Phasemation PP-300
The Phasemation PP-300 brings taut, powerful bass, spectacular low-level detail and a poised, low-noise moving-coil presentation to demanding vinyl playback. Audiophilia found its tracking unflappable, its soundstage spacious and its macro-dynamics genuinely visceral—an accomplished cartridge that uncovers musical energy without sacrificing tonal balance.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
94/100
Build Quality
87/100
Features Usability
84/100
Value for Money
96/100
Pros
Superbly defined, forceful bass combines weight with excellent control and no bloat.
Exceptional low-level retrieval reveals percussion decay and previously obscured instrumental lines.
Tracks extreme dynamic peaks with composure while delivering wide, deep staging and tight imaging.
Cons
Midrange subtlety and transparency fall short of substantially more expensive cartridges, with a slightly thicker character.
Installation can be fiddly because the tiny mounting nuts are difficult to position.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 94/100
The PP-300 is described as refined, tonally balanced and unusually energetic, combining powerful but tightly controlled bass with a low-noise, composed presentation. Its principal limitation versus substantially dearer cartridges is a slightly thicker midrange and less of the finest low-level translucency.
Overall Sound
93/100
Audiophilia found a beautiful octave-to-octave balance, convincing timbres and a refined musical character. Bass is singled out as exceptionally forceful yet superbly defined, while macro-dynamic expression and visceral energy were major strengths; the reviewer heard a little less midrange subtlety than from the very best cartridges.
Tracking Retrieval
96/100
The reviewer calls the PP-300 forgiving and says it tracks "like a Maglev train," remaining composed through extreme orchestral peaks. Low-level retrieval was described as spectacular, uncovering percussion decay and instruments that had previously been obscured, and was judged better than the comparison Rega and Ortofon cartridges.
Soundstage Imaging
91/100
The PP-300 produced wide, deep soundstages with tight image focus and convincing instrumental and vocal timbre. The reviewer found its overall spatial performance competitive with other fine cartridges at similar prices, though an Ortofon comparison offered slightly stronger instrumental separation.
FEATURES USABILITY PERFORMANCE 84/100
The PP-300 matched successfully with Rega's RB2000 tonearm and was found forgiving once installed. Its low compliance, 11.1g body mass and 0.28mV moving-coil output make suitable arm matching and a capable MC phono stage important considerations.
Tonearm Compatibility
84/100
Matching the cartridge to the Rega RB2000 was explicitly reported as straightforward, offering reassuring evidence of compatibility with an appropriate medium-to-higher-mass arm. However, the low-compliance design and very low output are more specialized than a typical moving-magnet cartridge, so careful arm and phono-stage matching remain necessary.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
87/100
The supplied packaging is described as first class, and the PP-300 uses a Duralumin body, boron cantilever and line-contact diamond stylus. The review gives little direct evidence on assembly consistency or long-term durability, but presents it as a thoughtfully specified and well-finished cartridge.
Value for Money
96/100
At the reviewed $1,799 price, Audiophilia called the PP-300 an "irresistible bargain" and said its bass authority played above its asking price. The reviewer also found its retrieval, stored-energy reproduction and refinement highly competitive against similarly priced alternatives.
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Specifications
- Magneto method
- Moving coil method
- Impedance
- 4 ohm
- Appropriate stylus pressure
- 2.0 g
- Output voltage
- 0.28 mV (1 kHz, 50 mm/s, Horizontal direction)
- Compliance
- 8.0x10(e-6) cm/dyne
- Playable frequency range
- 10Hz to 30kHz
- Separation
- 30 dB or more (1 kHz)
- Channel balance
- 1 dB or less (1 kHz)
- Mass of body
- 11.1 g
- Stylus chip
- Diamond(Line contact; Curvature: 0.03 x 0.003 mm)
Manufacturer's Description — Phasemation
Product Outline and Concept
We release PP-300, the model of 10th anniversary of our brand establishment, as the new basic model. It has 'the midrange-treble-part with high freshness', 'the resonant bass part' which the conventional MC cartridge could not realize, and also 'space expression ability', because the knowhow of our PP-1000, the Pasemation flagship, has been applied.
Main feature
1. Feed-back of PP-1000 magnetic circuit technology
To the magnetic circuit structure the technology of PP-1000, the flagship model, is applied; and by refining materials and manufacturing and finishing cost advantage has been enhanced. Furthermore, by changing to samarium-cobalt magnet, the recreation of excellent feeling of sound field and freshness has been successfully realized, which has been difficult for our conventional P-3.
2. Inheriting the Body for High Quality Audio Sound
We inherit duralumin previously-well-acknowledged against P-3 as the materials of base and body. Furthermore, DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) *1) coating is conducted; thereby, the structure excellent at rigidity and vibration-damping characteristics is realized.
*1) DLC (Diamond Like Carbon） is a generic name of carbon film to be produced with vapor phase synthesis utilizing ion processing; and the high rigidity and high electric insulation similar to a diamond are provided for it.
3. Inheriting the Materials for High Quality Audio Sound
We inherit the following materials for high quality audio sound well-established in PP-1000 and others: Cantilever made of pure boron material well-acknowledged previously, magneto coil made of 6N oxygen-free copper wire, pure iron coil bobbin and others.
Verified Dealers
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Authorized dealers for Phasemation PP-300
- Resolution A/V — in-store — New York City, New York, United States (website)
- American Sound — in-store — Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada (website)
- Ammonite Audio — online and in-store — Norwich, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Ana Mighty Sound — online and in-store — Paris, Île-de-France, France (website)
- Ars Antiqua Audio — online and in-store — Boadilla del Monte, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (website)
- Audio Creativ — in-store — Riedenburg, Bayern, Germany (website)
- Audio Solutions - AU — online and in-store — Mascot, New South Wales, Australia (website)
- Don Better Audio — online and in-store — Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States (website)
- Exception Audio — in-store — Antibes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France (website)
- Hifi Gear - HK — in-store — Kowloon, Hong Kong (website)
and 23 more verified dealers