Description

Designed and hand-built in Vicenza, Italy, the Pathos InTheGroove MM/MC Phonostage is a two-chassis, solid-state phono preamplifier engineered to get the most out of both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges. At its core is a passive-RIAA circuit paired with a separate outboard linear power supply — a layout that keeps supply noise away from the delicate phono signal, resulting in a notably quiet background and wide dynamic range.

What sets the InTheGroove apart is its flexibility. Instead of opening the chassis to swap jumpers or dip switches, listeners can dial in gain, resistance, and capacitance loading directly from the front and rear panels. Four gain settings (43dB, 50dB, 56dB, and 62dB) cover everything from high-output moving magnet cartridges to the lowest-output moving coils, while six resistance and six capacitance settings let owners fine-tune tonal body, air, and detail to match their specific cartridge and taste.

Housed in milled-aluminum casework with Pathos’s signature engraved logo, the InTheGroove is compact enough to fit into almost any system while offering the flexibility usually reserved for far larger, more expensive phono stages. Reviewers have praised it for its speed, control, and tonal neutrality — a phono stage that flatters both vintage pressings and modern audiophile vinyl without ever sounding hyped or clinical. Every unit is assembled by hand in Italy, from PCB population to Pathos’s own in-house metalwork, paint, and woodworking.

Whether upgrading from a budget phono stage or looking for a reference-level preamp that won’t dominate a rack, the Pathos InTheGroove offers audiophile-grade flexibility, a low-noise two-box design, and unmistakably musical Pathos engineering.