Herron VTPH-2A vs ModWright PH 9.0

I’m sad I only came across this thread now. I compared the Herron VTPH-2A to an older Modwright SWP 9.0 SE and thought the Modwright kicked the living daylights out of the Herron. The Herron was very polite and reserved in comparison, and the SWP had more soul and excitement. I also found it to be more holographic than the Herron. 
 

I moved on from the SWP onto the PH9.0 and now to the PH9.0X, and each upgrade was a substantial improvement from the prior. I have no doubt I would recommend the PH9.0 or PH9.0X well above the Herron, any day. The 9.0X especially is dead quiet, and lack of caps in the signal path do an incredible job of bringing out the most life. It is an endgame unit for me, even after comparing it with other phono stages from other manufacturers. 

@three_easy_payments Thanks for your thoughts on the Herron and the Luxman. I’ve always itched to try the Luxman myself and likely will one day. Have you rolled tubes in it? If so what are your preferences?

I may have misspoke with the Herron. What I meant by refined is polite… restrained. I agree it was noisier than any Modwright unit I owned, which resulted in a lack of resolution. And it was just more… boring. Sometimes a component can be very high quality and refined and land in the same boring territory, even if it performs at a higher fidelity. The Herron was for sure noisier and further obscuring the music. 

@three_easy_payments Thanks for your thoughts on the Luxman. You might have gotten bad or fake Tele’s, but I’ve heard them sound hot rides to the point that they almost distort. In full transparency, I love the Psvane 12AX7-s above any other 12AX7 tube I’ve ever heard (and I’ve heard a lot of them), and I would probably try those if I ever got the Luxman. I wouldn’t expect anyone to agree with me as audio is personal and we all have different ears. 
 

@coys21 I’ve never heard the H-5500 but I did have a shootout with an older Modwright phono and a few other stages (mentioned this above), and the H-1201 was one of them (I didn’t mention that previously). I also owned an L-3000 Mk II preamp for a short while. I would say that Allnic overall is very colored and bloomy, and with both units the top end was recessed regardless of tube rolling and recapping. They were very pleasing to listen to but cut into the amount of air and space that should have been projected by the music. I bet they would work more for higher efficiency speaker systems, which I have also played much with, but I would never consider them for anything else  

Absolutely love the ACME line myself. But the first Psvane I ever bought were the 12AX7 T-II, which got replaced by the S series, and that’s how I got into them in the first place. Psvane does make some subpar tubes in some variants and lines, but the 12AX7-S, the CV-181 T-II, the 6CA7 T-II and ACME 300B and 845 were the best of theirs that I tried. 
 

@three_easy_payments Let me know what you think of the 12AX7-S as they break in since I’m itching to hear the EQ-500 with them at some point.