with vinyl set-up can many times be maybe the easiest leap forward. if you are not expert on that, then if you know someone who can make sure you are hearing everything your present set-up can do that is a good place to start.
i do agree that your tt, arm, and cartridge are very high level; and would involve significant investments to push higher since your phono stage would mute the advances. your SME 20/2 is not held back by being from 2005. it can still deliver fine sound.
it’s hard to specifically recommend a phono pre without knowing the rest of your system and musical tastes. so i’ll just throw out the van den Hul Grail as a good very high performance phono that won’t break the bank and fits your stated goals. it plays with the big boys. there are many others to mention when we know more. do you prefer tubes or solid state?
https://www.vandenhul.com/product/the-grail-sb/
you can run across them used from time to time.
i do agree that your tt, arm, and cartridge are very high level; and would involve significant investments to push higher since your phono stage would mute the advances. your SME 20/2 is not held back by being from 2005. it can still deliver fine sound.
it’s hard to specifically recommend a phono pre without knowing the rest of your system and musical tastes. so i’ll just throw out the van den Hul Grail as a good very high performance phono that won’t break the bank and fits your stated goals. it plays with the big boys. there are many others to mention when we know more. do you prefer tubes or solid state?
https://www.vandenhul.com/product/the-grail-sb/
you can run across them used from time to time.