Analog Gear News

After receiving the official announcement about EAT’s all-new E-Glo 2 phono preamp the other day, I recalled how I first came across this model at High End Munich 2025, in one of the MOC venue’s main-level halls (Halle 3). There, it was displayed passively alongside additional EAT (a.k.a. European Audio Team) E-Glo models and various other components, as well as several of EAT’s striking turntable and tonearm designs.

Thanks to getting the scoop on all the E-Glo 2’s features and specs officially in hand, we can now tell you much more about it. Currently in its second iteration, the EAT E-Glo 2 phono preamp has now received updates for the first time in more than a decade — 12 years, to be exact. User feedback influenced some of those improvements, according to the company. (EAT’s products are designed and manufactured in Prague and Vienna, and are crafted individually.)

The E-Glo 2 sports a fully balanced input stage that’s reported to lower the noise floor further and to enhance immunity to electromagnetic interference, according to EAT. Several internal components also received upgrades, including Mundorf capacitors that incorporate Teflon dielectric on the output. In the signal path and in the EQ circuitry, polypropylene film capacitors supersede the MKP capacitors used in the prior model. Technical results are said to include lowered loss factors and minimized temperature drift.

The E-Glo 2 is suited for use with both MM and MC cartridges, and it enables some tweaks according to the user’s choice of cartridge and sonic preferences. Users can select from eight MM capacitance settings in increments from 50pF to 840pF.

Gain is also adjustable for MC in two settings, 70dB or 76dB, as well as user-selectable MC cart loading with eight impedance options ranging from 10ohms to 12kohms at 70dB, and eight options from 2ohms to 300ohms at 76dB of gain. Another toggle-able option is a subsonic filter (12dB/octave).

The discrete phono stages, separated for MM and MC, are “coupled with split-passive RIAA equalization” instead of feedback-based EQ, according to EAT. Inputs are RCA for MM and RCA, and XLR for MC. Outputs are RCA only.

The E-Glo 2 boasts a cool, sleek-looking design, one presumably intended for those who tend to lean towards more basic MM and MC adjustments, and geared less towards tube rollers. Chances are, those latter users would probably opt to stick with the supplied tubes, as the E-Glo 2 deploys EAT’s “Cool Valve” tubes — a complement of the company’s proprietary valves with special surrounds, including four EEC83 tubes and two EEC88 tubes.

If I were writing punnier copy at this point, I’d say, “go for the glow” — in reference to both the tubes themselves, and their surrounding encasements’ lighting effects. You can change the colors of the lighting effect and/or deploy the dimmer switch on top.

The power supply contains a “capacitor-multiplier-filtered, FET-regulated power stage,” according to the EAT team. It comes with an outboard power supply in an aluminum chassis designed to complement the main unit.

More updates to EAT’s Glo series are expected later this year, according to Roy Feldstein, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of VANA Ltd, EAT’s North American importer. As quoted in the press info, Feldstein added, “It’s going to be an active second half [of the year] for EAT, and a boon to music lovers who are ready to invest in a new level of analog performance.”

Finally, The EAT E-Glo 2 tube phono preamp has an SRP of $11,000.

For more on EAT, go here.
To find an authorized EAT dealer in North America via VANA Ltd., go here.