The E-02 inherits the philosophy that guided our highly acclaimed E-03 phonostage to be a continual best-seller for the last 8 years, and adds the new fully balanced transmission and amplification circuit utilizing MC cartridges to achieve a level of analog playback that was previously unimaginable.

Fully Balanced Circuit Design

The E-02 is a fully balanced phonostage preamplifier that features fully balanced circuits from the input stage right through to the final output stage. It is perfectly designed for handling the extremely low level signals from a MC cartridge, minimize noise interference and powerfully amplify signals with low impedance to bring the very best sound out of your beloved MC cartridge collection.

Dual Mono Construction

Identical power supply transformers, power boards and amplifier circuits are mounted independently on each channel. Outstanding channel separation and robust power supply components deliver solid, powerful, and exceptionally high quality audio playback.

Super High Quality MC Head Amplifier and RIAA Amplifier

The E-02 features a newly designed fully balanced MC head amplifier and RIAA amplifier. The NF-CR type RIAA amplifier achieves outstanding RIAA characteristics of ±0.2dB together with minimum Negative Feedback, and the high voltage power supply delivers an exceptionally wide dynamic headroom.

Load impedance switching function that exploits the full potential of the cartridge

The E-02 enables you to select between nine different impedance positions (MC: 10Ohm, 50Ohm, 100Ohm, 200Ohm, 300Ohm, 500Ohm, 1kOhm, 10kOhm, MM: 47kOhm).

Various Control Functions

Simply playback a record for around 30 seconds with the DEMAG function switched on to demagnetize any unexpected magnetization of the cartridge’s coils or step-up transformers and recover the original sound. The E-02 is equipped with a sub-sonic filter (17Hz, -6dB/octave), a MONO switch and output switching (XLR, RCA, ES-LINK Analog) controls.

Highly Rigid Chassis Construction

Phonostage amplifiers that amplify extremely low signal levels are highly sensitive to vibration, which is why ESOTERIC pays special attention to chassis construction in order to control vibration wherever possible. The arrangement of each component is designed in minute detail, and a slit construction is used in the bottom chassis that supports all of the circuits to minimize interference. The highly rigid thick aluminum enclosure and proprietary pinpoint feet (patent No: JP4075477) are extremely effective in minimizing the effects of vibration from external sources.