Yes, I was aware that phono stages produce much higher rates of gain than most other units, and since I’m using a low output MC Zephyr (0.4mV), I bought a better phono stage because of that. I wasn’t expecting to hear such a difference in noise when many reviews boasted of silent backgrounds, and I definitely didn’t expect it when I had nothing plugged into the inputs. I played in many rock bands in my youth and so my hearing in my 60’s isn’t top notch, but I was surprised to hear hum from my listening chair 7 feet away. I don’t listen at concert volumes and when I cue a record up I don’t hear the hum, so I can live with it. Just wanted to see if there was something I was missing or something I could do to lessen it, but the SPP sounds great and I’m not going to waste sleep over something I can’t hear in normal listening. Thanks to all who offered suggestions - I’m going through my entire collection one by one (even picked up a bunch of used ones I haven’t even listened to yet) to see what stays and what goes. Special thanks to Darren, Paul and Morris Conti at PS Audio for trying to help me work through this.