My first gen JD9 is stock except for the tubes. In my system, the Jolida is the preferred phono amp by far. It has loads of gain. I've no desire to upgrade. I've used an Ortofon MC3-Turbo with 3.3mv output since the day I added the JD9 as the Bellari didn't have enough gain after moving my system into a larger room. The JD9 excelled with the high-output mc cart, but I recently realized that cart is way past its life expectancy. About two weeks ago I installed the AT33EV with 0.3mv output. I was concerned that the JD9 might not sound as good in its high gain mode, but I was wrong. I swapped the original tubes for Sovtek 12ax7LPS. I think I'm on my third pair.