Martin Colloms has posted a review of the Audio Research Reference 2 phono stage ($12,000) at Hi-Fi Critic. His conclusions:
Audio Research continues its winning run, and once again we must sing the praises of yet another top class design that above all delivers infectious musical involvement and high resolution from LP recordings. The Reference Phono 2 is really hard to fault; all the facilities work as advertised, its great convenience versatility and compatibility is confirmed, and it clearly is ideal for those who alternate between two different cartridges.
This is confident and mature product. It makes no funny noises, needs no special precautions, and treats even a 1ow output moving-coil cartridge as if it was just another line level input, while the low gain setting gives even better sound with medium output moving coils. This phono stage really is good enough to partner turntable/arm/cartridge systems up to €60,000. Not only very neutral, dynamic and transparent, it's very musical too, and is highly recommended.
You can read the full review here.
