Фонокорректоры — Clearaudio ABSOLUTE PHONO INSIDE

The Absolute Phono Inside is a moving-coil-only phono stage from Clearaudio, built as two matching boxes - an amplifier unit and a separate power supply. It uses a current amplification first gain stage and is housed in a sandwich of solid aluminium billet with a Panzerholz core. It was announced together with the Absolute Phono, a related design, and Clearaudio discontinued the Inside as of November 2025.

Key specs that matter

Inputs come as balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA sockets, and the same two formats are offered at the output. Gain is 60 dB at 1 kHz, the input load is fixed at 250 kOhm with no user adjustment, and RIAA deviation is less than 0.1 dB. Clearaudio rates the signal to noise figure at 90 dB with A-weighting, crosstalk separation is 100 dB, total harmonic distortion is below 0.001 percent and headroom is 23 dB. Output impedance is 64 ohm at the XLR sockets and 32 ohm at the RCA sockets. Each of the two chassis measures 240 x 160 x 65 mm, the phono unit weighs about 3.25 kg and the power supply about 3.20 kg.

Engineering and use context

In a current amplification input stage, the cartridge drives current into the circuit instead of being read as a voltage source, which is why the input impedance can stay high and needs no loading setting for different MC cartridges. The anti-resonance housing is machined from aluminium and Panzerholz wood layered together, and hand-selected non-magnetic silver Clearaudio Glimmer capacitors sit at key points of the circuit. The power supply is a switching type accepting 100 to 265 V AC at 50 to 60 Hz, and it lives in its own chassis to keep mains interference away from the low-level signal. The two boxes share the same footprint, so they can be stacked or placed side by side on a rack shelf. Rated power draw is 6.5 W in operation and 0.0 W when switched off.

Pairing

The stage is intended only for moving-coil cartridges, so an MM pickup needs a different phono stage. The balanced outputs with their low source impedance suit any line stage fitted with XLR sockets. For unbalanced systems the RCA outputs are the alternative connection. A balanced tonearm lead from turntable to the XLR input keeps the full signal path balanced from cartridge to amplifier.

Alternatives

The Clearaudio Balance Reference Phono is a two-chassis design for both MM and MC pickups with two independent phono inputs, switchable loading and a built-in headphone amplifier.