Has anyone upgraded from an AudioTechnica ART9?

I did upgrade from ART9. I was not after a $5k cartridge to replace the ART9. I explored reasonably priced cartridges. The only ones I found I really liked after the ART9 are EMT TSD-75/HSD-006, Anamighty Sound Denon 103 Level 3 and Decca Jubilee (more expensive than my planned budget). I currently use EMT HSD-006. Natural, neutral and dynamic. Very happy! 

I know you would want to know the difference bettween ART9 and EMT. EMT is more effortless and flatter frequency response. It plumbs deeper into lows and the midrange is classic vinyl like, full and clear. ART9 sounded smaller and thinner than EMT. It has a more modern sounding midrange (a bit more CD like than EMT). Another area the EMT is remarkable is "quietness". The background is very quiet with EMT playing. Probably that gives the additional headroom to the sound.

If you follow Pani's posts, you might notice that he is frequently in the market for a new this or a new that. There's nothing wrong with that; it's part of the fun of the hobby for some of us, but it does suggest that Pani is on a different journey or has yet to figure out where he wants to go with his home sound. It takes decades for some of us to get there.

That was a scathing attack @lewm :-)
I don't mind though.

If you go back to all my posts, I seldom recommend anything highly. I know what I want and I also know what I am not getting. It is disgusting to see so many expensive hifi audio products being so voiced. And I am very unforgiving if music loses any of its basic fundamental qualities of tone, timing, flow or harmonics. My logic is simple, if I can enjoy a song on television or my bluetooth speaker then it should sound 100 times more enjoyble on my hifi system. But when even a single equipment in the chain tweaks basic musical structure, the message is lost. 

My Tannoy speakers, Garrard 301 and Denon 103r have been with me for a long time because they preserve the basics of music. I tried to find a quieter TT and tried the Technics DDs. They took away the flow for quietness. Similarly I tried various cartridges prior to ART9. To name a few Lyra Skala, Delos, Kontrpunkt B, Miyabi 47, Benz Ebony TR and Zyx R100. ART9 was the most acceptable high resolution cartridge among them so I used it for well over 1000 hours. 

EMT makes the ART9 sound more CD like. Definitely a more matured analog presentation by EMT. If you notice I didn't come back and recommend EMT as enthusiastically as I did the ART9. Probably because ART9 came in when I was frustrated with relatively voiced cartridges and at a price which most of us could afford. The EMT is not that big a change for me. Just that I happy it is a natural upgrade with a little more money. 

Now I am looking for a good tube phonostage for the EMT. Again something thats not voiced. Any suggestions ? 

Just compare old Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, McIntosh, Quad to their latest models. 
I am not even talking about Western Electric :-)

Anyway, in some areas we have some better stuff today but in many areas we have lost too. The reason is, it’s all MBA driven. 

I think most designers are searching for the elusive quality of "neutral".

This is the only statement I disagree with. 
Most designers today as just that..designers. They want to make something special that they can sell for xyz dollars. Special stuff always sound "special", not original. It is a pity that so many of them are out there to screw up the sound of the original music. Then there are reviewers who give them 10/10, to make things even more miserable.

Only a handful of the manufacturers today really know how to preserve the signal while improving fidelity. In that respect good old vintage stuff was much more consistent.

I am talking to the EMT Engineers about the 139st. Let’s see. The one they sell has only an MC input with EMT MC transformers. I am asking them to add an mm input too. 

Yes, Pass knows everything and thats the point. Very few people know their stuff and even they have reasons to create junk. Anyway, these days I am struggling to find a fine sounding tube phonostage for $5-6k. Something uncolored and true to the source. SS sounds too grey at that level.

@lewm we are not discussing the same thing I guess. I am not a vintage lover or anything. I have actually used modern stuff mostly in my system. The Garrard 301 is the only classic item I have. 

What I meant was, with all the limitations in the past they were able to make products that sounded like music. Many of them. Today the same McIntosh has nothing special to offer so they reissued the MC275 and still could not better it with all the great parts they have today. And 275 was not their best sounding amp anyway. Same with Marantz and Quad and others. The point is we have great parts today but the sum of the parts is not as great in many cases. Probably because it is all about voicing something to show in Munich and sell. After a couple of years its gone. Unlike the timeless classics we just discussed. A single guy makes a "me too" product dressed in a fancier chassis and sells for $$$, thats how we see most high ends today. In such a world the Shindos and Kondos are rare geniuses who know what they are doing. 

The best example is as you rightly pointed out, Pass Labs. On one hand we have firstwatt which sounds pure, clear and lively like real music and then we have the Pass Labs amps which sounds boring and lazy with a sameness in tonality no matter what you throw at it. Totally 2 different sounds. Why ? Is it so difficult to hear which one sounds more like real music ? Naa...the idea is to sell a big monoblock which can put out 1000 watts. After all it is price per watt! I am not saying all big amps sound bad but this is a typical case where it is a clear step backwards even with all the great parts resulting in great SNR, accuracy, resolution etc etc.

On the contrary it is quite opposite in the AV, Television and automotive industry. May be music is too niche and narrow to accomodate too many great minds.

@rauliruegas Firstwatt amps are not a good match for Magico speakers. They are meant for high efficiency speakers. Even though the power rating of some the firstwatt amps and XA amps are same the actual current capabilities are very different.

Magico is a typical modern day speaker. It loves to be driven by quality high power solid state amps. I have heard some of the best installations of Magico and it always shone through with a nice and proper 500 watt amp.

@audiofun uses an ART1000

Yes @rauliruegas I understand the sensitivity and impedance curve properties and their effect on the output. An amp not being is trouble is not enough. Typical modern multi-driver speakers like Magico, Rockport, Avalon, Focal all need a lot of current to come alive and show their full frequency response with uncompressed dynamics. Firstwatt amps will never push them that way because they do not deliver such high currents. The XA has large array of transistors at the output which allows large current swings. It is just a simple comparison between a small amp with a small power supply and a big muscle amp with a large power supply.