Oracle Audio Paris PH200 MkIII
The Paris PH200 MkIII brings vinyl to life with a quiet background, organic instrumental tone, and exceptionally transparent presentation. Enjoy The Music found its natural handling of voices, ambience, and fine detail remarkable for the class, while flexible MM/MC loading helps revealing cartridges perform at their best.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
92/100
Cartridge Compatibility
91/100
Build Quality
87/100
Value for Money
94/100
Pros
Exceptionally transparent, low-noise presentation reveals low-level musical and ambient detail without imposing a strong sonic character.
Natural, organic portrayal of acoustic instruments and voices, with convincing reverb trails and spatial realism.
Strong value: the reviewer preferred living with it to replacing it with considerably more expensive phono stages.
Useful MM/MC flexibility through multiple MC loading options and selectable gain settings.
Cons
Maximum gain may be insufficient for exceptionally low-output moving-coil cartridges, such as a 0.2mV design.
It does not match costlier, more advanced phono stages for ultimate background silence, frequency extension, or absolute instrumental realism.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 92/100
Review coverage portrays the PH200 MkIII as an unusually transparent, natural-sounding stage that lets the record and cartridge determine the presentation. Its quietness, organic instrumental color, clean transients and convincing sense of recorded space are recurring strengths.
Transparency Noise Floor
93/100
The reviewer specifically praises a quiet background and says the PH200 adds very little sound of its own. Its ability to reveal more of the recorded performance, including low-level information, is presented as a major virtue.
Tonal Balance Musicality
93/100
The PH200 is described as organic, strikingly natural and accurate in its portrayal of instruments and players. It appears to preserve cartridge character rather than imposing a strong tonal signature, while keeping instrumental textures believable.
Dynamics
89/100
Transient response is convincingly rendered, with bass-string plucks, slaps and attacks coming through clearly. The review suggests lively contrasts and good musical momentum, though dynamics receive less extensive listening commentary than transparency and tone.
Soundstage Imaging
92/100
Recorded ambience and reverb trails are described as sublime, especially on the Kronos Quartet recording made in a church. The presentation is sufficiently lifelike that a violin crescendo prompted the reviewer to turn toward the room, indicating persuasive spatial realism.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Cartridge Compatibility
91/100
The PH200 MkIII supports both MM and MC cartridges, with MM set for 47kΩ and MC loading choices from 100Ω through 47kΩ. Multiple gain settings, including a high-gain option specified at 73dB, give it broad scope for low-output moving-coil cartridges as well as conventional MM designs.
Build Quality
87/100
The revised model uses higher-precision Dale resistors and a separate, regulated and filtered power supply with a toroidal transformer. The outboard supply is designed to keep mains-related noise away from the sensitive phono circuitry, though the reviews offer limited comment on long-term ownership or chassis durability.
Value for Money
94/100
At its $2,450 asking price, the reviewer found its low-level resolution and organic instrumental reproduction surprising. During the audition, the reviewer did not feel compelled to replace it with substantially more expensive phono stages already on hand, and explicitly recommends it.
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Specifications
- Moving Coil (MC) input impedence
- 100Ω, 200Ω, 511Ω, 1kΩ, 1.5kΩ and 47kΩ
- Moving Magnet (MM) input impedence
- 47kΩ
- Input capacitance (moving magnet)
- 150pF
- Input sensitivity
- 0,35mV
- Gain MC
- 42dB, 52dB, 62dB, 73dB
- Gain MM
- must be set at 42 dB & 47kΩ
- Signal to noise ratio
- > −80dB
- Dimensions
- 9.5" x 12.25" x 2.25"
Manufacturer's Description — Oracle Audio
About the Paris PH200 phono pre-amplifier
The distinctive design of the Paris PH200 with its elegantly sculpted chassis carries the unique signature of the Paris series. The secret behind the overall tonal balance and performance of the Paris phono preamplifier lies in the careful selection and combination of the different components. The internal circuitry of the Paris PH200 is a two stage design. The first stage has for role to amplify the faint signal coming from the phono cartridge in order to present the signal with an acceptable level to the straightening RIAA curve circuit. The second stage has for role to amplify the signal to the required output level of the PH200. Both amplifying stages were designed such that they optimize the signal to noise ratio of the PH200 which results in a very rapid and high dynamic contrast giving to the Ph200 all its musicality!
The Paris PH200 distinguishes itself from the PH100 as it is equipped with an additional signal regulation step located just before the RIAA circuit input and also by the usage of higher quality operational amplifiers on the analog amplifying modules further improving the sound. The last of these distinctions and not the least is the usage of a highly regulated and filtered external power supply. Extreme care and attention has been applied to eliminate the electrical line noise before it can access the Paris phono stage circuitry. The PH200 has been designed to accommodate usage of both moving coil and moving magnet phono cartridges. The PH200 offers variable moving coil cartridge load settings and variable gain using jumper configurations on both the left and right channels. The different values of load impedance and gain that are possible are listed on the technical specifications page of the PH200. The Paris PH200 will bring you to a re-discovery of your record collection and will provide countless hours of enjoyable and satisfying musical experience!
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- Absolute Audio - Canada — in-store — Calgary, Alberta, Canada (website)
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- American Sound — in-store — Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada (website)
- Analogue Seduction — online and in-store — Whittlesey, England, United Kingdom (website)
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