate and setup. It also comes with the benefit of remembering specific settings, including those you input for different cartridges and/or tonearms. Plus, thanks to the remote, you can adjust load and gain settings from the comfort of your chair.
Much of MasterPhono’s aptitude owes to the expertise harbored by its designer. Touting nearly four decades of experience in high-end audio and a resume that includes some of the most acclaimed phono-related products of the 21st Century, Madnick brings levels of insight and incisiveness that only come with time. In the case of MasterPhono, he took advantage of the luxuries of not having to meet a hard deadline — and the permission to work from a truly clean slate. The result speaks for itself.
Ready for professional use and consumer playback, MasterPhono represents a major advancement in American audio design and a big step closer to bringing the sound of the studio into your home. Contact Music Direct to learn how you can audition it in your home risk-free — and hear for yourself how much better analog can be with MasterPhono in your chain.
“[Its] combination of timbral neutrality, background quiet, deftly delivered transients, pleasing image focus, effective, stable imaging, and generous soundstaging and especially its deft balance of all these important phono preamp qualities will let your cartridge’s sonic personality shine.”
—Michael Fremer, The Tracking Angle
“Thanks to its various inputs and outputs, excellent range of adjustments, and some novel new features, MoFi’s smart-looking MasterPhono is a pleasure to use. More importantly it’s a superlative performer, able to deliver all the detail, punch and musical emotion of your vinyl collection.”
—Hi-Fi News, Outstanding Product Award
“I was knocked flat by its exceptional soundstage, which was deep and immense, with instruments precisely placed and finely layered within. With a system this dynamic and energized, who needs coffee?”
—Ken Micallef, Stereophile, AXPONA 2024 report on system with MoFi Electronics MasterPhono, MasterDeck, and SourcePoint 10
"If your turntable cost more than a few thousand dollars and your taste in cartridges is moving further into four figures, MoFi's MasterPhono was created to assist you in your phonophile evolution. For me, a reviewer, it is what I'd been casting about for: alive and vigorous, clear and well-sorted, relaxed and natural, a mid-priced, user-friendly phonostage that's easy to recommend and enjoy.”
—Herb Reichert, Stereophile
"What Peter Madnick and MoFi have created is a phonostage that punches well above its (already heavy) weight class. Given cost relative to features and the sonics it can create, the MoFi Masterphono is a an inherently smart value."
—Future Audiophile
- Fully discrete from input to output
- Single ended RCA and Balanced XLR output
- Switchable Gain 40db/50db/60db/70db
- Passive RIAA using NOS polystyrene and polypropylene film/foil capacitors
- Standard signal input via RCA & XLR (Voltage Input)
- 10 position loading adjustment, including "Custom" via RCA plug
- "Current input" via RCA or XLR for low source-impedance phono cartridges
- Stereo/mono switch, High pass filter switch
- Left and Right meters for output monitoring and calibration purposes
- Cascaded voltage regulation stages for lowest noise
- Dual-chassis construction isolates power supply and audio circuits separately
- Software upgradable via USB to add new updates and features
- Gain: Selectable gain for MM or MC 40db, 50db, 60db, 70db
- THD: 10mV@1KHZ MM low 0.005% A-Weighted, 10mV@1KHZ MM high 0.005% A-Weighted, 1mV@1KHZ MC low 0.010% A-Weighted, 1mV@1KHZ MC high 0.013% A-Weighted
- Loading: 15 Ohms, 30 Ohms, 50 Ohms, 75 Ohms, 100 Ohms, 500 Ohms, 1K Ohms, 10K Ohms, 47K Ohms+150pF, & "Custom"
- Max Output: @1% THD, 10 Volts RMS
- RIAA Accuracy: -+/- 0.05db
- Frequency Response: 10Hz – 50KHz ±0.20dB
- Signal To Noise Ratio: 93dB (MM), 85dB (MC)
- Dimensions (WxHxD): 17" x 3.5" x 15.75" (43.2 x 8.9 x 40 cm)
- Weight: 15 lb / 6.8 kg
- Warranty: Five years parts & labor